Silicone cubes: Who uses them?

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts
1

I've seen these Silicone Cubes and am curious about their use:

https://www.fasttech.com/products/0/10003973/1285500-thermal-conduction-silicone-rubber-cubes-1105cm10-

Even Richard sells them at Mtn:

http://www.mtnelectronics.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=25_74&product_id=105

Does anyone actually use these, and are they effective for anything? I had purchased a set of these with a previous FastTech order, out of curiosity, and haven't done anything with them since.

As I was condering these today, I remembered that my Lowe's plumbing part triple spacer (https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/32424) was made so that it left an un-filled section of the column that makes no contact with the body.

I'm going to try using these cubes to fill that area when I re-assemble the light, which should help heat transfer, in theory (Theory being that anything will be better than air).

2

Have you considered using copper tape on that section like in the P60 drop-in with AS5 as lubricant to slide it in?

Haven’t used those silicon thingies, I wonder if they could help dampen the buzzing noise on some drivers…

3

I’ve used them as a filler in some pills and behind the gap in reflectors.

4

I bought some, but I don’t really use them. Anything is better than air, but I don’t feel like they’re enough better to be worth the time.

5

I use them when I have space to fill and I’m running over 3 amps. No idea if they actually make a difference in actual heat transfer, but I don’t mind the cheap peace of mind that they might reduce the effects of vibration on the components on the board, and it’s hard to believe it’ll hurt thermally. They cost like a nickel and take 5 seconds to put one in. Nothing else I do to a light is that cheap or fast.

6

Is that what the kids are calling them these days?

/rimshot

7

The modder Vinh from CPF uses them to help w/ heat. I have them in a few of my lights.

Richard and Vinh have done projects together,both live in the Seattle area

8

Hi

But the silicone, in theory, is not a thermal insulator? :~

9

Compared to metals, yes it’s an insulator. Compared to air it’s more conductive. To the order of 10-30x or more.

Air is .024W/mk, thermal silicone is .60+W/mk.

10

I have used them on a driver which had hot parts(diodes if I remember correct) to fill the gap between the hot parts and the pill, just sliced and mounted under slight pressure…not sure if that helps a lot but it’s better than nothing…

I tried them again but it always felt off when mounting the driver, so maybe a bit of glue should be used…

11

I used one (or two, I forget) to fill the space that was left between the new driver and the seat of the star (in a Odepro M37 1 x AAA), and thus the driver fit well in size to thread the flashlight body in the head. (Sorry my bad english )

12

Thanks, good information! :slight_smile:

13

Madonna in the early 90's? Her cubist period.

14

I'm not sure if these are pure silicone, or if there is also some sort of thermally conductive filler. I've only used them a handful of times, but I know that Vinh has had modified buck/boost drivers that would die without them, but ran smoothly with them. They probably work best in a situation where you have one or two hot components that you need to spread the heat away from. They are obviously not a cure-all type of product.

15

I use duct seal. It’s cheap and plentiful. I don’t know how much it helps thermally, but works well with recoil on the components on a rifle. I just pack the pill and take a piece of coat hanger to make holes for the wires. Then I push the driver in there up against it. And excess gets pushed through the wire holes. It’s not electrically conductive so it works great.