DIY and or cheapest heatsinks for DIY LED's

[Captn Obvious]

I would think LED's would be a little cheaper since they are pennies to the dollar for old school ones and the new ones are made out of the same stuff, but, since they are gouging us on them as of now, every penny counts in a DIY build. I am a heck of a cheap guy, so, I am looking for LED heatsink ideas. WHat can I pull out of where to give me a 22"x22" max size heatsink area? Smaller works also but not too much smaller.

 

[radicaltimes]

Check Ebay. I bought two used one that are 10 x 14 for 40.00. They are two inches high and heavy. I have 48 leds on each one and light a 120 gallon reef with them.

 

[gpx1200]

i bought 1in square aluminum tubing and split it on a table saw to make 1inch u-channell, you can buy regular 1inch u channell but it's hard to find and my way is cheeper. alot of guys use 3/4in channell available at home depot or lowes the led's fit on 3/4 but i like the xetra area.
i drilled through all the tubes on a jig on the drill press so all the holes would line up and used threaded rod with aluminum spacers to conect them all togeather
the bigger one is older, made with the same tubing but asembled useing peices of the tubing as spacers, i would not space the led's this far apart if i did this one over the result was a little spoty

 

[reefermad619]

Go to a real metal shop and get some 1.5" c channel. I picked up a about 25' of 1.5" C channel for $60. That was with them making about 15 cuts for me too.

 

[el aguila]

I got 1/8" x 1" channel from metal supermarkets cheaper than what they sell at Lowes. Plus from them you only have to pay for the amount that you want.

Any 1/8" Aluminum extrusion can work as long as it has flat areas. I have used some freebies that were 5" wide. Because I packed 1W LEDs on it, I placed angle on the back side with thermal grease to make heat sink fins. Not as efficient as normal heat sink, but it works, and all I paid for was the thermal grease.

Some scrap yards not only buy scrap AL, but will also sell it at a much reduced rate.

 

[kcress]

It doesn't get cheaper than U-channel.

 

[Exotic Reef.]

I would think LED's would be a little cheaper since they are pennies to the dollar for old school ones and the new ones are made out of the same stuff, but, since they are gouging us on them as of now, every penny counts in a DIY build. I am a heck of a cheap guy, so, I am looking for LED heatsink ideas. WHat can I pull out of where to give me a 22"x22" max size heatsink area? Smaller works also but not too much smaller.

People are now useing aluminum sheets , and hard project paper for school and ect and works just a good as heat sinks and you can buy this for less then 10$$ in staples

 

[O2Surplus]

Another source for cheap heat sinks- junk car audio amplifiers. I found and used 3 identical Sony Amps in my first led build. I found them in the junk pile at a local car audio store. I think I paid $20 for all of them. They measure 10"x13" and are pretty thick as well. They were rated for 200 watts each so they keep 30 Cree XR-E's running at 1000ma nice and cool. Here's a photo.

 

[SchnitzelReef]

i just did a build with 90 leds on 3 pieces of 60" C channel and my leds are running cool. I used the 3/4" channel from Home Depot..paid $40 for 4-96"pieces ($10/piece) the whole keeping leds super cold is a myth..these things were designed to run at 150degrees, and mine dont get over 100. good luck

 

[kcress]

Surplus; that's a great idea!

 

[O2Surplus]

Surplus; that's a great idea!

Hey Kcress -

Glad you like it. I've built a few more for friends using even larger amps that I found at PAWN Shops. I recently found and gutted an "old school" (Circa 1990) Rockford Fosgate Power 1000 amplifier. This amp is positively giant compared to the amplifiers made today. I paid $10 for it since it no longer functioned. The guy in the pawn shop didn't realize that the electrolytic capacitors will dry out with age, rendering the product useless. It seems that I've found a veritable gold mine for cheap heat sinks!

 

[Breadman03]

02Surplus, I love your idea. My time:money ratio tips slightly toward time as a full time college student raising a family, so I am pretty likely to give that a shot.

 

[djsmallz]

Wow, I love the idea of using a gutted car amp, I feel so dumb now for tossing all those old ones in the past.

 

[gpx1200]

guitar and p.a. amps are another good sorce for heatsinks iv'e owned a few that had a 6-8x 24-30inch row of fins all the way across the back, the ones that use mosfet power amps seem to have the biggest heatsinks

 

[Sloanhaus]

i just did a build with 90 leds on 3 pieces of 60" C channel and my leds are running cool. I used the 3/4" channel from Home Depot..paid $40 for 4-96"pieces ($10/piece) the whole keeping leds super cold is a myth..these things were designed to run at 150degrees, and mine dont get over 100. good luck

Can you post a picture of your led light heat sink please.

 

[ravi197699]

heatsinck

heatsinck

Very nice idea never though of that... can you post picture of the other side of the heat sink please .......

Another source for cheap heat sinks- junk car audio amplifiers. I found and used 3 identical Sony Amps in my first led build. I found them in the junk pile at a local car audio store. I think I paid $20 for all of them. They measure 10"x13" and are pretty thick as well. They were rated for 200 watts each so they keep 30 Cree XR-E's running at 1000ma nice and cool. Here's a photo.

 

[ravi197699]

I took down blinds in my living room and they were mounted on the U channel and its aluminum. I have that sitting in my backyard and its at least 16 foot long. I am going to use that for my diy fixture and cut out in pieces and then joint them together to make nice size heatsink...

 

[ddavies564]

I use extruded aluminum reveals for plaster and drywall. I buy it surplus, ends up being cents per foot.

 

[nivram]

[QUOT E=ddavies564;22463856]I use extruded aluminum reveals for plaster and drywall. I buy it surplus, ends up being cents per foot.

[/QUOTE]


Nice setup. Do you have a build thread?

 

[O2Surplus]

Very nice idea never though of that... can you post picture of the other side of the heat sink please .......

Don't laugh- This was part my very first Led build. But I must have done something right, because it's still up and running 4 years later LOL.