Homemade TO-92 Heatsink

The heatsink project is intended to be used for a PWM DC motor driver to provide heat dissipation for 2N2222 bipolar transistors.

The device will work with any TO-92 device by making sure that it will have a flat part to contact the sink. The heatsink material can come from copper, aluminum, or other metal sheet. The heat shrink tubing uses a thermal paste compound for the CPU heatsinks and only nibbler, files, and sandpaper are needed for the tools. Any sheet metal material can be cut into shapes using the nibbler tool. The heatsink should be large enough to handle excess heat but with a tab slightly wider and taller than the transistor.

In order for the heatsink to be flat, the best way is not to deform the metal during the process. Flattening it would make a good contact with the transistor. During the assembly, a small piece of heat shrink tubing should be slightly longer than the tab and a small amount of the thermal paste to the transistor will be applied on the flat side. The heat generated by the transistor will shrink the assembly making it a more solid unit.

Rest of the project