Heatsink to Mag tube with thermal compound?

lightime said:

I am trying to diy upgrade a Maglite to use a Cree Q5 I have lying around for fun. I can't seem to find a ring/disc that fits snuggly inside the Maglite tube to transfer the heat to the tube. The closest I have gotten is about 1mm aawy from the tube. Can I use some sort of thermal compound to fill in the gap between the heatsink and the tube? What would be the best compound for this? Or is it required that the heatsink actually touch the tube all the way around?

Thanks in advance for any advice!!!

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Ajay said:

You can probably get away with some sort of heat sink that does not touch all the surface of the Mag inner tube but thermal compounds are supposed to be spread thinly.

I used a piece of aluminum foil to get a tighter fit with a round Mag HS. Try the aluminum foil. You can fold it to get the required thickness. Good luck. Show some pics!:twothumbs

EDIT: Some people use copper foil from ebay but for a Q5 you probably won't see any difference with aluminum.

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lightime said:

Great idea...thanks for the suggestion. How good is aluminum foil at transfering heat? is there a particular type or brand I should look for? is there any type of foil that is actually made for this purpose? Thanks for any more info.

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