Small Mod of Rambo Unit.

[Flavored Coffee]

Hello,

Went to AdaFruit, and bought some of their 5 mm x 5 mm heat sinks, and they turned out to be 0.5 inches. But, the profile, and the layout of the board, make's em' usable. Any heat sink, is going to change power rating of the chip it's attached to. So, here's a picture.

Tada, the double sided heat sink tape, should be thermally conductive, not electrically, so no worries there.

[mhackney]

Be VERY careful attaching heat sinks to these drivers. I short circuited a RAMBo doing this - there are traces very near the driver chips and they have a very low profile.

[Flateric]

Actually, I believe the correct way to cool these drivers is from the back side of the board due to the chips themselves being designed to pass their produced heat into the board itself. So more effective cooling may be had through placing these on the backside under each chip. This will warrant even further care when mounting them however.

[guanu]

Actually, I believe the correct way to cool these drivers is from the back side of the board due to the chips themselves being designed to pass their produced heat into the board itself. So more effective cooling may be had through placing these on the backside under each chip. This will warrant even further care when mounting them however.

this is correct... putting a heatsink on the top causes the heat to pass through the chip, and this can actually cause more problems.. this is the reason the rambo plate has a spot for the fan to be mounted on the backside of the rambo (v2) otherwise just a fan blowing on the circuit board is best.

guanu

[mhackney]

That's good to know. I actually abandoned using heat sinks after I blew the board and use a small fan directed at the back of the board now. Haven't had any heat related issues at all.

[bdjohns1]

I have a pack of really tiny ones - they actually are about 5mm x 5mm, so they don't really overhang at all. I got a 10-pack for heatsinking a Raspberry Pi, and used the leftovers on my Rambo. They've been fine on my driver chips.

I also print in my basement - even as the summer heat rolls in, ambient temperature is typically <18C.