Heatsinks for DIY LED lamps

fearnoevil said:

So I'm new to this so that's where this Q is coming from ;?D So you're planning on 5 fixtures total with 10 (or more?) 140mm fans, is that correct? And if you're planning on pullin 2elbows, one suggestion is increas your veg time, just don't do it like I did.

I'm wondering it you couldn't cool the whole setup with 2 decent sized/quality oscilating fans at each end of the 8' length? I suppose the big fans do use more juice but I always tend to think that relying on large numbers of individual moving parts tends to increase the chance of a failure to one of the fan units, unless some overlapping redundancy is designed in.

Sure, even with quality oscillating fans they do eventually fail, but in such a small area one should be able to keep disaster at bay until you discover it (as long as you check daily of course). I appreciate any input, as I'm still designing my own grow light set up myself. And good luck with that project, I'll be subbing it if you do a grow log dude ;?)
FYI, I ended up with a little over 3lb/s with just 6 plants. Started with the thought of stretching veg times to 2 months or more, got sidetracked on another major project and by the time I got back to work with girls almost 4 months had passed and they were all Amazons, lol, 6" tall and not enough room for the flower stretch.

Ended up layin them down on their sides, and after 4 weeks of stretch. the largest was nearly 9' long and look like a hedge, All six grew masive amounts of vertical colas.
I end up with a little over 3 lbs.6 ozs but under 6 x 600w high pressure sodium bulbs after a total of 11 weeks in flower. End production was roughly over 3 bows,due to losing 6 ozers to molddue to extremely super-dense but bud, seriously the densest I grown personally (So the strain Immense Bulk I;d give an A+ for quantity, B+ for flavor profile, great body high and sleep med for sure. but unless you have some serious humidity control, this can be a big issue. So great size of buds but for THC content it was above average but did not turn out to be the Holy Grail that I've been looking for for these last 5-6 years. I suggest that if you grow them to their full potential, you should either live in a very dry climate or invest in an industrial strength dehumidifier, just my three and a half cents (inflation0 and should be taken with a grain of salt cuz I'm on my beddy-bye meds and that's always a mistake, lol. Well hope this made sense ;?D

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you saying cool everything plus the lights with oscillating fans?? they'd be better purposed to blow heat off the canopy while individual fans push the heat off each LED.

My point is that these fans can serve two purposes, cooling and circulating air, I guess I didnt phrase that correctly. From what I'd read on some other threads, this has been done, but that may be due to different/smaller cobs, idk.

Still waiting on my COBs and Driver, but got the aluminum parts in. I'll start work on that tomorrow, get the cuts made and then drop them by the welding shop.

Btw, while sourcing a good/inexpensive thermal epoxy, I found some at a site called Newark.com, just $38 for 25 gms, almost bought it too, UNTIL I SAW THE SHIPPING!!! Those knuckleheads wanted $34 for standard UPS Ground for a package that would weigh less than 2 ounces, fucking ripoffs, imo. I thought I'd read on the LED sourcing thread someone recommended them, but caveat emptor, while it may have been an error (I almost think it HAS to be??) if not, then that is practically the definition of highway robbery, lol.

i order from newark all the time i can get some on my next order, link to the item. sometimes these epoxies require special handling and cant be shipped air, etc.

fearnoevil said:

My point is that these fans can serve two purposes, cooling and circulating air, I guess I didnt phrase that correctly. From what I'd read on some other threads, this has been done, but that may be due to different/smaller cobs, idk.

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best for combo cooling/circulating are the star heatsinks as they blow straight down thru the heatsink on your canopy

fearnoevil said:

Still waiting on my COBs and Driver, but got the aluminum parts in. I'll start work on that tomorrow, get the cuts made and then drop them by the welding shop.

Btw, while sourcing a good/inexpensive thermal epoxy, I found some at a site called Newark.com, just $38 for 25 gms, almost bought it too, UNTIL I SAW THE SHIPPING!!! Those knuckleheads wanted $34 for standard UPS Ground for a package that would weigh less than 2 ounces, fucking ripoffs, imo. I thought I'd read on the LED sourcing thread someone recommended them, but caveat emptor, while it may have been an error (I almost think it HAS to be??) if not, then that is practically the definition of highway robbery, lol.

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I ordered 4 cxb3070 ideal chip lok holders from them once and just called them and they adjusted the shipping to $5.

Thanks for the input, I'll check with them and see about that shipping price then. One thing I do keep seeing is sites advertising "tubes" of epoxy but show a pic that looks like this:



This doesn't look like any "tube" I've ever seen, looks more like a packet designed for a one-time use, as in not resealable. Anyone know is that's what this is?

i got some in a tube from cutter but it was tiny, maybe 2 g

Well been keeping busy last couple days prepping for possible flooding in our area, lots of rain here. Hell, so far this year, while not the most in terms of total precip, seems like the most number of rainy days ever, it's rained every week since late spring almost! Welcome to extreme climate change (hard to believe some people still don't believe in it, smfh). While my house isn't in danger, got some friends in the lowlands that are probably going to get hit unfortunately, so been helping sandbag (oh my aching back, lol).

Anyway, got the Aavid Thermalloy Thermal Epoxy, 100 gr for $49.74, and as I feared, it's in a damned one use blister pack (two parts of course), grrrrr. Bought it from Alliedelec.com, bit cheaper and yeah, the shipping cost is due to it being a hazmat (just over $17), also got a 2 oz tube of Aavid Thermalcote thermal grease for $10.82. So anyone have any XP with this stuff?

I am just a little unhappy about the blister pack thing, although maybe I can find two small containers to squeeze the stuff into so I don't have to use it all at once. But what really bothers me is the fact that it seems pretty hazardous when you read the data sheet (but didn't see any warning on the listing of course). The GHS Classification (see note at the end of this) reads:

HAZARD STATEMENT:
RESIN
Acute toxicity DermalCategory 4 - 97.9% of the mixture consists of ingredient(s) of unknown toxicity.
Skin corrosion/irritation Category 2
Serious eye damage/eye irritation Category 2A
Skin sensitization Category 1
Respiratory sensitization Category 1
Germ cell mutagenicity Category 2
Carcinogenicity Category 2
Reproductive toxicity Category 2
Specific target organ systemic toxicity (single exposure) Category 3
Specific target organ systemic toxicity (repeated exposure) Category 2 Blood, brain, Hematopoietic System, Kidney, Liver
Specific target organ systemic toxicity (repeated exposure) Category 1 Lungs, Respiratory system

HARDENER
Acute toxicity Oral Category 4 Acute toxicity Dermal Category 3 - 47.0% of the mixture consists of ingredient(s) of unknown toxicity.
Acute toxicity Inhalation - Vapours Category 2 - 97.2% of the mixture consists of ingredient(s) of unknown toxicity.
Skin corrosion/irritation Category 2
Serious eye damage/eye irritation Category 1
Skin sensitization Category 1
Respiratory sensitization Category 1
Reproductive toxicity Category 2
Specific target organ systemic toxicity (single exposure) Category 2 Nervous system
Specific target organ systemic toxicity (single exposure) Category 1 Respiratory system Specific target organ systemic toxicity (repeated exposure) Category 2 Kidney, Liver
Specific target organ systemic toxicity (repeated exposure) Category 1 Nervous system, Respiratory system

NOTE: It’s important to note, the HazCom 2012 categories are similar yet contradictory to the HMIS/NFPA ratings: GHS 1 – 4 rating system ranks 4 as the least severe while NFPA’s rank 4 is most severe. This inverse rating system has created some concern, however OSHA has indicated that the GHS numbers are for hazard classification purposes and do not reflect the rating of the hazard itself. (WTF DOES THAT MEAN???).

But as I read it, 1 is most severe, so it's a probable carcinogenic, really bad to breathe the fumes, don't want to get it on you, don't accidentally ingest it if you value your liver/kidneys, and don't use it if you're pregnant and several listed as a possible result of "single exposure"??

Sounds like I need a fucking HAZMAT suit and respirator just to use this, and don't do it in the house. I admit to being a bit overly cautious when it comes to such hazards, any advice from folks who've used this stuff?

So did I buy the wrong stuff, or just over-reacting? That "single use" thing still bothers me, but then these new GHS data sheets are different from the old MSDS.

good on you for actually reading that stuff. fucked that these guys buck the NFPA standard - that will literally cost lives at some point

-you dont need a respirator with good ventilation. set up a fan in your window blowing out with a nice workspace table in front of it
-now that youve got good ventilation, skin exposure is your enemy. nitrile gloves. have extras at the ready
-pay attention and take your time. bongdownbrah
-keep in mind these warnings are written for guys rolling up to barrels of this stuff on fire. you have 2 grams in a well ventilated workspace. chillbrahchill
-do your biz and when its time to dispose of it, make sure you mix any of the residual 'A' and 'B' ingredients together and let them harden, once they react with each other and are inert,they pass all TCLP requirements for landfilling even in large quanitites

CobKits said:

good on you for actually reading that stuff. fucked that these guys buck the NFPA standard - that will literally cost lives at some point

-you dont need a respirator with good ventilation. set up a fan in your window blowing out with a nice workspace table in front of it
-now that youve got good ventilation, skin exposure is your enemy. nitrile gloves. have extras at the ready
-pay attention and take your time. bongdownbrah
-keep in mind these warnings are written for guys rolling up to barrels of this stuff on fire. you have 2 grams in a well ventilated workspace. chillbrahchill
-do your biz and when its time to dispose of it, make sure you mix any of the residual 'A' and 'B' ingredients together and let them harden, once they react with each other and are inert,they pass all TCLP requirements for landfilling even in large quanitites

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Bongdownbrah!

CobKits said:

good on you for actually reading that stuff. fucked that these guys buck the NFPA standard - that will literally cost lives at some point

-you dont need a respirator with good ventilation. set up a fan in your window blowing out with a nice workspace table in front of it
-now that youve got good ventilation, skin exposure is your enemy. nitrile gloves. have extras at the ready
-pay attention and take your time. bongdownbrah
-keep in mind these warnings are written for guys rolling up to barrels of this stuff on fire. you have 2 grams in a well ventilated workspace. chillbrahchill
-do your biz and when its time to dispose of it, make sure you mix any of the residual 'A' and 'B' ingredients together and let them harden, once they react with each other and are inert,they pass all TCLP requirements for landfilling even in large quanitites

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Thanks man, great advice, and yeah I figured I was over-reacting a bit, lol, but also as I age I try to be more careful about chemical exposure. Need to make it another 10-15 years and by then they should have figured cancer out and the cures as well ;?D.

Meanwhile, still waiting on my parts to get back from the shop, unfortunately they got swamped by some big orders before I dropped my stuff off, but expect the first prototype to be done Friday latest, and then I'll get to work on it ;?)

ttystikk said:

Bongdownbrah!

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Lol, perfect timing on that, I just got a new bong in the mail today, just a little guy by EHLE, but I love their stuff, real solid. ;?D

fearnoevil said:

Need to make it another 10-15 years and by then they should have figured cancer out and the cures as well

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sorry man, you'll just have to grow more weed for the time being

Hey, no worries, I don't have the Big C, just trying to limit my risks as it's more of an issue when you start getting up there, lol. I think I'm becoming a borderline hypochondriac, lol, cuz once I passed 50 I started getting all these odd aches and pains, don't have the energy levels or drive like I used to, all the normal shit that's just part of the aging/slow-motion-dying process we're all going through, I know.

But I still worry from time to time that maybe this pain isn't normal, or that ache could be a sign of something serious, maybe that bump on my ass that I can't see might be skin cancer, lol. Getting old sucks ;?D Just gotta make it until they can upgrade me to an android body, or freeze me for a 100 years so I can come back like Rip Van Winkle

Got the prototype water cooled heatsink back from the shop today, they charged me $50 to weld her up, not bad but the work wasn't up to their normal standards, imo (they were swamped and my guy was out sick, so they let the apprentice do the work, understandable I suppose, but still not too happy). If this works as I hope and I decide to spring for 7 more, I may look to another shop. Anywho, here's some pics.

So the dimensions are 6" x 2" x 46" - this is probably quite a bit of over kill, lol, and on future models I'll probably go with 5" x 1" tubing. Btw, those are 1/2" FIP threads, think I'll use PVC fittings, at least for the prototype.


It was pretty scuffed up, with a few gouges here and there, so I took an orbital sander to it, started with 40 grit all the way through 1000, and it's pretty smooth. Not quite a mirror finish, although at an angle you can see your reflection in it ;?)


This is the rough layout of the COBs (not epoxied down yet)


Top side, the two plates at either end will be drilled for hangers, made em big cuz I'm not sure what system will work best yet. The middle plates are the mount for the driver.


Not happy with the mounting bracket, the guy screwed up and added an extra inch and a half spacing, but it'll still do the job. Again as a prototype it's a little rough looking but all in all I think it's going to work just fine ;?)

fearnoevil said:

My point is that these fans can serve two purposes, cooling and circulating air, I guess I didnt phrase that correctly. From what I'd read on some other threads, this has been done, but that may be due to different/smaller cobs, idk.

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<<<<<<what that guy says ...

I started using smaller fans just to blow air on my heatsinks, since then, the heatsinks are nearly room temperature to the touch I still get a nice breeze through the canopy... way to go

BTW, I must have been high when I ordered these tubes, 1/4" wall is WAY THICK and pretty heavy, not to mention more expensive. So these tubes cost $62, while the 1/8" would run me only about $38, so with fittings and welding cost one of these would run roughly $92 (instead of the $116 I paid) for a 4 foot heat sink which I'm pretty sure will handle just about any size fixture you'd want to build. But efficiency and cooling remain to be determined, so stay tuned ;?D