Heatsink for SSR?

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bendavanza

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I bought a PID and RTD probe from Auber but I already had an SSR from a HBT member. I do not have a heat sink for the SSR, (did not think of the sink at the time) so I was wondering if radio shack or other stores might carry a suitable heat sink. I'd hate to spend the $ on shipping another singular part online if I can avoid it, all these little parts are adding up and cutting into my grain budget.
Thanks in advance and happy brewing
-Ben
btw this is a 120v SSR for RIMS
 
I think the only heat sink Radio Shack carries in-store is the little TO-220 ones. What about robbing the CPU heatsink off a dead PC?
 
I do have a MASSIVE heatsink from an apple G5 tower, but it's probably 6x6x6" or bigger. Maybe I can get it through my portable bandsaw. I've seen some cheap ones ($6 free shipping) on ebay but I'm too impatient for shipping from China.
Edit: Neighbor = programmer. I'll ask him.
 
I am using old PC heatsinks that I happened to have, originally used for older P4 chips probably in the neighborhood of 125W, so they generated a lot of heat. They also happen to have a similar cooling surface area to the SSR heatsinks I've seen. I haven't tested them under full power yet, but I'm confident they'll work fine. The nice thing about CPU coolers is that most have fan mounts, so you can go with active cooling if needed. I won't connect my fans unless I need them.

For mounting, I drilled and tapped #8x32 holes in the heatsink for the SSR, then drilled and tapped additional holes to mount the heatsinks to my CP. I wanted the heatsinks to be outside the CP so that I don't dump lots of heat into the box, which can screw up the accuracy of PIDs (at least when using thermocouples). I cut a hole just bigger than the SSR in the back of my CP and attached the heatsink with screws from the inside.

I'm at work now, but I'll post a picture this afternoon.

Edit: Here are the pics. My SSRs are already installed, but you should be able to tell what I've done.

IMG_3302 (Medium) (2).jpg


IMG_3303 (Medium).jpg
 
That will work well. Just smear some thermal goo between the heatsink and the SSR. The goo you can get at Radio Shack will work fine. I design RF amplifiers for a living and the regular everyday heatsink compound will work fine. Don't let them talk you into the expensive thermal compound (goo).
 
I've got dead CPU heatsink + small fan out of a cisco router running off a cell phone charger. That means I needed to mount an outlet inside my box, eating up some real estate, but I think it will be fine.
 

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