Water cooled mamba xl2

[NativePaul]

And a couple more pics. What do you guys think?

I think it looks really good, but also rather heavy. If I were trying to do a similar thing mine would not look anywhere near as neat but it would be lighter, that is not knocking what you have done, we are just after different things from our boats.

Aesthetically the 3 wire end with the water fittings screwed through the carbon plate looks much better to me than the 2 wire end with exposed blocks.

How do you have the cooling blocks attached? If you added carbon plates to the sides you could hold them in place well enough to use regular heat sink paste which is a much better conductor than thermally conductive epoxy and massively better than potting compounds.

[kfxguy]

I think it looks really good, but also rather heavy. If I were trying to do a similar thing mine would not look anywhere near as neat but it would be lighter, that is not knocking what you have done, we are just after different things from our boats.

Aesthetically the 3 wire end with the water fittings screwed through the carbon plate looks much better to me than the 2 wire end with exposed blocks.

How do you have the cooling blocks attached? If you added carbon plates to the sides you could hold them in place well enough to use regular heat sink paste which is a much better conductor than thermally conductive epoxy and massively better than potting compounds.

interesting observations....

-its not -avy at all. its definately lighter than the swordfish 240 pro plus 2 that was originally going to go in it. its probably on par with a seaking 180, however out of curiosity, I will weigh it for you tonight.
-I used a very light coating of jb weld to hold the blocks on. they should stay put because i mix my jb weld on a gram scale and they are roughed up. Thermal conductivity should be about the same as the blocks touching the esc body, they were clamped until cured and excess jb weld was squeezed out and cleaned of.
- I totallu agree the three wire side looks better how i screwed the fittings through the carbon. I thought about changing it up but really you dont see that end anyway as it sits up aaginst the front deck in the boat. I may, however, change it like the other side.

this is all in all an experiment. If it burns up because i'm not getting heat out of it well enough, well i may build another one that would be better thought out (you know when your doing something you always figure out a better way in the middle of it right when its too late! lol) and probably using your idea on the thermal compounds. I do like to think this should be adequate however...i did something almost just like it to a mamba monster 2 in my 26" cat running an x642 prop, castle 1515 2200kv motor and it never runs hot. it did thermal one time when i was beating on it with an m645 prop and the prop was too deep. thats pushing that setup past its limit.

[kfxguy]

Wanted to add the pics of my mm2 just to show its the same concept. Shaved the fins off (like I did on the xl2)

[kfxguy]

Here's some pics with weights as promised

[Cooper]

Like your idea, question, what about the thermal barrier between fets and the heatsink? Maybe I missed something as the waterproofing was applied over them before heatsink right? I've taken a few apart, real pain in but to get the thermal epoxy castle uses apart without damage. (At least for me, so I commend you:) ). From dealing with them a tec expressed to me they use a glass based thermal adhesive to achieve spacing between parts. Guess to ensure electrical non-conductivity. But also some tec talk to talk it up I suppose. Great idea and I like it, I've been wanting to do this to the several I have and get rid of the multiple tubes.

[kfxguy]

Like your idea, question, what about the thermal barrier between fets and the heatsink? Maybe I missed something as the waterproofing was applied over them before heatsink right? I've taken a few apart, real pain in but to get the thermal epoxy castle uses apart without damage. (At least for me, so I commend you:) ). From dealing with them a tec expressed to me they use a glass based thermal adhesive to achieve spacing between parts. Guess to ensure electrical non-conductivity. But also some tec talk to talk it up I suppose. Great idea and I like it, I've been wanting to do this to the several I have and get rid of the multiple tubes.

This is what I noticed when taking it apart:

First is they use a silicon feeling (that's how I'd describe it) adhesive to I guess you could say glue the fets to the outer shell (we are gonna call it a heat sink). It came apart pretty easily. Now, I left the adhesive in place. Also on one side all the way down the fets on both sides it hard a cloth material covering them. I noticed my ice 240 was lacking this one detail when I took it apart. I figure it's to keep things from grounding even tho there is a thin layer of glue separating. I did not epoxy over the thermal part of the fets (see above board pic and the outer flat metal "pucks" are the parts that conduct the heat to the heat sink. Mine is still spaced because I left the Adhesive in place and put a thin layer of ceramic thermal paste on all sides. I then siliconed the case on the ends to seal it and hold together and then glued the sides where the two halves of the heat sink meet. I used tape to hold it together while it was all drying. All I can say is I probably could have bought some of what they use to hold it together and did it that way, but I'll try it this way. It didn't cost that much so if it fails, I'll be disappointed but I'll try it once more and do things a tad different. I guess you can say it's a learning experience. I've been wanting to do this and I figure you never know till you try it. I'll put it through the ringer soon I hope.

[ray schrauwen]

You don't want the two coolers to touch. I think one rail is pos and other is negative, that's why there is that fiber tape on at least one rail. I could be wrong.

[kfxguy]

You don't want the two coolers to touch. I think one rail is pos and other is negative, that's why there is that fiber tape on at least one rail. I could be wrong.

Correct. They aren't on mine, they are insulated.

[srislash]

Like your idea, question, what about the thermal barrier between fets and the heatsink? Maybe I missed something as the waterproofing was applied over them before heatsink right? I've taken a few apart, real pain in but to get the thermal epoxy castle uses apart without damage. (At least for me, so I commend you:) ). From dealing with them a tec expressed to me they use a glass based thermal adhesive to achieve spacing between parts. Guess to ensure electrical non-conductivity. But also some tec talk to talk it up I suppose. Great idea and I like it, I've been wanting to do this to the several I have and get rid of the multiple tubes.

I discovered this by accident: the thermal compound on these TOTALLY releases with liberal use of MG Chemicals Silicone Conformal Coating. Just FYI. Thought I was doing a good thing then it fell apart on me, DOH!

[kfxguy]

Little random but I'll post anyway. I've started on my new Rivercat. I've actually got a few builds going at the same time but I'm getting excited about this one and this boat is what this esc is going in and will be driving a lehner 2250....Just finished the second layer of the inlay....

[srislash]

Oooh, honeycomb. Nice!

[Spartanator]

Nice!

[kfxguy]

Thanks fellas! I hope this thing turns out over the top. It is going to be super strong. Two layers of carbon and reinforcement everywhere. Should I do a build thread or is it kinda redundant?

[kfxguy]

Made a slight change to it. I didn't like how it fit in the boat with the loop hose on it.

[kendt]

I have one of these as well. I only ran it a couple times but it performed flawlessly. I used some water blocks i saved from dead t120s attached to the heatsink with high temp silicone.It was just a temporary arrangement and way too heavy.I am going to just mill out some of the fins so brass tube can be inserted and shave off some to make it lighter. The thing i didnt like is that the tiny fets dont even touch the heatsink. I ordered .5mm thermal pad i am going to replace the tape they use. I will be sure to cover the fets with rubber to transfer more heat to the sink. Lot of great features on these units. Next I am going to try one of these badboys.
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...o_Car_ESC.html

They are a copy of the castle unit but much cheaper.