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FanFacts


by greg moore You can reach Greg Moore via e-mail at jetflyr@comcast.net


You want heat sinks? We’ve got your heat sinks here! Shown are approximately two-thirds of the shelf space (above left) assigned to heat sinks at Greg’s local OEM supply. Greg was fascinated with the variety and sizes available (above center) since each of the box/bins shown is over three feet


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ello again! Last month, I talked about sources for heat sinks to help cool our speed controls. I was just about to place an order, when it hit me that there might be something local (I’m silly, in that I buy whatever I can locally rather than mail order it). A quick phone call to an electrical supply place informed me that they did not carry anything of this nature, but they suggested I call a jewel-in- the-rough that I had forgotten about, OEM Supply.


Okay, the name is not important, but the


type of place is. Those of us of a certain age remember old neighborhood hardware stores that were run by a mom-and-pop cou- ple of ancient vintage, who knew where every oddball screw, spring, kitchen utensil or yard-care item was located (and it was usually seven feet up on the top shelf in un- labelled cardboard boxes), and could quote us the marked price without even looking at it. Well, I think you understand what kind of place OEM is.


I walked in on a Saturday afternoon to be greeted by an ancient fellow working on something small behind the front counter


deep and full of heat sinks. His local store is also available on e-bay. Fifteen minutes in his local OEM supply store provided Greg with these eight heat sinks (above right), which should help with the cooling of some of the cheaper ESCs for awhile.


who was able to tell me which aisle, and how far down it I could find “heat sinks” within approximately three nano-seconds. As I made my way to the appropriate aisle, breathing in that slightly musty/dusty smell that brings fond memories of old hardware stores, I took stock of all the things I had for- gotten they had, both new and used: comput- er power supplies (easily converted to run our DC battery charging stations), oddball length and design screws with bolts, wire looms and… yup! heat sinks. I knew that there were many shapes and sizes of heat sinks, but when you see all of the varieties and sizes, wow! is about all you can say. Since I did not have the time to dawdle and explore, it was a quick trip that brought me eight heat sinks for $ 9.75. Not bad for 15 minutes work! I am positive that most of you have a store of this kind reasonably close to you, or you can visit my store courtesy of e- bay (http://stores.ebay.com/OEM-Parts-Inc). Alright then, why did I want the heat


sinks? I am assembling a foamy edf twin. Re- ports from RCGroups reveal the usual mish- mash of quality control issues with many speed controls overheating. I will be placing


mine in the bottom surface of the wings with the flat-plate heat exchanger exposed, but want more area for actual cooling as a result of airflow over the fins. If this doesn’t do the trick, I don’t think anything will. Moving on, I have mentioned Mike Kul- czyk’s FJ-1 Fury in the past, and had hoped to get to fly it (blasted rainy weather!) so Mike sent me a shot of it standing on its own “feet”; the photo does not do the plane jus- tice. Scratchbuilding… there’s nothing quite like it!


I’ve mentioned the HobbyKing/Nitro Planes 90mm L-59 Super Albatros before, http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread .php?t=1661261 and the


issues everyone


seems to have with the landing gear mounts/wing strength. Rich Uravitch has one that he built ultra-light in order to fly on just 6S, but found that the wing just wasn’t up to even the lighter loads that his airframe has. That begs the question: What is one to do? Well, if you are a scratchbuilder schooled in CAD drawing, you create a set of plans and send it to your local laser cutting firm to give you a highly accurate wing with slightly more area made from quality wood.


The raison d`être for Greg’s heat sink quest. The twin edf he is working on came with these stock speed controls (above left), which are known for over heating. The top unit has not had its covering removed yet, and you can note the large radiant heat sink as part of the unit. However, even with the covering removed from the plate, surface area for cooling is minimal. The proper sized, finned heat sink (above


54


right) sitting on top of the radiant plate shows the tremendous increase in surface area for cooling. Additionally, the fins will hang below the bottom of the wing allowing even greater cooling during the flight due to the airflow through the fins. The screws will be removed, but is obvious that computers (and other electronic devices) are set up to have additional heat sinks securely attached with these screws.


FEBRUARY 2014


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