• You can now help support WorldwideDX when you shop on Amazon at no additional cost to you! Simply follow this Shop on Amazon link first and a portion of any purchase is sent to WorldwideDX to help with site costs.
  • Click here to find out how to win free radios from Retevis!

Does anybody have a machine shop?

Happy July Fourth for everyone here in the USA!

For RabbiPorkChop

And to all the over-clocking nay-sayers: NO, I do not want to buy a different device, I want to know the limits of this device, first!
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: rabbiporkchop
I admit I did that at one time too. If I had a 25 watt radio and it only did 19 watts, I felt I was getting short changed. Break out the screwdrivers and go to work!
It looks like the main limitation on that radio is the am regulator and the heat sink. I actually love the radio exactly how it is but I thought it would be interesting to increase its heat dissipation ability.
 
25%? That sounds like he cranked it up as high as he could without causing a failure under normal use. You have to be more realistic about what your equipment is capable of. I guess he does that after he makes the video with the spec analyzer and the blurry bird slug?

Where you at chop? Skip is rolling on 28.
I just got off work and I'm filling out paperwork and I'll be listening in a couple minutes but I suspect it's probably pretty quiet on the airwaves.
 
It looks like the main limitation on that radio is the am regulator and the heat sink. I actually love the radio exactly how it is but I thought it would be interesting to increase its heat dissipation ability.

Just add a fan, why screw around with grinding up a perfectly good heat sink.
 
  • Like
Reactions: rabbiporkchop
Just add a fan, why screw around with grinding up a perfectly good heat sink.
Because it's not perfectly good. It traps the Heat and won't dissipate properly. If I was to heat this thing up it would take a half an hour for it to cool down. I don't really talk on it that much and I'm constantly reaching underneath the console to feel the temperature but I shouldn't have to worry about it. If I take it easy on it it'll be fine for a long time. I really like Overkill though and I've been admiring these copper heat sinks for a long time.
Copper%20Pin%20Fin%20Heat%20Sink-web.jpg

cnps9300at01b.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: LeapFrog
Because it's not perfectly good. It traps the Heat and won't dissipate properly. If I was to heat this thing up it would take a half an hour for it to cool down. I
That's exactly what its supposed to do, sink the heat. " HEATSINK" By definition the heat from the back of the radio is absorbed like a sponge by this HEATSINK!

I have an old Texas star 250. None of the Texas star amps have fans, just a HEATSINK. I had the same concerns so I put a 4 inch fan on it with the fan blades blowing away from the HEATSINK so the fan is drawing the heat from the HEATSINK and dispersing it. Now I can ratchet jaw for hours and the HEATSINK is barely WARM as opposed to getting HOT with no fan. Not only that, but in minutes of non activity it's literally cold to the touch, That would take any HEATSINK hours to do that!

If you look at those class C splatter box amps, they have fans but practically no HEATSINK compared to a Texas star that's all HEATSINK with no fans.

You seem like a crafty person so why not attach two 2 inch fan and be done with it? Just run the wires to a switchable power source in the radio. This is how I wired the fan on my Texas star so the fan power is controlled by the amps power switch.

2-Pieces-Lot-DC-5V-2Pin-7-blades-3010S-3cm-30mm-30x30x10mm-Small-Brushless-Cooling-Fan.jpg_220x220.jpg



This is far cheaper and saner than grinding off parts on your radio to put another HEATSINK that will hardly do anything more than what you already have. If the new HEATSINK doesn't get hot, then that would be cause for concern.

Here is a pic of my Texas star with fan. It's attached with blue plastic drywall anchors that fit perfectly between the fins. Click on pic for the big view.

20170704_072749.jpg
 
Last edited:
Something to consider is that simply machining the surfaces flat is not flat enough for proper heat transfer. The surfaces should be lapped to a PERFECTLY flat smooth surface otherwise the heat transfer between the old heatsink and the new one will be very poor even when using heatsink compound. We use electrically heated aluminum dies with attached faceplates at work. They periodically get cleaned via glass beading. (sand blasting) Whenever we get a new heater plate in we have to glass bead the surface before putting them into service so that the heat transfer matches the existing ones otherwise we have one die running MUCH hotter than the others due to the mirror-like surface transferring heat so much better to the faceplate. After glass beading the surface still feels perfectly smooth however it is just "rough" enough to affect the heat transfer.
 
  • Like
Reactions: rabbiporkchop

dxChat
Help Users
  • No one is chatting at the moment.
  • @ Mark Malcomb:
    Hello BJ. Been a long time since I've been on. You doing well? Mark Malcomb
  • @ Naysayer:
    I’m
  • @ kingmudduck:
    Hello to all I have a cobra 138xlr, Looking for the number display for it. try a 4233 and it did not work