NEWBIE! HOW do you stick the LED to the heatsink?

sniper

Enlightened
Joined
Jan 7, 2005
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630
I've got it that plain old regular epoxy won't do it, but reading the info the Sandwich Shoppe has, it appears that Arctic Alumina has no adhesive properties at all. Soooo...what's the solution? What has good thermal conductivity and a bit of glueyness (izzat a word?) too? I don't want anything coming loose and rattling around in the reflector, once the surgery is over. Suggestions will be appreciated.
 
Artic alumina has some very slight adhesive properties and I have found them to be sufficient until the soldering on the leads held it in place.
 
Re: NEWBIE! HOW do you stick the LED to the heats

or, Artic Alumina 2 part epoxy works too.
Carefull tho, this stuff is pretty strong and glueing a led using that is a permanent process for the led. I've had a very low success rate at trying to remove an AA'd led without killing it.
 
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jaids said:
Artic alumina has some very slight adhesive properties and I have found them to be sufficient until the soldering on the leads held it in place.

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Thanks for the response, but that brings up another, IMO more serious problem.
I bought my first Mag Light because they are tough and reliable.
An incident from my younger days illustrates the point. This was in the days before pepper spray, and some Northbrook, Illinois police officers needed to subdue a group of combative and vulgar insurance agents.
They used 3 and 4 cell Mag Lights to impressive effect as blunt force implements. I was glad I was not among the group.

Try that with your Eveready plastic creation.
If I had to worry about knocking the LED loose if I ever need a club, that removes at least 1/3 of the reason for owning a Mag Light.
Based on that, the Diamond replacement bulbs look better and better.
There must be a more secure way to fasten the LED.
Any ideas?
I dimly remember a post where regular epoxy mixed half and half with something (Aluminum Oxide?) was recommended. If I can find the post, maybe I'll try that, because it appears to retain more of the Mag Light's original ruggedness.
 
Re: NEWBIE! HOW do you stick the LED to the heats

[ QUOTE ]
kongfuchicken said:
or, Artic Alumina 2 part epoxy works too.
Carefull tho, this stuff is pretty strong and glueing a led using that is a permanent process for the led. I've had a very low success rate at trying to remove an AA'd led without killing it.

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Thanks! I didn't realize AA came in 2 part epoxy....it sounds like it is exactly what I'm looking for! Where can you buy it in small amounts? If you heated the sink, do you supose the epoxy would loosen? Until next time.
 
Re: NEWBIE! HOW do you stick the LED to the heats

You definitely should use AA adhesive (2 part epoxy). You can find it here . /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Re: NEWBIE! HOW do you stick the LED to the heats

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif WOODPECKER Lips??

Thank you all very much! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Re: NEWBIE! HOW do you stick the LED to the heats

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sniper said:
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif WOODPECKER Lips??

Thank you all very much! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Not to get too far off topic but a Woodpecker is a bird that goes around pecking holes in hardwood trees to make his house in there. Woodpecker lips are just a little harder than Chinese arithmetic, which for a Westerner is pretty tough.
 
Re: NEWBIE! HOW do you stick the LED to the heats

yep, once emitter is attached with AA expoxy. it's not coming off without destroying.

if you are sure lux is not coming off, use AA expoxy.

there are two solutions to placing a high bin luxeon for possible reuse later.

1. use a star. Lionheart uses a star, so luxeon replacement is a snap when you want to upgrade.

2. carefully place AA grease on metal base of luxeon only. Center lux and solder leads in place. Then use a tiny dab of low viscous superglue. glue will wick into gap between plastic base and heatsink.

now you have a solid mounted luxeon that can be serviced at a later date. So far no problems with superglue standing up to high temps. time will tell.

twoh superglue.JPG
 
Re: NEWBIE! HOW do you stick the LED to the heats

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kongfuchicken said:
I've had a very low success rate at trying to remove an AA'd led without killing it.

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/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yellowlaugh.gif that sounds exactly like me!

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cy said:
yep, once emitter is attached with AA expoxy. it's not coming off without destroying.

[/ QUOTE ]
That sounds really familiar. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jpshakehead.gif

My wife is insisting I change my nick to "MadMax_Destroyer"...

I'm hesitant to use the AA greas, though, because my hands shake a little and I'm afraid I'll move the Lux (and throwing it off center) while trying to solder (at least the first lead).
 
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