Tapping and heatsink compound

[Do-Clo]

GrimaOllak when using the thermal compund or grease as it is called you want to apply a thin layer on the bottom of your led not quite to the edge so that when you mount it it will not compress out from under the edges, it is hard to describe the amount to use since it is one of those things that comes with experience, (no offense to anyone here). You can take a couple of peices of scrap material to practice on to get the right feel for the amount, you want to end up with a thin even layer over the bottom of the led.



Do-Clo
Don't make me destroy you...

[LAN-ED-TUL]

i just put a small lil dot about a 1/16th of an inch big. cuz when you put the led on and tighten up the bolts it flattens out and covers the whole bottom. and so far, none has ever squeezed out past the edges on me. i use tims holders, and they arent supposed to really need any extra like that, but, what the heck, it cant hurt.

You dont know the POWER, of the dark side...

[GrimaOllak]

Ok, excellent advice, all of you. Thanks!

Wood7588, I tracked down those rods you mentioned, and got me a 3' aluminum one from Lowe's. Thanks for the tip!

Unfortunately, the guy at Radio Shack just looked at me with a blank stare when I said I was looking for Thermal Paste. Another guy knew what I was talking about, but they didn't even have it in their computer system. [}]

I called up my dad to see what he thought, and he said Circuit City has it for sure. We'll see tomorrow, I guess. *sigh* The quest for parts never seems to end.

Ooh! But I did find some very cool sink tube pieces at Lowe's with a "brass" finish, which basically makes it look gold (they're about $7, though.... ouch...). They only had it in 1.25" OD x 6" long, but I figure I'll cut it into sections and do some sort of "plating" on my saber. Can't wait to try it out!

:edit:
Everyone keeps mentioning to make sure the paste doesn't squish out from underneath the LED. I'm fairly certain this won't be a problem (I'll only use a dot, as suggested), but worst case scenario, what happens if it does come out? Will my LED short out or something?

[Usernames suck]

I need to make a heatsink for my led converted mr sabers. What do I need to to?

The opression of the Sith will never return, you have lost - mace windu

[LAN-ED-TUL]

did you not use tims holders? they already are heatsinked.

You dont know the POWER, of the dark side...

[GrimaOllak]

I am using Tim's holder and adapter (it arrives on Thursday), but I was under the impression that it's still a good thing to use compound on it.

Is this completely unnecessary?

:edit:
Nevermind. I think you were talking to Usernames, not me. I'm still waking up. [:I]

[LAN-ED-TUL]

yep talkin to user. and grim, you dont really have to use the paste, but if its handy, why not. i had some from the last lil cpu heatsink/fan swap i did on my computer. its actually artic silver. from what i hear, thats about the best there is. i may be wrong, but everyplace around here uses it over reg. white paste.

You dont know the POWER, of the dark side...

[Usernames suck]

I am not using Tim's blade holder because I am short on cash right now but if I come into some money ( tax refund ) then I will definitely buy one because the one I have right now (that I made) doesn't work as great.

The opression of the Sith will never return, you have lost - mace windu

[LAN-ED-TUL]

yeah, tims got more on the way.

You dont know the POWER, of the dark side...