On Wed, 21 Mar 2012 15:28:34 -0700, PrecisionmachinisT wrote:

"Tim Wescott" wrote in message
...
So, for my day job I'm working on a circuit board design to replace
something which features a heatsink made from aluminum angle. It's 1"
x 1" x 1/4", with nice square corners everywhere (radius 0.02").

Up to now I've been blithely assuming that this is an off-the-shelf
item that I can get anywhere -- but it looks like it may be harder to
get than that. Worse, I'd really like to extend the heat sink another
1/2" or even 1" under the board, while keeping the outside leg at 1".

So I want to specify something that won't have their mechanical
engineers muttering under their breath _too_ much about @#$% EEs with
time on their hands...

McMaster carries aluminum angle, but it describes the inside corner and
the inside ends of the legs as "rounded", without saying what the
radius is. I can handle a radius on the inside corner, but that radius
on the leg takes away from area that I want touching my board.
Furthermore, McMaster only carries angle with even-length sides.

So my questions a

Is there any commonly-available aluminum angle that has corners that
one wouldn't describe as "rounded"? From who?

If I must go with rounded corners, can I expect that there is a
standard? What is it? Is there a place I might find it on the web?
(Machinery's Handbook doesn't seem to list anything like that).

Is there any commonly-available aluminum angle with uneven leg lengths?
I'm specifically looking for 1" x 1.5" x 1/4", or 1" x 2" x 1/4". From
who?

Any notion of how much it might cost to have a machine shop take a
larger angle and whack it down? These need machining anyway: they have
to be cut to length, then drilled on both webs and tapped on one -- so
it would be a case of "while it's in the machine anyway, make one or
two additional cuts". Precision is nearly nonexistent: +/- 0.05" would
be fine, and finish wouldn't be a huge issue: as long as the edges are
deburred and the cut side isn't so rough that it draws blood when
handled things would be fine; I would expect that a decent shop with
even a minimal sense of pride would insist on a much better finish than
necessary to get the job done.


"Structural" is generally 6061 and it has an inside fillet whereas
"architectural" is generally 6063 and has sharp corner.

That said, your problem probably isn't going to be finding it with sharp
corners, rather, it's going to be finding it in your desired (1/4) in
wall thickness.

Suggest try this link you just might just find something...

http://tinyurl.com/6vwjdzj

I should re-do my thermal analysis. (I.e., something more thorough than
"use what's already there"). 1/8" may be thick enough.

--
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