Heat Sink Attachment

[the_schire 3]

Hey all, so I took the cooling shroud off my UMO as part of the install for the heated bed upgrade, but when I was about to put it back on, I noticed that the heat sink for the Z stepper driver had fallen off. What's the best way to reattach this? Thanks!

[Dim3nsioneer 427]

Heat conducting glue.

[the_schire 3]

Heat conducting glue.

 

Ok, do you have any suggestions for brands or where to get said glue?

[stu_le_brew 34]

any glue used to fix a heatsink to the CPU of a PC will be OK

[the_schire 3]

any glue used to fix a heatsink to the CPU of a PC will be OK

 

CPU coolers don't use glue, they use screws to be secured. Perhaps you mean thermal paste, the goo that goes in between the heat spreader on the chip and the cooler, but that doesn't really many gluing properties.

[anon4321 16]

This has worked for me for attaching the tiny heatsinks to the stepper drivers. You need like a dot the size of a pin head.

http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_alumina_thermal_adhesive.htm

[stu_le_brew 34]

well, given that the mentioned site for glue says:-

 

Precaution:

Arctic Alumina Thermal Adhesive is a permanent adhesive. Components you attach with Arctic Alumina Thermal Adhesive will stay attached forever.

so should you ever need to change the stepper motor you will have to buy a new heat sink.

I personally would use thermal paste - if you heve ever had to remove a heat sink from a CPU thats been secured with themal paste (I have many times) you will know it sticks down pretty well.

Themal paste is what I would use but its up to you - good luck

Edited December 26, 2015 by Guest

[anon4321 16]

I think there is a bit of confusion here. I believe the OP was asking how to reattach the heatsinks in the stepper DRIVERs not to the stepper motors themselves. I used the Arctic Alumina Thermal Adhesive on the heatsink for the drivers with good results. With such a small contact area, they can be removed with a small wrench and a twisting motion. Then you can scrape the adhesive off and clean with alcohol and reattach.

Note that for the drivers on the UMO, there is no mechanical mechanism to hold the heatsinks on like you would have with a CPU. So a thermal adhesive needs to be used.

In the states, the Arctic Alumina Thermal Adhesive is available at "good" electronics stores that sell computer parts like MicroCenter. Not sure where the OP is located but Amazon would be a good source too. Or a site like Newegg if they ship to the OP's location.