On Wed, 21 Mar 2012 11:44:40 -0700, Stanley Schaefer wrote:

Rounded corners generally means that the stuff is extruded, you have to
go to machined billets to get squared corners. And they're irrelevant
either way for the heat sink function. The extruded hardware store
stock will machine like bubble gum, from experience. The critical
parameters for heat sinks are the surface area and heat conductivity.
You probably won't get the last with any material from a mechanical
supplier. There are heat sinks and extruded heat sink stock available
from just about any electronic supplier, with mechanical AND thermal
parameters. By the time you finish messing about with mechanical stock,
you could have had the job done using the real deal. That's if you're
doing a real job for real people and real money. If not, carry on...

Stan

Well, real people, real money, and a quite real expectation that the
board is going to bolt on in place of the one that it replaces -- and
their heat sink is also their mounting flange.

So yes, I could put a stock heat sink in there and inform the customer
that all they have to do is rework any unit that comes in from the field
needing a replacement board -- but I don't want to do that.

--
My liberal friends think I'm a conservative kook.
My conservative friends think I'm a liberal kook.
Why am I not happy that they have found common ground?

Tim Wescott, Communications, Control, Circuits & Software
http://www.wescottdesign.com