Forging a heatsink

Anyone every give it a shot? Lol seems like a simple enough idea.

make a mold, melt down a metric ass ton of soda cans and fill the mold lol...

I don't currently have access to the required equipment but hopefully will soon.

Why? Think I picked up a heatsink and fan combo for $7 at Microcenter. It is a simple enough idea and really the reason it's not done is because the cost of pre-made ones are cheap and the cost to fabricate something like that is quite high.

Not sure what other contaminants you'll get if using cans as well....they may not be pure aluminum, added dyes and whatnot.

pockitsPM said:

Anyone every give it a shot? Lol seems like a simple enough idea.

make a mold, melt down a metric ass ton of soda cans and fill the mold lol...

I don't currently have access to the required equipment but hopefully will soon.

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Do you know a kid in highschool metal shop class? lol

I coulda made one back in the day, easy. Get a heatsink to copy, place it in a mold and pound the clay around it, then create 2 holes to access it. one for filling, the other to allow air to escape. fill with molten aluminum, the best part!! let cool, bust out of clay, chop off fill tube/excess, and clean up with saw and/or file. Done.

casting and forging are two different animals.
You mean the spur and riser holes?
SLITLOS

heatsinks are cold forged with a 1000 ton press costing a few hundred grand

I don't know any kids with access to the needed equipment .. maybe I do idk never asked... but my dad and his buddies are into knife making now and I was watching videos on melting metal and I was also looking into buying more heatsinks which led me to this... I know little of the terminology and overall process tho... make metal hot...hit with hammer lol that's all I got so far

CobKits said:

heatsinks are cold forged with a 1000 ton press costing a few hundred grand

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That was pretty nifty I didn't know that... as much as I'd love just buying properly made equipment I'm also fascinated with makeshift, diy, ect... and I'm not really looking to rush into casting forging ect just sharing an idea with frans

Wowzers im on a " ect " binge lol looking for anyway to throw it in a sentence lately....ect ... in my head it's said with a lisp.

if cans were 6061....then the five or ten cent deposit is a bargain compared to its true cost....

Yes then there's those numbers of which you speak lol.

Googled " heatsink rollitup " and this thread was in the top 5 aww yiss lol

CobKits said:

heatsinks are cold forged with a 1000 ton press costing a few hundred grand

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They had gloves, but no ear or eye protection. I was taught to use in the mid 60's.
But they have shinny new machines.
SLITLOS

Forging means you will press the metal with +500ton to shape it accordingly to what you want. Hot forging require less pressing force but the final product dimensions may vary. Cold forging requires more pressing force but the product final dimensions varies much less then the hot forged...

I think you mean casting... Melting metal and let it cool inside a mold.

The amount of energy needed to melt the aluminum(?) would cost more than buying a cheap cpu cooler.....

But I love crazy ideas and engineer talking

And you are still forgetting about all the mill work that would be needed after. Flat surface, drill and tap, etc.

im thinking they only face mill these, maybe a chamfer on the edge of face. i think everything on top comes out as is