Removing Epoxied Emitter?

Is it possible to remove an emitter after it has been epoxied with AA Epoxy? Is there any way to temporarily attach an emitter to a sink?

Appy heat to the heatsink with a soldering iron, etc. Once it hits the right temp, the AA will soften up and you can break the emitter loose. I do it to PR heads all the time.

Filled epoxies aren't all that tough as darkzero points out. You can often cleave them loose with a razor blade at room temperature even. For sure first trimming any that's on the sides will help.

For temp set ups just use conventional (non hardening) heat sink compound.

Doug Owen

MTFD17, I did exactly that with a mod to an aluminum Dorcy I did for a friend. Everything seemed perfect until we tried to focus it down to get rid of the hole in the middle - the star mounted emitter interfered with the reflector. The star was epoxied over a hole in the heat sink with Arctic Silver epoxy and we broke it loose with no heat. We then needed the emitter seperated to mount on a pedestal...with the star its best to simply flex the PCB but you can't do that with a sink....

For the emitter only, I recommend heat first, I did break one (it was my first attempt) trying to seperate it from a star without heat. Also disconnect (unsolder) any leads first. The razor blade or exacto knife blade works well. Just be careful to get it under the emitter base, not just the plastic before prying. With heat, just inserting the blade usually pops the entire emitter off, you don't need to pry. I think I was using a screwdriver the first time I tried, breaking the plastic (optic) loose from the internal leads.

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Doug Owen said:
Filled epoxies aren't all that tough as darkzero points out. You can often cleave them loose with a razor blade at room temperature even. For sure first trimming any that's on the sides will help.

For temp set ups just use conventional (non hardening) heat sink compound.

Doug Owen

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Second that. I've gotten many off with just a razor blade.

Whatever you do, DO NOT pry the black plastic part off the aluminum core (as mentioned above). That kills them, because it destroys the internal connection.

Connecting Luxeon temporaly to heatsink has been discussed here.

If you read that thread, the word "temporary" should be emphasized. I think I degraded a TWAK that way over time. Problem is you can't control the thickness of the thermal grease layer very well unless it's glued. Then it's easier to squish all the excess out.

A Frag Tape made by 3M is mentioned there. There is a link to the rewiew of it in the last post. I suppose it is something like that used to attach Luxeon on ARC LS board. Different aproach then thermal paste.