CNC Heat Sinks

Custom fin geometry.
Pin fin arrays.
Liquid cold plates.

CNC machined heat sinks and thermal management hardware for custom applications. Custom fin patterns, pin fin arrays, liquid cold plates, embedded heat pipes. 6063 aluminum, OFE copper, Mo-Cu composites. LED drivers, lasers, power electronics, CPU thermal.

Heat Sinks Quote Copper materials

0.5 mm fin thickness Integrated channels Cu/Al/Mo-Cu Heat pipe compatible

01 · Heat sink categories

Heat sink types we build.

Different thermal challenges call for different heat sink architectures. Here's what we build most often.

Extruded-profile finned

6063 Al · standard

Standard extruded aluminum profiles cut and machined to length. Added features: mounting holes, precision flatness.

CNC-milled fin arrays

6061 Al · custom

Fully CNC-machined fin geometry. Custom spacing, orientation, non-uniform patterns for optimized heat transfer.

Pin fin arrays

Al / Cu · maximum area

Pin fin geometry maximizes surface area per volume. Used for high-density thermal management.

Liquid cold plates

6061 · brazed

Cold plates with internal serpentine liquid channels. Machined base + brazed cover for leak-tight liquid cooling.

Cross-cut fin

Custom · direction

Crossed-fin patterns for omnidirectional airflow — used when airflow direction varies.

Heat spreaders

Cu / Mo-Cu · matching

Thermal interface hardware matching CTE to semiconductor. Mo-Cu for silicon/GaAs matching.

Heat pipe integrated

Al/Cu + sintered

Heat sinks with embedded heat pipes for spreading heat from point sources.

LED heat sinks

6063 Al · mass production

High-volume LED luminaire heat sinks. Optimized for thermal + manufacturing cost.

Cryogenic cold plates

OFE Cu · cryo

Cryogenic cold plates for liquid nitrogen or helium cooling. OFE copper for thermal conductivity at cryogenic temperature.

02 · Thermal customers

Thermal customers we serve.

Power electronics

IGBT baseplates, traction inverter heat sinks, server power supply thermal

Laser manufacturers

Laser diode heat sinks, laser cavity cooling, high-power laser thermal management

LED luminaires

Industrial and commercial LED thermal — outdoor, indoor, street lighting

CPU/GPU cooling

High-performance computing and server rack cooling hardware

Automotive electronics

EV motor controller, on-board charger thermal management

Medical imaging

MRI gradient amplifier cooling, X-ray tube thermal management

Aerospace electronics

Avionics and satellite electronics thermal management

Telecom infrastructure

5G base station thermal, network switch cooling

Research equipment

Scientific instrument thermal management, laser laboratory hardware

FAQ

Heat Sinks questions.

Aluminum 6061: 167 W/m·K conductivity. 6063: 201 W/m·K (extruded alloy). Copper C101: 391 W/m·K (2.4× aluminum). Weight: copper 3× aluminum. Cost: copper 2-3× aluminum. For cost-sensitive consumer/industrial: aluminum. For maximum thermal performance regardless of cost/weight: copper. Common compromise: copper base/embedded heat pipes with aluminum fins. We can design and manufacture either.

Air-cooled: simpler, cheaper, no fluids or pumps. Limited to ~100 W/cm² thermal flux with aggressive fan cooling. Liquid-cooled: 500-1,000+ W/cm² achievable. Requires pump, coolant, plumbing, reservoir. For very high-density (EV motor controllers, laser diode arrays): liquid. For moderate density (most industrial): air cooling adequate. Design decisions made with thermal analysis.

Practical CNC fin minimum: 0.5 mm thickness, 5 mm spacing (for machining access). Below 0.5 mm, fins bend during machining. For very fine fin geometry, extruded profiles (0.8 mm thickness, 1.5 mm spacing achievable) are better than CNC. Or: skived fin geometry (specialty process) for very fine features. CNC wins on custom shapes extrusion cannot produce.

Black anodize: +3-5 °C improvement vs bare aluminum on radiation-dominated cooling. Also provides thermal emissivity ~0.85 vs 0.1 for bare. For radiative cooling in vacuum or high-temperature: critical. For forced-air convection: marginal benefit. Nickel plating: protects copper from oxidation in long-term service. Specify surface treatment during design based on thermal analysis.

Heat pipes dramatically improve heat sink effectiveness by spreading heat from concentrated source across fin area. Standard practice: machine heat sink base with grooves matching heat pipe diameter, solder or thermally-epoxy heat pipes into grooves, ensure continuous thermal path. Heat pipe performance up to 50,000 W/m·K effective conductivity. For high-heat-flux point sources, heat pipe integration is often essential.

CNC-machined heat sinks: 7-14 days. Liquid cold plates with brazed lids: 3-4 weeks. Custom extrusion-based (requires die): 6-8 weeks if new die needed, 2-3 weeks if existing extrusion. Complete thermal systems with integration (pumps, controls): 8-16 weeks. For prototype validation, CNC is fastest path; for production, consider extrusion economics.