Making cases and heatsinks using ceramic heatsinks.

Cases and heatsinks are a problem for DIY builds.

I made quite a few amplifiers with thick machined front panels, heavy finned heatsinks and aluminium cases. Such parts need machining and tapping.

I devised a way of making cases, which eliminated these problems and made for easier case design, lower costs and quicker builds.

Cases

Made from sheet aluminium alloy of preferably 3mm so only single sheet of material needed.

Depending on the facilities you have available these can be made manually. I get the parts laser cut by a company which will also supply the material. Alloy 5251 lasers and anodises well. The case parts need holes to be countersunk where necessary and are then taken for surface finishing, (bead blasting and anodising in my case).

I then take the front panels to be screen printed with the graphics I provide. The assembly is with corner posts and angle brackets cut and drilled, and bolted together. I only drill and tap corner posts to attach base and top panels. The case is basically a box with a front panel on to cover the front of the box.

Heatsinks

I became aware of porous ceramic heatsinks and realised that these small, light self-adhesive items would solve problems. I bought a few and tested to see if they did what was claimed. A single 50mm square of 10mm thick could dissipate 5-10W stuck on sheet aluminium. To make heatsinks you only have to bolt the semiconductors directly to the 3mm plates and place the ceramic heatsinks as needed.

Edit; a link to these was omitted,

https://www.newark.com/c/cooling-thermal-management/heat-sinks?brand=amec-thermasol

They are not expensive, and with a range of sizes you can arrange heatsinks of different shapes. I was concerned that they might unstick but the opposite has been true, they are hard to remove.

They are not pretty and can be easily chipped so I contain them inside the case and organise slots above and below to act as a chimney to allow convection. This works well and they do not run hot. The porous ceramic devices are very effective.

I have found that this method is much easier to procure and build. The amplifiers built this way can be smaller and lighter. These techniques can be adapted to any case whether needing heatsinks or not.
I should say that these heatsinks are small and they don't weigh much but that each amplifier on either side of the case dissipates about 14.5W and the heatsinks are only warm. (Edit; Further explanation a few posts below)

I made quite a few amplifiers with thick machined front panels, heavy finned heatsinks and aluminium cases. Such parts need machining and tapping.I devised a way of making cases, which eliminated these problems and made for easier case design, lower costs and quicker builds.Made from sheet aluminium alloy of preferably 3mm so only single sheet of material needed.Depending on the facilities you have available these can be made manually. I get the parts laser cut by a company which will also supply the material. Alloy 5251 lasers and anodises well. The case parts need holes to be countersunk where necessary and are then taken for surface finishing, (bead blasting and anodising in my case).I then take the front panels to be screen printed with the graphics I provide. The assembly is with corner posts and angle brackets cut and drilled, and bolted together. I only drill and tap corner posts to attach base and top panels. The case is basically a box with a front panel on to cover the front of the box.I became aware of porous ceramic heatsinks and realised that these small, light self-adhesive items would solve problems. I bought a few and tested to see if they did what was claimed. A single 50mm square of 10mm thick could dissipate 5-10W stuck on sheet aluminium. To make heatsinks you only have to bolt the semiconductors directly to the 3mm plates and place the ceramic heatsinks as needed.a link to these was omitted, http://www.amecuk.co.uk/ Element14 has them in many countries.They are not expensive, and with a range of sizes you can arrange heatsinks of different shapes. I was concerned that they might unstick but the opposite has been true, they are hard to remove.They are not pretty and can be easily chipped so I contain them inside the case and organise slots above and below to act as a chimney to allow convection. This works well and they do not run hot. The porous ceramic devices are very effective.I have found that this method is much easier to procure and build. The amplifiers built this way can be smaller and lighter. These techniques can be adapted to any case whether needing heatsinks or not.I should say that these heatsinks are small and they don't weigh much but that each amplifier on either side of the case dissipates about 14.5W and the heatsinks are only warm. (; Further explanation a few posts below)