Heat sink

Community General Discussions
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1

 

Hello.

So I've read in many places, I need a heat sink on my motor driver chip.

That's no problem, I'm assuming a chunk of metal will do the trick, but how do I attach it?

Is there a certain type of glue I should be using? I only ask, because I don't want the glue to melt.

Thanks,

The Bromz

Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.   Groucho Marx

2

Heatsink attachment

If you don’t have a clippable heatsink, you’ll need thermal pads or thermal adhesive to attach the heatsink.

They accomplish two things: provide a smooth and sticky interface between the component and the heatsink & maximize the thermal transfer from component to heatsink.

I prefer pads.

Please don’t use glue.

3

Cool,So where do I get

Cool,

So where do I get these from?

Is there a brand name maybe?

4

You may want to search teh internetz for what’s best for you…

…but I can get you started on one source:

http://us.startech.com/product-list/heatsink-grease

5

Oh! That stuff.Don’t know

Oh! That stuff.

Don’t know why I didn’t think of that.

Thanks again GoofyBob

6

Take advantage of those ground pins

I assume you are using a L293 and if so, you have 4 ground pins all together in the center. I have seen people loop some thin copper wire around these pins (being sure you don’t touch the other pins) and then twist this wire around some sorta hand-made sheet metal heat sink on top. Yes, it is best to use some sorta thermal gunk between the chip and the sink, but anything is always better than nothing --so in a pinch, just be sure that the heat sinks sits as flat as it can on the chip and makes the most contact it can make. In terms of the heat sink itself, surface area is your friend as well as air flow, so some cuts or slots wouldn’t hurt.

7

I’ll maybe chop up an old

I’ll maybe chop up an old heat sink from an PC then.

I’ve used this thermal stuff before when building PCs, but never really paid much notice to it.

Does it act as a glue?

8

It becomes thicker over

It becomes thicker over time, but it doesn’t have any real sticking ability. You’ll need something else to hold the heatsink in place.

9

Thermal adhesive is

Thermal adhesive is something you can use, it is not the same as thermal paste.  Arctic Silver makes some which is probably excellent quality & spendy like their paste, which is currently keeping my computer CPU at 25C thanks to a huge copper HSF.  Post back if you find a good cheap thermal adhesive that works well for you.

10

improv gunk

Down under, people hold ZinkOxide cream in stock as a UV block. Or they keep sun block in stock and don’t care that it holds so much ZnO, dunno.

Anyway, a certain friend of ours is famous for using that gunk as heat conducting paste between chips and sink. Just passing the knowledge along.

11

That’s all good stuff

That’s all good stuff fellars.

Thanks for all the tips.