Tinker Board Forum

Greetings, good folks!

I am currently working on modifications to a standard Eleduino aluminum case that will allow for the Tinker Board to be much more "at home".

This includes, but is not limited to, an external antenna mount and mounting of a 25mm fan or blower that will provide more direct airflow to/over the CPU heatsink.

The stock Eleduino case has two flaws, as I see them:
     Firstly, the fan is not located in a place that would allow for the stock heatsink to be used, so a different one would need to be found, or the fan would have to be mounted outside the case.
     Secondly, the fan exhausts the air out of the case. This is not a good idea (in comparison to drawing the air in), as it would draw dust into the case by any opening it finds, as well as not allowing for a decent air flow past/over the heatsink itself. A fan set to draw in, can have a dust screen installed, and limit the dust intake.  In any case, the main idea of active fan cooling, is to remove the heat from the CPU in a reasonably efficient way. This is usually done by blowing near, if not directly onto, the heatsink in question.

These are the principles I am basing my modifications on.
So far, I have the perfect placement for the antenna, and am working on similar placement for the fan or a blower for heat dissipation from the stock heatsink.

If anyone is interested in my progress, I'll try and post pics as soon as I get my hands on a decent camera

Should there be enough interest, I might even produce them and make them available. Possibly through Amazon.ca, or Ebay.ca, whichever makes it easiest, overall.

~TLoATDaE

I hate fans.  They are prone to failure and can take the system with them when they go.  Noisy too.  

The Tinker definitely runs hot, but since you are working with aluminum, I would rig some kind of aluminum "pipe" to the case to help cool the processor (and maybe the 808 power chip) and see if that does the job.   A  repurposed sink that is big enough (or a custom cut block of aluminum) pasted directly to the processor and also to the case should work well.  

(11-01-2017, 02:35 PM)TLoATDaE Wrote: [ -> ]Greetings, good folks!

I am currently working on modifications to a standard Eleduino aluminum case that will allow for the Tinker Board to be much more "at home".

This includes, but is not limited to, an external antenna mount and mounting of a 25mm fan or blower that will provide more direct airflow to/over the CPU heatsink.

The stock Eleduino case has two flaws, as I see them:
     Firstly, the fan is not located in a place that would allow for the stock heatsink to be used, so a different one would need to be found, or the fan would have to be mounted outside the case.
     Secondly, the fan exhausts the air out of the case. This is not a good idea (in comparison to drawing the air in), as it would draw dust into the case by any opening it finds, as well as not allowing for a decent air flow past/over the heatsink itself. A fan set to draw in, can have a dust screen installed, and limit the dust intake.  In any case, the main idea of active fan cooling, is to remove the heat from the CPU in a reasonably efficient way. This is usually done by blowing near, if not directly onto, the heatsink in question.

These are the principles I am basing my modifications on.
So far, I have the perfect placement for the antenna, and am working on similar placement for the fan or a blower for heat dissipation from the stock heatsink.

If anyone is interested in my progress, I'll try and post pics as soon as I get my hands on a decent camera

Should there be enough interest, I might even produce them and make them available. Possibly through Amazon.ca, or Ebay.ca, whichever makes it easiest, overall.

~TLoATDaE

As much as I'd like to try the Passive approach, my access to a supply of heat-transfer raw material is limited (to say the least). This is why I chose the active approach of a fan/blower directed at the CPU heatsink, as I felt that would have the best cooling results.

Now, if I could get my hands on the right sized blocks of aluminum or copper, I'd be willing to try that. The Eleduino cases I'm trying might have to have a bit more ventilation ports drilled into them to allow for good airflow within the case itself, should I try the passive method.

Having a 25mm active blower that sends its flow across the stock heatsink is something that seems sound. Once I get my first two blowers, I'll be giving it a test run.

The advise is certainly appreciated, though! I do understand the passive approach, and its silent factor. As a media server, that would be the preference, by far.
Overclockers might prefer the active fan method, though.

Just a couple of quick pics of my progress so far:
First is the antenna mount on the end plate with the plate itself unmounted.


Next is the plate mounted, but the upper case left off for clarity.


Personally, I like the way it keeps the wire out of the way of the monitor/video out connector on the board, and the other end is clear of the GPIO pins.

The fan in the image is actually a 25mm blower set right beside the heatsink. It is surprisingly quiet for a blower.

Now I just have to calculate the "perfect" place for the air intake in the top of the case, and the right way to mount it safely to the case to prevent unwanted movement.