Courui Big Head COPPER heat sink feeler. Let me hear your voice!

BLF rule #2, thou shalt not swear (or otherwise be rude crude or socially unacceptable)

The option one looks very viable, leaving a lot of room for leeway.

Has it been discovered if the threads in these D01’s are of a consistent nature? Would a threaded insert be likely to cause issue? It would certainly open some options for mounting different emitters and achieving accurate focus…

Threaded but with a flat surface and holes on the outer edge would be my way of thinking. Will have to open mine up and have a look for these specifics to see what might be most applicable.
Thanks for checking into this.

L4M4,

Sure aluminum would be a possibility. It would certainly cut the cost a bit. If others seem to be on board I would consider that as well.

DBCstm,

I suppose I could spin of a sample and pass it around if needed. I do have a pair of these lights in hand at the moment and I will check the threads on both.



My only other concern with a threaded flat top is this. In order to get the threads to come up high enough on the wall to be useful, there would still have to be a counter sink made for the emitter even if it was near the edge. Other wise the emitter sits up too high. I took that little plate thing that came in one of mine and flipped it over. The height was ok, but when I screwed it in NONE of the thread were in use. When it bottomed out I could spin the plate in circles.

I’d be in for option 3, aluminum if it was available, copper if not.

I'd lean towards option 1, then. It's more adaptable if the manufacturer decides to use different threads on the grey ones, or something. Costing 60% less doesn't hurt, either.

I would like the cheaper option #1 in aluminum also - just my 2 cents Smile. I know we have proven the copper MCPCB is the biggest factor, and maybe comfy's position has some merit after the MCPCB.

PS just ordered a bunch of copper discs of assorted sizes from Bopper on Etsy (https://www.etsy.com/shop/Bopper) -- quoted me a price on exact sizes/qty I wanted. She offers pretty much the same options in copper and aluminum, but comparing the prices (18 gauge to 18 gauge), it's only about 12% more for copper, so I'd rather buy copper because I can solder the discs together and make a bigger heat sink out of it, or solder directly into a brass pill - I can't do that with aluminum discs. Only problem is the extra weight of copper vs. aluminum.

For a big heat sink like this, I'm thinking the material cost of copper is considerably more - all depends of course...

the price for the unthreaded version is what is so tempting…

Alu would be also nice for me if it considerable cuts cost…but of course a shiny copper piece is nice to have.

I just have looked again at Linus thread in post #71 he noted some measurements which will help to imagine the circumstances better: Teardown and Mod Thread of Courui XML2 Aka "Big Head 3x18650 Side-Switch Thrower"

If anyone is interested Mountain electronics has the 31.5mm Maxtoch XM boards for what I thought was a very reasonable price.

http://www.mtnelectronics.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=63_65&product_id=349




IF these perform like sinpad/noctigons I may consider assuming use of them in the design. I have some on the way.

Nice boards, and DTP. The contact pads are way on the outer edge, making it easy to clear most reflector bases.

The 25mm board that I got doesn’t have anything on it, but the larger 31mm board has a thin clear protective film over it that of course must be removed prior to use.

I would take two of the cheap ones. I would want to drill my own holes anyway and using a really good thermal epoxy to set the pill in place will work just as well as threaded anyway.

Ya know, in the back of my mind I was thinking to myself, "what would I do if I was only making the batch for me?"

I think the answer is leaning more and more toward this. Just an aluminum sin with some good mass. Go super BLF on the deal and cut the price as deep as humanly possible..

Especially with the use of a large copper MCPCB (31mm) I think the heat is being "conducted" excessively well already. Once its pulled from the emitter and spread out the next step is to dissipate it right.


Option 4?? The BLF EXTREME??

Just the T shaped sink like in option one, but made from aluminum.
Optional pre drilled holes for couple bucks more fore the people who want it?


Like $8.50 maybe?
Pre drilled holes add $5

+1 VOB! Smile. I got a bunch of your copper pills, and some others. I think the mass is great - well over stock, but not so sure of the copper vs. alum. The weight of these lights is considerably more than stock - gives them a quality feel but the weight is just that more to lug around. I think a well designed alum heat sink would work maybe just as well, or at least close. Don't think anyone has done, or published, any direct head to head comparisons in a real practical modded light, so I don't really know for sure. comfy has been implying alum is as good as copper - for me, I am tending to believe him more and more. Also it's just whatever is easier to work with, or what's available. I like that copper can be shaped, formed, and soldered of course.

But for this - made custom just for this light, and thinking can be mounted solidly, alum would be pretty darn good.

I bought one of the Maxtoch boards specifically for use with the Courui……so if I copper pill can be made that will be compatible I am in.

id be in for one in aluminum option#1

I would also rather have the really cheap aluminum. I have a copper threaded pill (bucket) in a SRK and it’s really cool but I have done my own aluminum “pills” and my results were very close. I had planned on posting the results a while back but I haven’t made another SRK that is exactly identical to the copper one so the results wouldn’t really be accurate.

I have also been wondering about the effectiveness of a heatsink vs thermal transfer to the outside of the light. The mass of the copper heatsink would keep it from heating up super fast but what happens after that? Once that copper block gets hot it stays hot and it gets hot fast enough anyway.

Cree Trifecta, XP-G2 vs XM-L2 vs MT-G2

I did this with Convoy C8’s, back in January. Compared them with the stock pill, and with Ryan’s copper pill.

I’m in for a cheapo aluminum design. No holes please! This will finally allow me to get a D01.

I'd be in for option 4! Probably without holes.

-Garry

That was great comparative data collected for sure, but it's not the same as being considered here. To do a valid comparison for this case (alum vs copper in a well designed heat sink), you would have needed a custom aluminum pill made to the same exact dimensions as Ryan's copper pill. I think that spreadsheet only had MT-G2 comparative data as well, which is fine, but limited, though you could consider it the worse case because the MT-G2 is probably the highest heat generating emitter.

No bothering doing a comparison, the output differences will be measured in 10th of percents. With such a massive heatpath to the shell, copper is the worst choice, aluminium is cheaper, easier to machine, more lightweight, and anyone with even a hand drill (who has still one? ;-) ) can make their own wire-holes.