I was just browsin international outdoor and found thesehttp://www.intl-outdoor.com/thermal-conductive-pad-10x10mm-5pcs-p-411.html,and this http://www.intl-outdoor.com/thermal-grease-heatsink-compound-st801-15gtube-p-407.html,and finally this http://www.intl-outdoor.com/thermal-grease-heatsink-compound-st801-05gsoftpack-p-408.html.I think I'm going to try the foam for my xpg triples cause they get hot real quick and may be of some benefit for my fry ray revival project.For the price,the adhesive may be worth a shot.If anyone has used thermal foam before and you have any thoughts on it,let me know.Will this be an effective way to wick away driver heat or is it more of a gimmick?
grrrrr! can't get the dagnabbit links to work,but original question as posted,thanks.
Thermal foam is absolute garbage. You might as well use bubble-gum. Our hobby produces a lot of heat in a very small area - the ONLY effective way to get heat away from our source (LED) is metal to metal contact with a thin layer of thermal grease/gel/phase-change-pad to fill in the microscopic gaps. Anything that tries to fill in a large (more than a few thousandths of an inch) gap is going to seriously hinder the flow of thermal energy. Even the best thermal epoxies, foams and pads are hundreds of times less thermally conductive that aluminum.
PPtk
Oh, and here are the links corrected...
http://www.intl-outdoor.com/thermal-conductive-pad-10x10mm-5pcs-p-411.html
http://www.intl-outdoor.com/thermal-grease-heatsink-compound-st801-15gtube-p-407.html
http://www.intl-outdoor.com/thermal-grease-heatsink-compound-st801-05gsoftpack-p-408.html
Thanks,good to know about the foam,I was close to getting it and thanks for link repairs.What is a good potting compound for the likes of a triple xpg setup?
I don't know about the potting compound but for TIM I find Arctic Silver products to be quite good. Basically any high end thermal compound sold for computer heatsinks will be quite good.
I use arctic alumina now for gluing down the boards and as for potting using this stuff I've heard some say it is capacitive and others say it's not.
If you're talking a true potting compound for filling large areas, The best thermal potting that I've ever worked with is the Wakefield Deltabond 153
Any good thermal potting compound though is not going to fall into the 'budget' category. Some of the homemade epoxy+stuff potting compounds that have been discussed on this forum are probably quite good though.
PPtk
I know the Arctic Silver epoxy is capacitive as it has actual silver in it. Check their website as it has all that info, they provide pretty thourough data sheets.
cool,I’m gonna check on that now thanks for all the help. DARC
Arctic Silver is pretty good. I prefer Parker Chomerics T670 though. When reading the numbers, keep in mind that it can be really difficult to compare apples to apples. 3.0w/m*k may sound terrible compared to something that is 6.0w/m*k but if they bond is 3 times as thick, then the 3.0w/m*k stuff is actually 50% better. Parker/Chromerics has been in the thermal management game a LONG time and it's pretty hard to beat their stuff when you really start looking at the numbers. Their T557 thermal pad material is really good as well.
Chomerics is pretty good about offering samples, they have been to me at least over the years.
http://www.chomerics.com/products/Thermal_Grease_650_660.htm
PPtk
They also have some really nice/good thermal tape, spec’d that for use in a desklamp I was working on as an intern awhile ago.
Yep, T405 is good stuff. Not nearly as thermally conductive as their T557 (non adhesive), but it's really good for an adhesive style pad. I used a TON of that stuff a few years back on a custom Thermal-Electric Cooler.
Thanks guys opens up alot of options for me and it's good to know I'm getting experienced help here.I may get some of the deltabond 153,little pricey as you said but some stuff is not worth being frugal with.
Glad to help. Before dropping the big-bucks on 153, I really do suggest searching the forum for the home-made thermal potting compound that's been discussed. It will cost pennies on the dollar to the 153, and as I said, it should actually be quite good.
You can't go wrong with the Deltabond though - it's great stuff, I just don't want to see you spend a bunch of money that You don't need to..
PPtk
Home Made Thermal Potting:
https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/1974
Silicon Carbide Powder + Hardware Story Epoxy
What about using the foam instead of potting compound? How does the foam compare to that? I'm asking because the Dry came with a few little chunks of this material (I didn't know what it was), and when I did some work on the driver, I put the chunks back, but they don't come close to filling in the driver cavity. If I filled in the cavity with more of these foam chunks, would that be significantly better than air? I don't want to use potting compound because I want to be able to swap drivers in the future if necessary.
And a question for anybody: is it $1.50 for each little 1cm-square chunk? That seems really expensive.
Nice! I usually try to get overly scientific with homebrew stuff like this,but I think I’ll just whip up a batch and see what happens
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Referencing my previous comment: Thermal foam is absolute garbage. You might as well use bubble-gum.
I wasn't joking. It's hardly enough better than air to classify as a thermal-interface material. As much as I hate to, I can't claim that it's worse than air. For the price though, it's definitely not worth it. Don't even bother.
If you really have a strong desire to use thermal foam though - at least use the best... Once again, it's a Chomerics product. Chomerics 976. Also should be pretty easy to get a free sample of from Parker. Whatever comes in the DRY - I would be willing to bet good money that it's nowhere near as good as the 976 - and keep in mind that 976 sucks. They all suck. Thermal conduction and distance just don't go well together. It's really not the fault of the foam - it's just physics.