mosport
Enlightened
I wanted to share how to build a homemade Q3 copper heatsink from a common copper plumbing connector.
Earlier this week my Q3 arrived and the bezel was off within 5 mins of opening the package. Taking a peek inside, I found a nicely tinted SWOL star and decided to run R123's for max brightness. Originally I wanted to buy ViReN's CNC copper heatsink only to find out his last batch sold out. So my goal was to see if I could make my own improvised version.
For heatsinking, I started with a 3/4" x 1/2" copper plumbing bushing available from any Canadian Tire or Home Depot for about $1. First off I measured the stock Q3 aluminum spacer at 6.6mm high x 21.2mm dia, so the bushing's 22mm dia needed cutting and filing down to fit. Using a plumbing pipe cutting wheel, I marked out 7mm as the cut length and attacked it with a hacksaw. Thankfully copper is a relatively soft metal and easy to work with. I'm using a star so if you're using an emitter, you'll need to add the circuit board and star thickness onto the height of stock aluminum spacer to determine the proper emitter platform height.
After separation, I reduced the outer diameter with a file and sandpaper. The trick is to have the heatsink fit snugly and rattle free within the Q3 body so that contact is made with the walls to efficiently conduct heat away and into your hand. Once the heatsink is able to slip past the theads and into the Q3 bore, some more sanding is needed to match the stock aluminum spacer height.
Borrowing from chimo's penny trick, 2 pennies were sanded and soldered together to make a plug underneath the star. Followed by filing down the edges and soldering into place, flux really helped out during this step! Holding the slug with tweezers, a Bic lighter was used to heat things up to the point where solder would be drawn into the joint. Basically it's the same technique used to sweat plumbing pipe, only without the propane torch part.
One more sanding step was needed to make the solder flush with the copper surface, wiring holes were drilled and Ceramique thermal compound applied. When I went to test fit the circuit, the copper walls were so thick that the stock Q3 board wouldn't fit. The interference required removing material to clear the inductor coil (?) standing at 3.5mm. Looking back, I should've used the cut end of the copper body as my star mounting surface and the stepped end as the board contact side to save some grinding.
Sorry I didn't take any pics of the final steps because I was so eager to solder the star and test everything out. More Q3 mod parts are in the mail so once they arrive I'll have another chance to take pics.
Testing it out, the body was slightly warm to the touch after sitting 5 mins indicating that the heatsink was doing it's job. Too bad I only did a quick turn-on check before modding, so I'm unable to make any back-to-back comparisons. So although I met my goal of making an improvised version with increased thermal mass, it was time intensive and if given a choice I'd prefer enjoying one that's pre-made.
Thanks for looking and happy modding!
Derek
EDIT:
------
Added pics of the finished heatsink above.
Earlier this week my Q3 arrived and the bezel was off within 5 mins of opening the package. Taking a peek inside, I found a nicely tinted SWOL star and decided to run R123's for max brightness. Originally I wanted to buy ViReN's CNC copper heatsink only to find out his last batch sold out. So my goal was to see if I could make my own improvised version.
For heatsinking, I started with a 3/4" x 1/2" copper plumbing bushing available from any Canadian Tire or Home Depot for about $1. First off I measured the stock Q3 aluminum spacer at 6.6mm high x 21.2mm dia, so the bushing's 22mm dia needed cutting and filing down to fit. Using a plumbing pipe cutting wheel, I marked out 7mm as the cut length and attacked it with a hacksaw. Thankfully copper is a relatively soft metal and easy to work with. I'm using a star so if you're using an emitter, you'll need to add the circuit board and star thickness onto the height of stock aluminum spacer to determine the proper emitter platform height.
After separation, I reduced the outer diameter with a file and sandpaper. The trick is to have the heatsink fit snugly and rattle free within the Q3 body so that contact is made with the walls to efficiently conduct heat away and into your hand. Once the heatsink is able to slip past the theads and into the Q3 bore, some more sanding is needed to match the stock aluminum spacer height.
Borrowing from chimo's penny trick, 2 pennies were sanded and soldered together to make a plug underneath the star. Followed by filing down the edges and soldering into place, flux really helped out during this step! Holding the slug with tweezers, a Bic lighter was used to heat things up to the point where solder would be drawn into the joint. Basically it's the same technique used to sweat plumbing pipe, only without the propane torch part.
One more sanding step was needed to make the solder flush with the copper surface, wiring holes were drilled and Ceramique thermal compound applied. When I went to test fit the circuit, the copper walls were so thick that the stock Q3 board wouldn't fit. The interference required removing material to clear the inductor coil (?) standing at 3.5mm. Looking back, I should've used the cut end of the copper body as my star mounting surface and the stepped end as the board contact side to save some grinding.
Sorry I didn't take any pics of the final steps because I was so eager to solder the star and test everything out. More Q3 mod parts are in the mail so once they arrive I'll have another chance to take pics.
Testing it out, the body was slightly warm to the touch after sitting 5 mins indicating that the heatsink was doing it's job. Too bad I only did a quick turn-on check before modding, so I'm unable to make any back-to-back comparisons. So although I met my goal of making an improvised version with increased thermal mass, it was time intensive and if given a choice I'd prefer enjoying one that's pre-made.
Thanks for looking and happy modding!
Derek
EDIT:
------
Added pics of the finished heatsink above.
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