Fitting La Frite heatsink case?

rblaik · July 2019

Hi!
Are there any tips or recommendations for fitting the alloy heatsink case? For example:

Is it problematic that the case touches the outer parts of the USB sockets? Does it need electrical tape applied to those areas?
What if the gap between the CPU and the case is wider than the supplied pad? Is it safe to bend the top center of the case slightly inwards?
Should we clean the case and CPU in a special way before applying the pad?

Thank you!

Rowan

loverpi · July 2019

If you can upload pictures to show what you mean, it would help. The outer part of the USB socket should be fine since those are ground anyway. It should not touch soldered down components like resistors and capacitors.
Yes it is safe to bend.
Not necessary to clean.

bellis · July 2019

I've fitted my case without problems. The supplied pad seems to work well, no bending was requird.

xanadu · July 2019

How well does that case dissipate heat? I don't have a case for my La Frite and it idles at 60C most of the time, at least now during the summer in North America. I know the case is inexpensive, but I would only buy it if it lowers the temperature a bit.

bellis · July 2019

idles at 30C with an external temp of around 16C, it's winter over here.
I'll run some further tests when I get a chance.

bellis · July 2019

I let it idle today for about 8 hours with the top off the heat sink case and it settled on 38C after a couple of hours.

xanadu · August 2019

I ended up buying the case, it seems to decrease the temperature while idle a bit, especially on hot days (30 C and above).

petrol12 · August 2019

Could someone post a picture of how they configured their standoffs and pads? That might help the rest of us in conceptualizing how it mounts.

bellis · August 2019

Sorry for the image quality.

Image: https://forum.loverpi.com/uploads/editor/h8/okcjouluzfga.jpg

Image: https://forum.loverpi.com/uploads/editor/tf/fgcf76zdz7os.jpg

Image: https://forum.loverpi.com/uploads/editor/hc/urtrg9z0skse.jpg

petrol12 · August 2019

Thank you. Can't speak for others, but the image quality is good enough for me.

jimm0thy · August 2019

I didn't even use the standoffs, pretty sure they are just for stacking multiple units

loverpi · August 2019

The standoffs are for using HATs of specific heights that don't have them or for stacking multiple units as @jimm0thy stated.

Fitting La Frite heatsink case?

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