# Who can make a custom heatsink?



## Erasmus (Jun 15, 2008)

Hi there! 

I recently designed a heatsink I'd like to use for a MagMod, can any of you guys with a CNC make this? Please PM me your quotation  It should be made of bare aluminum.

Here's the drawing : 






Google SketchUp files are also available if needed.

Thanks!
Raf


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## gadget_lover (Jun 16, 2008)

I've said it before, but I think it needs to be repeated once in a while.

When asking for quotes based on technical drawings, you have to let the machinists know what tolerances are acceptable. The tolerances make a major difference in the amount of work that goes into a part.

If the part has to be exact in every dimension, then any single mistake will make the piece unusable. If 90% of the measurements are "ballpark", then minor mistakes can be redone or accepted.

The 6 measurements in the drawing are specified to 1/10 of a mm (.004 inches). That implies that errors of .05mm (.002 inches) are acceptable. That's doable for any home lathe or CNC setup. 

A way to specify tolerances is to use +/-. For instance the bottom part appears to fit inside the maglight, so it can be no bigger than 34.2mm, but could be smaller without harm. That would be 34.2mm +0/-.1. The internal hight of the top part is called at 17.0, but can probably be 16.5 to 17.5 without problems, so it should be 17.0 +.5/-.5

No, I don't have facilities to mass produce such a part.

Daniel


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## Mirage_Man (Jun 16, 2008)

Just finished a prototype. All dimensions are +- .002" I test fit it inside a couple Mags I have and it fits quite nicely . I don't have a CNC machine but I can look into having them made.


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## Chodes (Jun 16, 2008)

Who can?
Mirage Man can. And did!

Impressive - 3hours 15 from post to post.


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## Erasmus (Jun 16, 2008)

gadget_lover said:


> I've said it before, but I think it needs to be repeated once in a while.
> 
> When asking for quotes based on technical drawings, you have to let the machinists know what tolerances are acceptable. The tolerances make a major difference in the amount of work that goes into a part.
> 
> ...


Thanks for your input, I'll take this into account for future drawings.


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## Erasmus (Jun 16, 2008)

Mirage_Man said:


> Just finished a prototype. All dimensions are +- .002" I test fit it inside a couple Mags I have and it fits quite nicely . I don't have a CNC machine but I can look into having them made.



Wow what a nice piece of workmanship! Amazing that it's done so quickly, and the finish looks gorgeous!

Thank you! PM sent.


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## Mirage_Man (Jun 17, 2008)

On it's way to you Raf. :thumbsup: Let me know when it arrives.


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## Mirage_Man (Jun 25, 2008)

Well I guess Erasmus is not happy with the heat sink I made. I made it so there would be enough play to allow for thermal compound at all the mating surfaces. But it is too loose for his taste. He would have preferred that I made it too tight so he could sand it down. So I should be getting this back at some point. If anyone wants it let me know. I have no doubt that it will work fine for its intended purpose.


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## ambientmind (Jun 25, 2008)

Mirage_Man said:


> Well I guess Erasmus is not happy with the heat sink I made. I made it so there would be enough play to allow for thermal compound at all the mating surfaces. But it is too loose for his taste. He would have preferred that I made it too tight so he could sand it down. So I should be getting this back at some point. If anyone wants it let me know. I have no doubt that it will work fine for its intended purpose.


either way, it looks amazing! great work!!! if its free, i'll take it! :wave: i may contact you for some work in the future if you dont mind, i'm coming up with the ideas right now. they should be super easy to turn, i just dont have a lathe.


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## Mirage_Man (Jun 25, 2008)

ambientmind said:


> either way, it looks amazing! great work!!! if its free, i'll take it! :wave: i may contact you for some work in the future if you dont mind, i'm coming up with the ideas right now. they should be super easy to turn, i just dont have a lathe.



After having thought about it awhile I think I might just use this myself in a build. I spent 3 hrs. making it. So if I decide to sell it I will start a new thread.


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## PhotonFanatic (Jun 25, 2008)

Brian,

Your experience with this heatsink reminds me of why I want all the pieces before I do any special pieces for a light.


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## will (Jun 27, 2008)

Brian - a lot can be said for having tolerances listed on parts to be made. When I worked as a machinist all specs had a +/- tolerance listed.


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## scott.cr (Jun 27, 2008)

Mirage_Man said:


> Well I guess Erasmus is not happy with the heat sink I made.



What's that saying about "no good deed..."

You've garnered the good will of a lot of other peeps here so it's not a total loss.


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## Mirage_Man (Jun 27, 2008)

scott.cr said:


> What's that saying about "no good deed..."
> 
> You've garnered the good will of a lot of other peeps here so it's not a total loss.



I was compensated for the work. Albeit not as much as I would generally get based on time and materials. I made it in a way that I thought it was usable hence not to his exact specs. He was not happy with it so that's fine. If I paid someone for a job and it didn't meet my expectations I would likely have complained as well. It's not a big deal. Lets not blow this outta proportion.


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## wquiles (Jun 27, 2008)

I am giving this a shot and started working on it today. This is 2.0 DIA Al:






























Brian - Have I mentioned lately that this 6" chuck is awesome !!!. And you are right, as I use it more and more, it is becoming smoother/easier to open/close


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## Erasmus (Jun 27, 2008)

Looks amazing  New design is uploaded, PM sent. Thanks a lot!


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## wquiles (Jun 28, 2008)

Had to modify a tool holder on the mini-mill, so I only did a little bit more work today - I am getting closer


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## wquiles (Jun 28, 2008)

Well, I could not finish today as I hoped. The tailstock drill chuck that I always used actually belongs to the 7x12 lathe that I sold to Milkey, so as it turns out I had "none" for myself. I just placed an order with Enco for a nice Jacobs ball-bearing Super Chuck (and the MT2 adapter for my tailstock), so assuming that the parts arrive this week while I am on travel, I should finish next weekend.


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## Mirage_Man (Jun 28, 2008)

wquiles said:


> Well, I could not finish today as I hoped. The tailstock drill chuck that I always used actually belongs to the 7x12 lathe that I sold to Milkey, so as it turns out I had "none" for myself. I just placed an order with Enco for a nice Jacobs ball-bearing Super Chuck (and the MT2 adapter for my tailstock), so assuming that the parts arrive this week while I am on travel, I should finish next weekend.



Ever try mounting a drill in a tool holder? If you go slow it should work fine. I mean you're just roughing the hole to get a boring bar in there anyway, right?


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## wquiles (Jun 28, 2008)

Mirage_Man said:


> Ever try mounting a drill in a tool holder? If you go slow it should work fine. I mean you're just roughing the hole to get a boring bar in there anyway, right?



No, I have never tried that - I guess it should work since yes, all I need is a rough hole to get my boring bar to do the "real" work :thumbsup: . Then again, I still "want", I mean, "need" a Jacobs Super Chuck, right?


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## Mirage_Man (Jun 28, 2008)

wquiles said:


> No, I have never tried that - I guess it should work since yes, all I need is a rough hole to get my boring bar to do the "real" work :thumbsup: . Then again, I still "want", I mean, "need" a Jacobs Super Chuck, right?



Exactly! Just like this one.. 







I just thought I'd offer a way to get around not having a chuck until your new one came in.


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## wquiles (Jun 28, 2008)

Mirage_Man said:


> Exactly! Just like this one..
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Yep - in fact it was "you" who planted the seed about the Super Chuck some time back. It is "your fault"! :naughty:

Which specific model did you buy?


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## Mirage_Man (Jun 28, 2008)

wquiles said:


> Yep - in fact it was "you" who planted the seed about the Super Chuck some time back. It is "your fault"! :naughty:
> 
> Which specific model did you buy?



This one. Only I bought it at the Wholesale Tool here in Tampa for like $30 more . But I didn't want to wait.


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## wquiles (Jul 6, 2008)

OK, done. It took me more like 6 hours to do, so I have to work more on my estimates :devil:

Here's the drawing that I used as a guide: 






I had a smaller one taped to the lathe with the mm and inch dimensions:






Once the outside dia is close, start on the outside shape:
















Then start working on the inside. Since my drill has a traditional point, I did not drill to the full depth :
















I used my new solid carbide 3/16" boring bar to smooth the inside:
















Since I need a "flat" bottom, I could not use my regular drills, so following advice from Mirage Man (Brian) I used a tool holder to hold a center cutting milling bit to get to the final inside depth:











and then used my 3/16" boring bar to smooth it again:






I then measured for length and mark it with my parting blade:






then used my metal band saw to trim to something a little larger:






I re-mounted on the chuck and gave it a facing cut to final length:











Length of the lower cylinder was 30mm (+0.1/-0.1) => I got 29.98mm






Outer diameter of the lower cylinder was 34.2mm (+0/-0) => I got 34.18mm






Outside length of the larger hollow part was 21mm (+0.2/-0.1) => I got 21.15mm






Outer diameter of the larger hollow part was 48.3mm (+0.1/-0) => I got 48.40mm






Inside diameter of the larger hollow part was 44.3mm (+0.1/-0.1) => I got 44.31mm






Inside height of the larger hollow part was 17mm (+0.1/-0.1) => I got 16.92mm







Here is the final part:






















Will


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## Erasmus (Jul 6, 2008)

Wow! Very nice  PM sent, thanks!


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## wquiles (Jul 7, 2008)

Thank you 

Package left today - please let me know when you get it 

Will


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## wquiles (Jul 13, 2008)

Erasmus,

FedEx indicated that the HS was delivered earlier in the week. Everything OK?

Will


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## Erasmus (Jul 13, 2008)

wquiles said:


> Erasmus,
> 
> FedEx indicated that the HS was delivered earlier in the week. Everything OK?
> 
> Will


Yes a fellow resident signed and gave me the package, super fast shipping! I'm impressed, all sizes are nearly perfect or just a little bit too big, but I like to sand away some material to make it a perfect fit. Thank you so much for doing this!!! Will post pictures of my creation when it's finished 

EDIT : although it's really not a problem at all, I'm wondering how the 'bubbles' at the edge of the base (where the emitters will be mounted) came to exist? Looks cool


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## wquiles (Jul 14, 2008)

Erasmus said:


> Yes a fellow resident signed and gave me the package, super fast shipping! I'm impressed, all sizes are nearly perfect or just a little bit too big, but I like to sand away some material to make it a perfect fit. Thank you so much for doing this!!! Will post pictures of my creation when it's finished
> 
> EDIT : although it's really not a problem at all, I'm wondering how the 'bubbles' at the edge of the base (where the emitters will be mounted) came to exist? Looks cool



Glad to hear it arrived alright 

The so called bubbles are not really bubbles at all - just some chatter from the particular boring bar that I was using - depending on the light it might look like bubbles


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## mikel81 (Aug 4, 2008)

How about for heatsinks for the size of a 2xAA maglite? Anyone have a way to measure the inside diameter? I would buy some that size in a fairly simple design. Bare alum is ok, the LEDs I have are +(pos) base.


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## d1dd1 (Aug 4, 2008)

great idea, I would be interested too.
But you would probably need a tailcap clickie to use this


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## Oznog (Aug 4, 2008)

Erasmus said:


> but I like to sand away some material to make it a perfect fit. Thank you so much for doing this!!!



Another possibility. Put the part in the freezer first, or hit it with "freeze spray". They make component cooler "freeze spray" for diagnosing intermittent electronic component failures, you can also just turn an air duster "canned air" upside down so liquid comes out not gas. Makes things very VERY cold, the aluminum will shrink.


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## mikel81 (Aug 4, 2008)

d1dd1 said:


> great idea, I would be interested too.
> But you would probably need a tailcap clickie to use this




I assumed I would have to use the clickie. The only problem I see after taking it apart. It is just an aluminum tube, the - neg side uses the body to travel. It couldn't be bare alum, and touch the sides. Even with arctic alumina. I think you could use a small metal disk and epoxy it to the plastic top, might still be able to use the twist on/off. Depends on how the reflector has to be modified and if it will still push down the plastic ring.


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