Ideal thermal interface for EB strips?

Hadez411

Hadez411

Well-Known Member
Amazon's 20mm wide thermal tape says:
"Thermal double-sided tape has a thermal conductivity of only 1.5 W/mk, Can't provide good cooling results,"

Sooooooo, suggestions? I'm tempted to try using a nice 6W/mK ceramic paste directly under the diodes and 2-sided thermal tape in between.
 
Airwalker16

Airwalker16

Well-Known Member
Buy a large 20-50g container of thermal grease man. Arctic silver is great.
Little messy, but nothing works better than thermal pastes.

I'll be applying a very thin coat to the entire back of my 288's when I meet them with my heatsinks.
 
Hadez411

Hadez411

Well-Known Member
mathewscott said:
Tape won't stick to the paste
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No, but seeing as the diodes are close together in the middle, perhaps a delicately placed line down the middle after i placed two thin lines of thermal tape on either edge would work. Most important would be making sure there's even contact as the grease will be compressible and the tape not as much. Putting too much or pushing too hard might ooze the grease and compromise the tape.

Are the screw mounts awful to use.with paste alone? I'll be using an aluminum sheet, easy to self-tap screw.
 
Skoal

Skoal

Well-Known Member
Hadez411 said:
No, but seeing as the diodes are close together in the middle, perhaps a delicately placed line down the middle after i placed two thin lines of thermal tape on either edge would work. Most important would be making sure there's even contact as the grease will be compressible and the tape not as much. Putting too much or pushing too hard might ooze the grease and compromise the tape.

Are the screw mounts awful to use.with paste alone? I'll be using an aluminum sheet, easy to self-tap screw.
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That’s how I mounted mine. 805F9813-D32E-478B-BB75-E74B5556E677.jpeg
No paste. Just screws man. No paste like chip green said. Not needed. A lot of people run them without.
 
Hadez411

Hadez411

Well-Known Member
Skoal said:
Guess I’m going to the computer store for paste then. But screws are fine to mount.
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I read another thread where someone had issues when he used the optics holes to mount the chip as you've done. The notches are the only mounting points supposedly.

Perhaps I I'll just put a line of screws, slide the edge without notches underneath of them and pinch them down, then put screws in the notches on the other side as well. One build I read up on had issues because they were screwed all on one side, made poor contact for thermal paste, and another had some guy getting some power loss and shorting through his screw in the optics hole. >.< God it's hard building something with such an eclectic source of knowledge.

Also, what temp do your strips run at on that board?
 
Skoal

Skoal

Well-Known Member
Hadez411 said:
I read another thread where someone had issues when he used the optics holes to mount the chip as you've done. The notches are the only mounting points supposedly.

Perhaps I I'll just put a line of screws, slide the edge without notches underneath of them and pinch them down, then put screws in the notches on the other side as well. One build I read up on had issues because they were screwed all on one side, made poor contact for thermal paste, and another had some guy getting some power loss and shorting through his screw in the optics hole. >.< God it's hard building something with such an eclectic source of knowledge.

Also, what temp do your strips run at on that board?
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If it was eb Gen 1 then yes there are issues. Not an eb Gen 2. No possible way to hurt the board. See the rings around each hole? Buffer zone from the screws touching the internal circuits.

Yea you can use thermal paste. But not a necessity. These don’t run so hot and no risk of a shortage, blow, or electrocution. Not a necessity. Efficiency or prolonging life. Different story. Also, HLG kits on heat sinks don’t need have thermal paste for attachment and are secured with screws
 

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Airwalker16

Airwalker16

Well-Known Member
Skoal said:
If it was eb Gen 1 then yes there are issues. Not an eb Gen 2. No possible way to hurt the board. See the rings around each hole? Buffer zone from the screws touching the internal circuits.

Yea you can use thermal paste. But not a necessity. These don’t run so hot and no risk of a shortage, blow, or electrocution. Not a necessity. Efficiency or prolonging life. Different story. Also, HLG kits on heat sinks don’t need have thermal paste for attachment and are secured with screws
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It's not about that you don't HAVE TO but more the you definitely should use thermal paste.
 
Hadez411

Hadez411

Well-Known Member
Airwalker16 said:
I don't see why you wouldn't put paste down. It's fuckin easy to do. And it's only going to increase efficiency.
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laying down thermal tape is just so lazy and tempting. I know thermal paste is like 5x better in terms of thermal conductivity, but we're talking about a system most people dont even bother to heat sink. So I'm just counting screws,
Skoal said:
To answer the original question regarding screws, they are fine in these boards hence the photos posted.
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Thank you, it was very helpful.
 
Skoal

Skoal

Well-Known Member
If the boards didn’t have those buffer rings around all screw holes than yes, you could run yourself into trouble of frying yourself. The eb Gen 1 boards didn’t have those buffers around each hole. They have been corrected on the Gen 2 models. So every whole you see can have a self tapping screw to fasten to aluminum. Unless you driver your screw at a crazy angle and go right through the buffer zone and into the internal circuitry. And if you did that, you shouldn’t be allowed around a power tool and can’t drive a screw straight lol.

Do the screws and do the thermal paste did the conductivity aspect. When you screw watch out cause screws may poke through the other side and if you are screwing ontop of a wood surface they may get stuck.
 
Airwalker16

Airwalker16

Well-Known Member
Skoal said:
If the boards didn’t have those buffer rings around all screw holes than yes, you could run yourself into trouble of frying yourself. The eb Gen 1 boards didn’t have those buffers around each hole. They have been corrected on the Gen 2 models. So every whole you see can have a self tapping screw to fasten to aluminum. Unless you driver your screw at a crazy angle and go right through the buffer zone and into the internal circuitry. And if you did that, you shouldn’t be allowed around a power tool and can’t drive a screw straight lol.

Do the screws and do the thermal paste did the conductivity aspect. When you screw watch out cause screws may poke through the other side and if you are screwing ontop of a wood surface they may get stuck.
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When I screw mine down, I'll be using small nylon washers from home de pots specialty drawers. I just wouldn't wanna risk anything at all and using these as a spacer between board and screw, you eliminate any possible issues.
 
Skoal

Skoal

Well-Known Member
Airwalker16 said:
When I screw mine down, I'll be using small nylon washers from home de pots specialty drawers. I just wouldn't wanna risk anything at all and using these as a spacer between board and screw, you eliminate any possible issues.
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And the screw will pop out the other side less because of the plastic washer. Man that’s a good idea. I may add those to my build cause I’m going to remove all strips and toss thermal paste under it. I wanna be able to touch any part of my build and not scared that I’ll fry myself in front of my kid.
 
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