Help me build a large CXA3070 Rig

sanjuan said:

Have you looked at verical.com for COBs? It is Arrow's surplus site and most COBs are sold in 20 or 100 unit quantities. Very good service.

I don't see an easy way of attaching a row of cooliance heatsinks to an aluminum framework?

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That's my main obstacle. Worst case scenario, a small square frame that holds it would be the only thing I can think of. I'm ordering a handful of them to play around with. I'm not sure how the active fan would effect the driver either. The active ones are around $27 while the passive ones are $15.

HockeyBeard said:

That's my main obstacle. Worst case scenario, a small square frame that holds it would be theus in on where exactlyonly thing I can think of. I'm ordering a handful of them to play around with. I'm not sure how the active fan would effect the driver either. The active ones are around $27 while the passive ones are $15.

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Where are you ordering those from, the web site only show distributors, not ordering the web site also doesn't show pricing, maybe you could clue us in on where exactly

Bonjour
Did you think about Vero29 for your built?
They're cheaper!
But if you want some Cree...go with cxb unless you find a very good deal on old chips...cause I guess the cxc are on their way...
Have a great day ★

littlejacob said:

Bonjour
Did you think about Vero29 for your built?
They're cheaper!
But if you want some Cree...go with cxb unless you find a very good deal on old chips...cause I guess the cxc are on their way...
Have a great day ★

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Last I heard about the CXC series turned out to be an April fool's day joke! I'm fine with CXB3590 becoming 'obsolete', they're plenty good enough for me and lower prices would make them better still.

Like I said, I got a quote south of 25 from KB for the 3070s, that was an acceptable figure for me.

Tim Fox said:

Where are you ordering those from, the web site only show distributors, not ordering the web site also doesn't show pricing, maybe you could clue us in on where exactly

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I'm in contact with the rep for my region, Newquist or something. I'm in MI. He also put me in touch with Steve Cobb, one of the Regional Managers.

HockeyBeard said:

Like I said, I got a quote south of 25 from KB for the 3070s, that was an acceptable figure for me.



I'm in contact with the rep for my region, Newquist or something. I'm in MI. He also put me in touch with Steve Cobb, one of the Regional Managers.

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kinda makes me want to stay with artic 11 or heatsink usa at this point

Well, considering the Arctic 11's seem to be out of stock everywhere I've looked, and weight is a huge considering factor for the small lamp I'm building, I have to consider other options. Not having to tap the sink and having a sink that's designed specifically for a CXA lamp is kind of a turn on. They're really lightweight, too. Come on, if you're willing to build your own light, a little bit of legwork to get the proper part can't be too big of a detractor, is it?

HockeyBeard said:

Well, considering the Arctic 11's seem to be out of stock everywhere I've looked, and weight is a huge considering factor for the small lamp I'm building, I have to consider other options. Not having to tap the sink and having a sink that's designed specifically for a CXA lamp is kind of a turn on. They're really lightweight, too. Come on, if you're willing to build your own light, a little bit of legwork to get the proper part can't be too big of a detractor, is it?

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Pre tapped sinks for $15 is soo attractive to me. I'd find a way to mount those

HockeyBeard said:

Well, considering the Arctic 11's seem to be out of stock everywhere I've looked, and weight is a huge considering factor for the small lamp I'm building, I have to consider other options. Not having to tap the sink and having a sink that's designed specifically for a CXA lamp is kind of a turn on. They're really lightweight, too. Come on, if you're willing to build your own light, a little bit of legwork to get the proper part can't be too big of a detractor, is it?

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its really easy to tap holes ... don't let that be an obstacle

It's a combination of tapping and weight, honestly. I plan on putting these two lamps I am currently building (not this big build) on a mover where I have to stay within a certain weight limit for the motor. And if it came down to tapping holes for 72 chips, or buying pre-tapped, I'm going the pre-tapped route for my own sake. I hate repetitious tasks enough as it is, the notion of tapping 144 holes does not excite me.

HockeyBeard said:

It's a combination of tapping and weight, honestly. I plan on putting these two lamps I am currently building (not this big build) on a mover where I have to stay within a certain weight limit for the motor. And if it came down to tapping holes for 72 chips, or buying pre-tapped, I'm going the pre-tapped route for my own sake. I hate repetitious tasks enough as it is, the notion of tapping 144 holes does not excite me.

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Once your setup it takes less than 5 minutes to drill and tap for a cob. suggest you try and build one unit first as a trial and see how it goes before trying to do the whole thing at once. That first one will help you iron out all the kinks.

if you really hate repetitious tasks that much you will make a lousy large scale grower.

I don't have a drill tap. I don't have those tools and experience. How much cheaper could it be to get an untapped sink and do it myself? Unless the sink is $5 or less, I don't see why you're advocating so hard that I use one product over the other? Why do you care if I tap a Heatsink USA vs. buying a product that was designed to handle CXA lamps SPECIFICALLY, and to be put in a plenum where they have higher ambient temps than they would in a room with open air circulation?

Don't relate my reluctance to tap 72 sinks to my patience when it comes to actually working with the plant, if you would. That'd be great.

And in all fairness, a 6x12 isn't all that large

HockeyBeard said:

I don't have a drill tap. I don't have those tools and experience. How much cheaper could it be to get an untapped sink and do it myself? Unless the sink is $5 or less, I don't see why you're advocating so hard that I use one product over the other? Why do you care if I tap a Heatsink USA vs. buying a product that was designed to handle CXA lamps SPECIFICALLY, and to be put in a plenum where they have higher ambient temps than they would in a room with open air circulation?

Don't relate my reluctance to tap 72 sinks to my patience when it comes to actually working with the plant, if you would. That'd be great.

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the biggest markup in retail is for "extra labor or special features".

go look on amazon and search for a good quality tap\drill set. You can use that for as many holes as you need.

Bonjour
In fact you don't really need this...you just need a drill to make holes and some (sorry I am french...) autotap screws! (I used not autotap with the screw I use to hold the pannel and it was ok...like in a piece of butter...or wood...easy!)
And you will save about 5 $ per cob 360$ to buy something else...
Have a great day ★

That, I can agree with....

But let's look at it like this... My cost on that qty of Cooliance sinks will be less than $15 (the first break is at 24pc.)

After buying tapping equipment, and figuring out how to use it, I would require a 100% success rate as a novice in tapping heatsinks on 72 pieces. If it takes me 5 minutes per COB, that's 8 hours worth of work, just tapping heat sinks. That's not including the time it'd take to make sure I've got the measurements right, double and triple checking them, etc. It also does not factor into ease of arrangement of the COB to achieve optimal spread... Now, how much less is the Heatsink USA material? Does that include all the cuts to do it how I would like to, or is that going with no cuts, just COBs on a bar?

If I save 5$ per COB for a total of 360, and each COB takes 5 minutes to tap (let's ignore setup time), that's 8 hours of work @ $20 an hour. So my real cost is down to $200 ($360-$160 for my labor). So, a $200 difference to use a product designed especially for this chip, that is significantly lighter and will make my fixture easier to hang. Wait, now let's remove the cost of the tapping set, let's call that $50 minimum. Now I'm at $150. And that's assuming $15 all the way up, when it will go down with the quantity, so now we're below the $150 difference.

Oh wait! I forgot, you have to sand and grade all of the heatsink USA cuts of metal to get a proper surface... How much time do you think that will take?

Why should I go Heatsink USA and do all that work myself when I really don't have to? Am I really saving enough money to justify spending 12+ hours of prep work?

I'm looking at it like this - It's going to cost me in either dollars, or time. I can make one of them back, and I'll never get the other back. Sometimes, it's worth it for me to spend a few extra dollars to save myself the time. But I like to really examine what goes into it and my skill-set when it comes to the task. If it's something I'm familiar with, like wiring and such, I'll do it myself. But I've never tapped and I don't have any of the equipment. Therefore, I am willing to consider allowing that labor to be prepared for me. Setting up a 72 COB light is going to be a big enough task, in and of itself. Do I really need to be worrying about tapping each hole, knowing that I've got no margin for error, on 72 of these suckers? With no experience? Is it worth that stress?

Bonjour
Maybe you are right...it is a huge amount of work...I respect your choice to save time instead of money...
That said it's really easy to do (for 4 cobs...) just make the proper holes for the screws you use, put the holders and use a screwdriver that's it.
Have a great day ★

If it was for a small rig, I would certainly be considering it. I'm attempting to make this modular so I can attempt to determine the most efficient spread of light, so a smaller and lighter heat sink would make re-configuring the array easier.

These are just the things I'm trying to consider. I might be flat out wrong on some of this stuff, for all I know. I just need someone to tell me if my logic is faulty, if I'm missing something big, somewhere.

At around $17 each, I will be using these heat sinks next build http://www.digikey.com/product-search/en?WT.z_cid=sp_1061_buynowsite=us&lang=en&mpart=NX300160