The P60 drop-in is faulty by design, as far as heat transferral is concerned… {snip}
Copper is only as good as the alloy it will come as. Meaning: Pure (chemically pure!) copper = excellent, use it if you can get your hands on it!; industrial-grade-copper (a.k.a. “what-the-machine-shops-with-all-their-fancy-CNC-lathes-usually-have-piled-as-bar-stock”) = save your effort and take your commercially available aluminium bar stock, as it can be machined much more easily, and transfers heat at the same rate as a generic copper alloy.
please take this into consideration as well.
Oh, on a side note: Of course!!! I do use copper with a pill rather than aluminium – just for the sole factor that soldering copper to brass is SOO incredibly easy, compared to soldering aluminium to brass.
FWIW,
Simon
p.s.:
your best bet would be a conically shaped liner bushing, and both the pill and reflector re-worked on a lathe to match that conical shape of the bushing, then hand-lap, then press-fit everything together. Sounds like a lot of work? It surely is, at least for me. Angles of any kind I have always found terrible, be it on 3ds max, AutoCAD, Nemetschek Allplan CAD and even by hand.
C110 copper is 99.9% pure. C101 copper is 99.99% pure. That 0.09% difference just about doubles the cost at an increase in thermal performance of about 5%. Hardly worth the added cost.
Tapered copper pill?
It was not made for the Surefire lights so the taper is slightly off, but, you get the idea.
I’ve wrapped with copper and aluminum, both work well and I can’t tell a difference. The most crucial part is the attachment of the Led to the board and/or the pill. After that the pill to the body seems a distant 2nd. I’m looking at a very small focal point of the Led of only a few square mm’s. The surface area of the outer pill to the body is much greater either metal is going to move more heat than can be transferred from the Led bottleneck. Of the two metals copper is much more malleable fitting with less fuss. Aluminum is just free from an old can and requires just a little more work. The exception is if I’m working a quad at 5.6 amps then I’m using copper, aluminum for everything else.
Replace the bloody brass pill with a copper pipe cap and build it up from there with copper out to the host and maximize the surface contact area between the drop in and the host.
—
Three Tanna leaves to give him life, nine to give him movement. But what if he eats the whole bag?
Just to de-rail the thread slightly, that’s the first mention of E.E.“Doc” Smith that I’ve seen for years. I was a fan of the ‘Skylark’ series.
Back to wrapping P60 drop-ins. I use Slug Tape, adhesive backed copper foil that is also used to screen pick-ups on electric guitars. I’m sure that the adhesive does something horrific to the heat transfer but try wrapping your finger with it and hold a lighted match underneath it, insulate much? :bigsmile:
Any reason to use foil instead of copper tape? I have some very thin 1/2” wide copper tape which fits just about perfectly on my malkoff and lumensfactory drop ins. Will the adhesive create an insulating barrier?
Any reason to use foil instead of copper tape? I have some very thin 1/2” wide copper tape which fits just about perfectly on my malkoff and lumensfactory drop ins. Will the adhesive create an insulating barrier?
Yes, remove the adhesive with thinner, nail polish remover or a strong alcohol….
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C110 copper is 99.9% pure. C101 copper is 99.99% pure. That 0.09% difference just about doubles the cost at an increase in thermal performance of about 5%. Hardly worth the added cost.
Tapered copper pill?

It was not made for the Surefire lights so the taper is slightly off, but, you get the idea.
I’ve wrapped with copper and aluminum, both work well and I can’t tell a difference. The most crucial part is the attachment of the Led to the board and/or the pill. After that the pill to the body seems a distant 2nd. I’m looking at a very small focal point of the Led of only a few square mm’s. The surface area of the outer pill to the body is much greater either metal is going to move more heat than can be transferred from the Led bottleneck. Of the two metals copper is much more malleable fitting with less fuss. Aluminum is just free from an old can and requires just a little more work. The exception is if I’m working a quad at 5.6 amps then I’m using copper, aluminum for everything else.
All the pics in the OP are saying deleted or moved?? Can this be fixed? Thanx!!
Replace the bloody brass pill with a copper pipe cap and build it up from there with copper out to the host and maximize the surface contact area between the drop in and the host.
Three Tanna leaves to give him life, nine to give him movement. But what if he eats the whole bag?
Scott
Just to de-rail the thread slightly, that’s the first mention of E.E.“Doc” Smith that I’ve seen for years. I was a fan of the ‘Skylark’ series.
Back to wrapping P60 drop-ins. I use Slug Tape, adhesive backed copper foil that is also used to screen pick-ups on electric guitars. I’m sure that the adhesive does something horrific to the heat transfer but try wrapping your finger with it and hold a lighted match underneath it, insulate much? :bigsmile:
Fixed
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Any reason to use foil instead of copper tape? I have some very thin 1/2” wide copper tape which fits just about perfectly on my malkoff and lumensfactory drop ins. Will the adhesive create an insulating barrier?
Yes, remove the adhesive with thinner, nail polish remover or a strong alcohol….
!
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