INTL-OUTDOOR Direct-Thermal Copper MCPCB Review

the bottom is also gold plated, and the thermal analysis didn’t take into account the gold portion, i assume it will only make a degree or two difference, but so does the divet in the sinkpad

Didn’t notice that. Good eye.
Though if people are worried about that, they can polish the gold plating off much easier than lapping that divot out.
But if I could get two sinkpads for the price of one noctigon, I would be going for the sinkpad.

It's probably a 2-3microns thick finish (0.002-0.003mm) and hardly has an effect.

It's specified on the website and in this review.

i agree it likely has little effect, but i do keep it in mind

Oops :party: shows how much I pay attention.

One thing I disliked on the SinkPADs I got is the thickness of the electrical connections. They could do them very wide but instead they make them just these tiny copper layer lines.

Now look at Noctigon and see how wide the copper electrical connection is from the pads to the emitter.
I have to say just that would make me prefer the Noctigons if the price and other things were the same as SinkPAD.

Sure you don’t need wide electrical connection, and they do safe some little cash on material by having it thin but it does not hurt to have it nice and wide especially when XM-L is 3A emitter, some people push it even higher and reducing all resistances is a nice thing to do with high loads.

Gold plating is a nice touch too, it does not tarnish over time. Especially if you touched it just once the pure copper will tarnish fast. At least I can see that on my SinkPADs stored in a sealed bag that I’ve touched and some didn’t even have to, it does tarnish. Especially if you work with pure copper you will notice it, otherwise you might just say hey that is clean, for quite some time until starts to get darker and browny and then green haha.

How significant is the difference in thickness between Noctigon and Sinkpad?

Sinkpads seem to be substantially thicker? Will this make them better able to absorb and transfer heat? Especially considering the star is going to be sitting inside an aluminum flashlight.

Totally unmeasurable… gold is the fourth best conductor of heat (diamond, silver, copper, gold) and it is VERY thin. It’s conductivity is around 15% less than copper. Aluminum is about half that of copper.

What texaspyro said, gold is very close to copper. Right between aluminum and copper, in fact.
Thermal conductivity, Top-5 (25C, W/m-K)

  • Diamond: >1800
  • Silver: 429
  • Copper: 401
  • Gold: 318
  • Aluminum: 237

Other commonly used materials in flashlights:

  • Brass: 109
  • Stainless Steel: 16

So your saying we should get diamond stars and pills?
How about a synthetic diamond head, does it have good emissivity (you know, for the uber rich person who has everything)?

I agree the difference would be minimal, but i would be interested in seeing it added to the thermal analysis, for thoroughness (i can be a bit OCD about thoroughness and complete data)

BTW, i now have two thoughts on M1 lumen sag, brass pill and anodized threads inside the head preventing optimum heat transfer.

Actually, you want isotopically pure carbon 12 diamond… it has twice the thermal conductivity of natural diamond.

And you can buy diamond heat spreaders. They are not all that expensive. Also, I make my own thermal paste out of diamond dust.

How would that resist shock? I mean if you drop the flashlights and it would be a pcb, 1.6mm thick?

Oh come on! You can't post something like that without providing a link!

I thought everybody knew how to use Google:

http://usapplieddiamond.com/pdfs/APheatsinksfin.pdf

FFS yes I know how to use google, and I found those very pages you linked, but like those two all I found was either .pdfs or manufacturer pages, and nothing about where to buy the damn things. Which I still don't know. So thanks.

They are mostly custom built stuff. These people have off-the-shelf items:

http://www.e6cvd.com/cvd/page.jsp?pageid=1001

Also, google “CVD diamond”

Or very filtered beach sand? :bigsmile:

lol this thead is getting really off topic now.

I’m not sure many would buy Diamondtigons for $1000 piece.

off topic? Here i come……LOL

wish our cone cells in our eyes catch more light than it can.That way our lights become more efficient. No more copper,silver and diamond talks. :wink:

Is this a jewelry thread? Coz it looks like silver, gold, diamonds now :wink: