DIY heatsinks?

Now for some background I'm a cnc programmer and have access to machines both in and outside of my shop so I'm not going to have an issue finding mills or lathes to do the necessary work.

Now I'm not even sure if this is worth looking into but since I have the capability I might as well ask. Is this even worth bothering with? How much of the overall price is typically going to even be heatsinks?

Now typically I work on one way mechanical clutches and gearboxes for planes and helicopters so my knowledge of heatsinks is limited to what I know from computers. Material shouldn't be an issue for me to order either, does anyone know if they use standard aircraft aluminum or if it's some special type with better heat transfer properties? Is there any real science to the design or are just a bunch of thin pegs/posts going to work? Assuming I make these and all I pay for is aluminum how much would I actually save on say 9 citizen clu058 heatsinks? I can get a 3x3 bar of aluminum 10ft long for a pretty reasonable price through local like 200-250 tops, and I figure I could get at least 18-25 out of a bar depending on the heat I need to disappate.

Gumdrawp said:

Now I'm not even sure if this is worth looking into but since I have the capability I might as well ask. Is this even worth bothering with? How much of the overall price is typically going to even be heatsinks?

Click to expand...

just do the math based on weight of aluminum and you'll find out why extrusions are so popular

you can mill your own out of solid aluminum but with all the material you are cutting away it comes out close to the same cost as an extrusion (not including setup and machine time)

Fair enough I wasn't sure if the cost of recycling the chips made it worthwhile

possible.

if you are getting your aluminum at truckload prices ($2-$2.50/lb) and then recycling chips it might be advantageous on a materials basis

im guessing your machine time is afterhours or during idle time so its "freeish"