LEDgardener

Gee, was couple days off. Quite many replies I got so thanks for all! Seems I gotta fiddle with the situation little bit more .
Ppl were wondering how much or alu I was going for. Basicly I need around 1700mm x 33. (520mm + 1120mm to same pole).

There are a lot of heatsink providers on alibaba. Prices are something like 1.5-3$ per meter, but many are reluctant to deliver by china mail. You probably are reluctant to wait a month too. You would still likely get the stuff cheaper then here, even if you ship it in with DHL.

Germany and russia are options, but it might still be cheaper to DHL it over from China.

Depending on how hard you plan on running them, just aluminium sheet will also work. If you want to play for time, or just feel ghetto, aluminium foil works brilliantly, in my case way better then the heatsink. Also its removable so I can rebuild when I get my life together.

I contacted some aluminium extrusion manufacturers yesterday, and they said they are ready to ship with china mail, so looks like I might get a decent setup after all. I want to make my tent frame from the same modular elements I use for heatsinks, so it will all work well together. Side lighting will be height-adjustable etc.

So I was recontacted by a company that does modular aluminum railing. their website is www.moduasm.com. They have a railing 15x30, which is 15mm thick, and 30mm wide, which has a 30mm wide flat surface on one side, and the modular aluminum slot for attachment on the other.

You could easily use those for heatsinks, then use two pieces of 2020 (20mm) extrusion as frame by holding the heatsinks from the rear or the ends.

If I remember correctly the 1530 heatsink extrusions and the 2020 were around 2-3$ per meter, and there was a tiny fee for cutting to size. The delivery fee would have been a little more then the aluminum, but I guess total wouldn't be much over 5$ per meter, and it would arrive in a few days. Customs would likely also charge something for aluminum, and maybe VAT?

They talk good english though, and they have an email on their site. I'm talking with a few other companies about framing, one is asking about 1.40$ per meter for 2020. If anything comes through with good shipping options I will tell.

Little update

I'm talking with an alibaba supplier about ordering 2020 extrusion that I can use as heatsinks and frame material. I don't really have a build in mind but I just thought its good to have it around.

The total length I asked was around 25 meters, cut into about 50 different length pieces. I think the metal itself was 57$, but shipped and cut its a little under 160$. Thats about 6.5$ per meter, or around 10$ per kg.

I think its using some fast delivery system.

For UK based people, i just came across this site.

Looks reasonably priced.

Just added to Shopping cart 2 x 5m of T-Bar aluminium and asked it to be cut into 16 x lengths of 560mm.
Only charged a couple of pound for cutting.

Total price is £42 + £12 delivery or the option to pick it up for free from their depot in Hatfield.

Might be worth a look, not only for heatsink but also building light frames.

https://www.aluminiumwarehouse.co.uk

Thats starting to be a decent price.

If the OP is still around, just wanted to say that I helped a construction guy move house, and ended up with a few sacks of various extrusions. Defiantly worth asking construction guys, and perhaps checking their bins.

You should look for eastern eu shops/suppliers for aluminium profiles/heatsinks

I call'd thru all the alu providers in this half of the country and found 1 sweatshop that gave me 25kg in 5m poles for 350 bucks. So my tip is, stay persistant and try to buy em as whole profiles instead pre-cut! Only problem was tho that I didnt think too much about how long 5m really is . So my neighbours were probably having some laughs watching me to cut em to pieces with saw and elbow grease, on my parking lot .

So glad it worked out for you!

If you have friends planning builds, its probably worth checking left overs from construction sites etc. I got some serious extrusions for free