Does anyone have any experience with casting aluminum? I have a heat sink I can’t seem to find online anywhere and it’s imperative that obtain it. I also need a handful of them made. Well maybe 2 handfuls. Anyways, I just am trying to figure out things like the best way to create to mold, pouring(although it seems pretty straight forward), what I would need to melt the aluminum in to pour with, etc.
Um, I’m quite capable of searching google myself. The purpose of a community such as this is to share ideas and experiences of what has worked for them.
Im not looking to build a metal shop from scrap, I’m asking specifically about casting aluminum. Because it’s somewhat imperative I get it done as soon as possible since the device is currently running without heatsinks in necessary parts with a 900 cfm fan blowing into it so it doesn’t overheat.
Unless of course you are gifting me those books and paying for it. If that’s the case then my sincerest gratitude sir.
- Casting an aluminum heat sink is a PITA. The finish stinks and the accuracy is pretty marginal if you are packing the sand by hand. I did it once many moons ago and swore never to do it again.
If I need an odd aluminum heatsink, and I can’t cough it up from alibaba/aliexpress/ebay, I generally mill it. If you really need something custom, there are companies that specialize in extrusion for this kind of stuff:
The minimum order of 1000lbs may be a bit tough to swallow.
I’d really try to see if somebody on AliExpress has something useful.
- The Gingery books aren’t very useful nowadays, actually. Chinese import metalworking tools are superior to anything you can put together from home-cast aluminum unless you’re amazingly good. Add a little bit of TLC to them and the import tooling is VASTLY better and generally cheaper than anything from the Gingery books.
I did purchase this from amazon:
And
Was planning on using the smaller copper flat heat sink in the first product and then cutting the remainder from the second product to achieve my desired result.
Or at least a close resemblance of it.
Yeah, that’s probably what I would do in the short term.
Although, I would definitely spend some time on Alibaba and see if I could get something from China that has the dimensions I need. Shipping is generally about 10 days.
The Amazon sellers are just repackaging the stuff from Alibaba.