# Wondering if anyone provides machining of custom designed heatsinks



## Illum (Jun 13, 2012)

Not sure where best to post this, I guess here will have to do. 

I need a customized heatsink to build my LEDs on, but I have no access to a mill or barstocks.

The general outlook is as follows:






Basically, I need a ~1" thick segment of a 2" aluminum barstock With two blind holes drilled in it. 
The top hole is 10mm wide [to fit LEDs mounted on 10 mm MCPCBs], about 1/8" deep. The second hole will ultimately route wires and connect to the structural support of the heatsink. 1/2" drill, about 1" deep. 

I added the fillet as a feature in the sketch, it doesn't have to be a fillet of any certain radius, just enough so that its not sharp. I am interested in about 5 of these. If anyone thinks they can help please send me the price tag via PM and we'll go from there, :thanks:


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## gadget_lover (Jun 13, 2012)

Let me know if you get no other knibbles. As long as the 0.4062 has a reasonable tolerance I can probably do it. The drawing calls for a 10mm drill, but the drawing shows a flat bottom, not pointed.

I'm not anxious to do it, but I do have 2 inch bar stock and have not done any machining recently. 

Daniel


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## wquiles (Jun 14, 2012)

Illum said:


> Not sure where best to post this, I guess here will have to do.
> 
> I need a customized heatsink to build my LEDs on, but I have no access to a mill or barstocks.
> 
> ...



The big things missing are the tolerances. None of us can hold 0.000" tolerance. For the drawing to be complete, you also need to let us know the range of under and over-size allowed for "each" dimension. Then we can tell you if we can make it and how much it could/would be.

Will


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## Illum (Jun 14, 2012)

Well, I was thinking of a 10mm milling bit as the pointed bottom might require me to use more thermal adhesive than needed be, but on second thought that shouldn't matter. The top hole can be 7/16" all the way up to 13/16" . These are prototypes, so they do not all have to be identical. I just need the hole to be centered on the bar stock. 

I am planning to build something like this, and the gooseneck is just right for a 1/2" hole drilled in aluminum. Tension is provided through O-ring slots on the gooseneck. Other than the 1/2" hole no other dimensions are critical. I went for 1" thick mainly because an aluminum block any thicker will be too heavy. 1/2" +/- 1/16"

http://i00.i.aliimg.com/photo/v0/442232654/LED_GOOSENECK_CLAMP_LIGHT.jpg

The fillet was added just so that as I manipulate the light the edges doesn't cut me. Fillet or chamfer either is okay. Eventually I will drill two 1/8" holes from the top hole to the 1/2" one below, but I'll drill the holes as I align the LED, where the wires will run its way down the gooseneck.

Currently my lamp designs look like this [Yes, Soup cans holds my bed up]





While its functional, the aesthestics is a bit :green: 
I've been slowly replacing my desk of incandescent/CFL desklamps and increasingly using single LEDs [CREE XPG-CRI] driven at 1A [Via buckpuck] to illuminate my desk. It has since worked well. Voltage input is open to either 5-30VDC or 100-240VAC [With built-in SMPS]

I have a box of "50mm" heatsinks, 2.25" square and 1" tall. These have thusfar been satisfactory at dissipating 3.3W of heat despite having fins designed for forced air cooling. The lights can be operated 24/7 with the metal being "warm" and not "hot." all of my homemade lamps have a single CR123A holder built-in that operates the light in direct drive in the event of an outage so I can finish up what I need to work on while the lamp is on. The backup feature is disabled when the lamp is off. 

If anyone ones to give this idea a try, heres my source of goosenecks:
http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/LT-17/LITTLITE-R-GOOSENECK-TASK-LIGHT-USED/1.html

Since Buckpucks run well on 5V or 12V with a single LED, I'm working on integrating a 2.1mm co-ax receptacle on the ATX power supply in my PC so I can eliminate the need to occupy another wall socket to power the built in SMPS.


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## Illum (Jun 15, 2012)

Atlascycle, PM replied. :thanks: for helping


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## kd5ahl (Jun 18, 2012)

FWIW Atlascycle helped me with some heatsinks and does a great job.


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## ICUDoc (Jun 18, 2012)

> If anyone ones to give this idea a try, heres my source of goosenecks:
> http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/LT-17/LITTLITE-R-GOOSENECK-TASK-LIGHT-USED/1.html


Thanks for the link, Illum.


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## TedTheLed (Jun 18, 2012)

empty or full?


(the soup cans)


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## Illum (Jun 23, 2012)

TedTheLed said:


> empty or full?
> 
> 
> (the soup cans)



load bearing ones empty, the removable ones full. 
Kidding aside, the bottom of the bed is used for storage from everything from clothing in vacuum bags to ammo to dry goods. I consider canned foods "dry goods" as well 



ICUDoc said:


> Thanks for the link, Illum.




your welcome!
Most if not all the goosenecks I bought are well used, with dings and scratches, nothing a little sharpie job couldn't fix.

should the o-rings retaining the shroud be broken [and most were] I found a #7 o-ring [1/2 x 3/8 x 1/16] to be an identical replacement. Ace hardware is where I buy mine from, but look around as other stores may stock it. The ones from ace hardware is sourced from Danco Inc. Irving TX 75062, stock number 35724B. 

Cheers.


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## Atlascycle (Jun 25, 2012)

Will get them boxed and shipped out today


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## precisionworks (Jun 25, 2012)

Nice job Atlascycle 

Good to have people like you who can do those jobs in a short time frame.


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## wquiles (Jun 25, 2012)

precisionworks said:


> Nice job Atlascycle
> 
> Good to have people like you who can do those jobs in a short time frame.



+1

Nice job on these 

Will


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## Illum (Jun 25, 2012)

Atlascycle said:


> Will get them boxed and shipped out today



Very nice!
Have you recieved my check yet?


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## Atlascycle (Jun 26, 2012)

Illum said:


> Very nice!
> Have you recieved my check yet?



Thank you, Yes I received your check on Saturday.

My Day got away from me yesterday and did not get the parts to shipping, 

Will get them out today.

Jason


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## Atlascycle (Jun 28, 2012)

Illum.

your heat sinks went out UPS on Tuesday, Email me if you want the Tracking number.

Thanks,
Jason


Nashville, TN, United States  06/28/2012  12:53 A.M. Arrival Scan  Earth City, MO, United States  06/27/2012  7:26 P.M. Departure Scan  
 06/27/2012  10:32 A.M. Arrival Scan  Lenexa, KS, United States  06/27/2012  6:04 A.M. Departure Scan  
 06/27/2012   12:57 A.M. Arrival Scan  Omaha, NE, United States  06/26/2012  9:26 P.M. Departure Scan  
 06/26/2012  7:00 P.M. Origin Scan  United States  06/26/2012  3:52 P.M. Order Processed: Ready for UPS


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## Atlascycle (Jun 29, 2012)

LocationDateLocal TimeActivity* Rockledge, FL, United States 
** 06/29/2012 ** 6:38 A.M. **Out For Delivery * 
 06/29/2012  4:29 A.M. Arrival Scan 
 Jacksonville, FL, United States  06/29/2012  1:29 A.M. Departure Scan  Jacksonville, FL, United States  06/28/2012  8:44 P.M. Arrival Scan 
 Nashville, TN, United States  06/28/2012  9:31 A.M. Departure Scan  
 06/28/2012  12:53 A.M. Arrival Scan  Earth City, MO, United States  06/27/2012  7:26 P.M. Departure Scan  
 06/27/2012  10:32 A.M. Arrival Scan  Lenexa, KS, United States  06/27/2012  6:04 A.M. Departure Scan  
 06/27/2012  12:57 A.M. Arrival Scan  Omaha, NE, United States  06/26/2012  9:26 P.M. Departure Scan  
 06/26/2012  7:00 P.M. Origin Scan  United States  06/26/2012  3:52 P.M. Order Processed: Ready for UPS


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## Illum (Jun 29, 2012)

Arrived!
They are beautiful! Thanks AtlasCycle!


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## Atlascycle (Jun 30, 2012)

Your Very Welcome!!


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## Illum (Jul 2, 2012)

Currently one of them is being fitted with a Nichia 219. By design it will be next to impossible to replace the LED star should the led burn out while recessed in the slug. I'm considering drilling of a screw hole, counter sunk it, and use the "lip" of the countersunk screw to lock the LED MCPCB within the confines of the recess. The idea is similar to that of a capture screw on a mauser. So far I'm just getting a feel for fitting the LED in the recess, since the recess is not perfectly flat, I need to get the dremel out to polish it. No biggie. I'm glad I test fitted before throwing the goop in. 




















Come to think of it, driving XPGs at 1000ma I really only need a 1" cylinder of this thickness to cater the thermal output [~3.3W], but the extra bulk will come in handy if the need exists to drive it to 1.4A


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## 350xfire (Jul 3, 2012)

Just a question, how did those machine marks end up on the piece? My lathe makes near mirror-finish surfaces? Just a bit of polish after machining and you end up with a really nice surface finish. I would have also taken a pass on the outside and cleaned them up... Anyway, not hating on you guys, just wondering. What matters is that they work as intended.

Oh, may be they were done on a milling machine using a rotary table??


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## Atlascycle (Jul 3, 2012)

These parts were finished from 2" Bar Stock. since there was not any turning that needed to be done these parts were done from start to finish in the Mill. The Marks are from the Pocket program that i used to face the parts to the correct height.

Jason


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## 350xfire (Jul 3, 2012)

OK, just wondering. Thanks
What kind of set up do you have?


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## Atlascycle (Jul 3, 2012)

Bridgeport EZ Trak DX. Just a 2 Axis machine.

Need to talk the Tool Room Supervisor into teaching me the Vertical Machine Centers.


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## Illum (Jul 3, 2012)

I thought those tool marks looked nice, figured those were the product of Atlascycle's creativity


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## Illum (Aug 13, 2012)

These slugs runs [not terrifically, but close to being that] hot at 3.5W, even though the fins of my original heatsinks were essentially sitting in still air, they still ran considerably cooler than these slugs, but theres something about these round slugs that makes the light seem welcoming. The square ones look too industrial I guess. The forward current has since been rolled back to 700mA from 1000mA. 

As it turns out there was no effective way of securing these LEDs down, with screws or retraining rings, wound up epoxying 10mm MCPCB LEDs in the top hole with the dome barely above flush to cut down glare. If the LEDs are compromised by heat or handling I suppose I can send them to you, pay more money, and have the holes drilled out to accommodate 20mm MCPCBs.


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