Making a "Drop-in" using DHS heatsink

[wildstar87]

So I heard a while back that people had attached PR bases to heatsinks before, but I was never able to find any threads on it. I did some measuring the other day and found that there is about .10 inches between the depression in the heatsink, and the top of the plastic in a M@g bulb tower (with the metal bulb holder pressed all the way down).

More than enough room to handle a PR base. So I took an old bulb that I wasn't using anymore (what do I need these for, I converted everything to LED.. ), broke the glass, scraped all the potting out, then soldered a wire down at the very bottom for the positive lead, and a wire on the side for the negative lead.

Dremel'd a couple small groove to let the wires go to the holes in the heatsink..

Whaddya think? I just need to epoxy it down.. With that much space, I was even thinking you could probably fit an AMC7135 driver to the heatsink, then the PR base on the backside of the driver. You might have to shorten the bulb tower a hair though with that.

This will be going into a 3D and obviously being direct driven, but I always wanted to see if it was possible..

 

[TigerhawkT3]

Very neat! When I was figuring out how to install a DHS, it looked like there wasn't enough room to keep the bulb post. I'm pleased to be proven wrong. :thumbsup:

Do you think a driver could be placed just next to the bulb post? There might be more room, but it'd be harder to heatsink.

 

[Drewfus2101]

Thats pretty creative. I might have to try something like that for my DD P7.

 

[wildstar87]

Finally got so I could login again after the maintenance...

As for putting a driver next to the bulb base, I suppose it could be done, wouldn't be too easy, but probably be ok if you could put it vertically on a piece of aluminum like I have seen in other mods. Wiring would be a bit tricky though, since you need good contact to the base from the bulb holder.

I measured an AMC7135 driver from DX/KD, and it's about .11 inches thick, so you would have to modify the M@g bulb holder a bit, by cutting the slot for the screw down a bit further, and then cutting a bit off the top of the switch/bulb holder plastic part. Essentially what I was thinking here as I mentioned, was mounting the PR base on the back side of the driver, then thermal epoxy the chip side of the driver down onto the heatsink, so you have the driver in-between the heatsink and the PR Base.

I did put a thin layer of JB Weld onto the PR Base, and it's all set up now, I tested the connection with a DMM, and all is well. I just need my friend to bring his M@g over to finish it all up. Still have to sand the inside (since his is black) to get the heatsink to fit, and of course cut the cam off.

If it was another color than black, it would just need the cam chopped off, as the anodizing doesn't seem to be as thick.