ESC Heat Sink Escape!

[RoyBro]

I was flashing my ESCs with the latest SimonK firmware the other day. My OCD prevents me from just taping over the cut heat shrink over the chip, so I remove the heat shrink entirely and replace it with new 3/4" heat shrink tubing (sometimes in pretty colors ).

When I finished shrinking the tube around the last ESC, I noticed that it was lacking the familiar familiar 20mm x 30mm flat surface on one side. I cut off the heat shrink and sure enough, no Heatsink!!!

I searched and searched to no avail. I KNOW it is in my basement somewhere, but the little bugger is hiding from me.

And as it is aluminum (That's pronounced Ah-lu-mi-num, not Al-you-mi-nee-um, because it was lost in the U.S) I can't use my cool 17" mini magnetic sweeper from Harbor (not Harbour) Freight.

I don't routinely keep slabs of 2mm thick aluminum around from which to use my handy dandy Dremel to cut and shape a new heat sink of the proper dimensions. And yes, I can use metric measurements if I want to (cuz this is 'Merica dammit!).

Well that was all fun... Anyway, does anyone have an source for an ESC heat sink? Or a suggestion for some household item made of aluminum that could stand to lose a 20mm x 30mm chunk?

Thanks,

And I hope you enjoyed reading this post as much as I had fun writing it.

 

[Tritium]

Roy a harbor freight Aluminum meter stick is just the ticket for you or an old 386 or 486 CPU heatsink. How about the top cover of a small hard drive? Old window or storm door frames........

Thurmond

 

[RoyBro]

Roy a harbor freight Aluminum meter stick is just the ticket for you or an old 386 or 486 CPU heatsink. How about the top cover of a small hard drive? Old window or storm door frames........

Thurmond

Good suggestions.

In fact, I have a couple of dead hard drives on my desk right now. I was saving them for the magnets. Now I guess I'll have to start saving the top covers as well. Kind of like using all the parts of the buffalo.

And yes, Harbor Freight has 40" and 48" aluminum rulers starting at $2.99.

Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[Balu]

This is actually a good reason to keep old burned out ESCs. =)

PS: Did you check the old heat shrink, perhaps it's still on there?

 

[RoyBro]

PS: Did you check the old heat shrink, perhaps it's still on there?

Yes, I did actually. I had to rummage around to the bottom of the trash. It might have fallen out and still be in the bottom of the trash can. I guess I'll empty the trash item by item to be sure.

Good thought. Thanks

 

[Defog]

I spell and pronouce it the right way, but I kind of like calling it Looney-num when I'm being silly. When I was young, my Dad teased me when I did something similar. He said, "We need a brass magnet." I fell for it. Good luck.

 

[RAM]

I wish my metal detector didn't see aluminum so easily.