INTL-OUTDOOR Direct-Thermal Copper MCPCB Review

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts
13

Thanks for review…

As far as I can see from where Im sitting. The 16mm Sinkpads are the only copper MCPCBs that can be made into 10mm. The ones from intl-outdoor could be turned into 14 it looks.
But the ones from intl-outdoor will offer quite more bang for the buck. Flat underside and that there are space for access soldier to go away from the center is just icing on the cake!
Looks to be a winner! Cant wait to get mine…

14

Thanks PilotPTK for the review. Also a big rap to IOS in allowing PilotPTK to review this MCPCB before release.

15

Interesting, thanks for the review.

Will you do direct lumen comparison tests against the SinkPad?

Cheers!

16

Good to know that the MPCB bond to the copper substrate is solid, the MPCB on the copper stars i got from ledtech.de were VERY delicate.

Thx PilotPTK.

17

Thanks for the thorough review. And for the great piece of video art, loved that B-) .

18

Wow! This sounds very good! Looking forward to these being available! Just hope Hank doesn't underestimate the demand for these! Thanks PilotPTK!

-Garry

19

Thanks for the in-depth review, PPTk! These look to be a great value. Hopefully Hank has a lot of these in stock…

20

PilotPtk great review. On your thermal test did you compare with the thicker Sinkpad design or were both models set at 1.5mm?

21

I kept them both at 1.5mm because I wanted to compare apples-apples. I used 20 degrees C as the ambient temperature and put the stars on an ‘infinite’ copper heat-sink. That means that it conducts the heat away at the rate of copper, but it never heats up. I set the thermal generation rate to 8W on the top of the thermal slug.

As you can see, the temperature rise is a little over 7 Degrees C in the SinkPAD Style board and a little over 5 Degrees C in the INTL-OUTDOOR Style Board. Not a massive difference, but not completely insignificant either. It would be more and more pronounced as the number of heat watts went up.

PPtk

22

Thanks for the tests PPtk, I’m really surprised that that tiny stamp mark on the Sinkpad makes a measurable difference!

23

It’s not a stamp mark but the line between two separate pieces of metal. My guess as to how they make it would be they machine the top surface leaving the pad high then add the dielectric, and traces, maybe machine the pad again to match, then solder mask, silkscreen and plating. Nice boards but I like PilotPtk’s design better.

24

What isn’t a stamp mark? The SinkPAD ‘hole’ on the back side? I can assure you that it is - the whole thing is a single piece of metal (copper) that is punched to raise up the thermal pad in the center. This is why there is a matching ‘hole’ in the back side - the copper is displaced so that the SinkPAD Raises up from the top side of the board.

PPtk

25

Silly me. I thought they pressed a thicker piece of copper in but it’s still continuous with the rest of the base metal?

26

Did you account for filling the dimple with thermal compound? I suspect that in the real world the differences will be minimal.

27

Wow, these sound excellent, and under $2 each. I was unaware of round 1 on these.

Oh boy, I think your (PPtk) design is superior on the 16 mm SinkPADs, but still, these are about half the cost and I do like the flat bottoms... I ran out of the 20 mm SinkPAD's from the first group buy, so ordered a lot more of the 16's. Hank has been pretty good in keeping up for the most part, so glad to see he's leading the way.

I'm not sure how you are feeling about this, but it was bound to happen, just a matter of time. If only we could get low cost, low profile boost drivers now for single cell XM-L2/copper lights, we'd be set. I think we are still lacking timed testing though on the XM-L2/copper single cells across a variety of amps and batteries. One informal test I did comparing a U3/SinkPAD vs XM-L2/SinkPAD, both at 3.85A C8's, showed the XM-L2 started 100 lumens ahead at start, stayed ahead for the first 15 minutes on a Pana PD, but then started falling behind the U3. Also I find you got to do everything to reduce resistance on XM-L2/SinkPAD builds, because every drop matters, more so than with alum stars.

28

Yes, I did. I filled the void with a material that has similar thermal properties to thermal paste. Ceramic, to be specific, with a thermal conductivity of 3.1W/M*K

I suspect the same - but minimal isn’t zero.

PPtk

29

Any estimate on pricing?

30

Price is posted on the IOS site, think it's $3.68 for qty 2 - good deal.

31

Thanks Tom, found it here:

http://intl-outdoor.com/2-pcs-noctigon-xm16-copper-mcpcb-p-693.html

32

I have looked at PilotPTK’s pics several times. I have milled something similar before. Looking at the pics, those conductive pads for the + and - pads for the led to solder to would be very hard to machine the way they are shapped. Those pads are tiny and very detailed with various curves and 90 degree corners in the pics. End mills cut round corners when you run into a 90 degree inside turn. Seems to be to much detail to be machined. Not impossible but on a cost perspective, expensive. Copper is not a very friendly machined material either. My guess is these are pressed with a hydraulic press that has a stamp that leaves the protruding impression when under extreme pressure. Something similar to this. http://www.metalmagic.com/copper/
Just my guess. :slight_smile: