INTL-OUTDOOR Direct-Thermal Copper MCPCB Review

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

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

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.

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

Any estimate on pricing?

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

Thanks Tom, found it here:

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

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:

Like a coin press.

Yes, I kind of mentioned it post #4. It’s possible It could be molded but from a cost stand point I would think pressed.

This is my guess as well. At just a bit over a buck each, I can’t see how they could possibly afford ANY machining time.

The + and - pads are not connected to, or part of, the base. They are traces applied to the top of the dielectric layer.
My guess is they milled the top to form the center pad only, then applied the dielectric layer.
I base this guess on the very rough look of the surface under the dielectric layer that PPtk cut away.

When are these going to be available? I NEED them!!! :bigsmile:

Ya I new that, (WTH was I thinking) the gold must have been affecting my brain. :frowning:
Now that I have recovered, I noticed in the pics that the sides of the raised led pad seems to have a slight angle towards the inside. Meaning if it had been milled they would have had to have used a tapered end mill. It would have been very small and custom made. Stamping on the other hand, would have benefited from the slight inward angle on the center pad. It would have helped release the Cooper board once the stamp is pulled away. Molding the board would have also benefited from the center being angled for the same reason.
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PilotPTK, does the sides of the led pad appear to be leaning in slightly or or is the gold playing tricks on me again? :bigsmile:

Yes, they are definitely tapered/drafted with a small radius where the slug meets the base. This is one of the reasons I believe the whole thing is stamped.

PPtk

There is no doubt that these are pressed and not milled. Milling would be hugely expensive and wasteful. Stamping would ridiculously easy, 1000 times more efficient, and allow large production rates.

At $1.84 ea I will be trying these out. Guess I’ll be just one more compiling an order with other parts when these become available. Now if I could just find someone to make me a copper pill for my HD2010!

ventureofblood was considering it. Maybe we should start a HD2010 copper pill interest thread to give him an idea of how many people would buy one.

You might want to talk with him to see if he would like to make those. He mentioned that he might do something like that after he finishes up the Uf-T20 copper pills.

Now available for sale