Now, I know a lot of us have minimal power tools or a full workshop so we have to rely on buying custom made heatsinks which can be a little expensive. I’ve looked around for a lot of copper items that can be used as heatsinks. Sure, copper pipes and fittings exist but sometimes can be troublesome to cut them to size or filling them up with more mass, especially when you have minimal or no power tools since copper will work harden. I’ve found that copper shims are best and easiest to work with, at least for me. Reason why I wanted to make these was to drive my S2+ and M1 (FET + Luxeon MZ) as hard as possible and reduce thermal sag and it worked wonderfully!
Here’s how I do it:
Finished product
Tools you’ll need:
- Pliers
- Torch / jet lighter
- Solder paste
- Flux
Copper shims
First, apply a generous amount of flux and solder paste
Sandwich and squeeze out excess
Heat up copper. I’m just using a scraper and heating up with my jet lighter on the bottom. Make sure you line them up best you can with pliers
Voila! Quick and easy!
Now, to get it to shape, you can just use a file and slowly file away. It shouldn’t take long since you can get copper shims of 15mm or 20mm which is pretty much the perfect size for most small flashlight heatsinks. I have some milling bits so I chucked those onto my drill press and grind it to shape which took just a couple minutes. For those wanting to build a triple in a host like a Convoy S2+, you can get the 15mm shims and stack it to height. It’s perfect for the pill, you just have to sand down the rim which is easy. You can also get the shims in different thicknesses to suit your needs. I’m using 2mm thick shims here.
In the lights. Some 11w/mk thermal paste and a thin amount of Fujik on the bottom and a layer of Fujik on top for a nice, tight fit.
Hope this helps! Feel free to share it here if you make it!
Thanks! Yes, I’ve seen that post. One thing I didn’t really like was you have to sand the coins flat. Plus, the coins are usually a mixture of copper with some other materials which probably won’t affect thermal conductivity much, but it’s something to consider. Also, gotta look for the coins as well. Copper shims are cheap and you can get a pack of 30 for like USD3 if you look around.
Yep, what ^ said. Also like I mentioned, copper work hardens and cutting a 20mm diameter rod by hand is no fun at all. Really wished I had bought a bandsaw instead of a scroll saw years ago for other projects.
Yes! The E2L is what I always recommend to those who want to build a triple. It’s also easy when you want to swap out different optics. Also has better thermal path, and is cheaper than getting a S2+ with the spacer. Convoy has the fancy colours though.
Before I found Kiriba-ru I did this with coins, even though not all coins are made out of copper. These shims are an excellent DIY job, thanks for sharing.
this is great info OP, thank you or sharing. Could you share an ebay link or similar for the copper shims? Never knew you could buy these, i have copper 3/4” bars saved on my wish lists i was going to try and cut up and use. The shims seem much better.
