DIY Raspberry Pi CPU Cooler

While working on my raspberry pi powered radial clock, I found that its cpu was thermal throttling almost constantly. This was an unsurprising display of its age, as it is a 3B+. I still wanted to get as much out of it as possible, so I went about seeing if I could get a passive cooler installed. Of course, buying one from China was too easy, so I turned to a different source: pennies.

Pennies are small, made of copper, and are so abundant some are even calling for them to be pulled out of circulation. They are also one of the thinnest pieces of American currency which makes them a prime candidate for use for thermal disappation.

After some trial and error, I created a simple stack of pennies that are held together by a modular 3d-printed frame and thermal paste.

I haven’t taken the time to run some official stress tests, but I have notices improved performance (no thermal throttling or freezing) and temperatures stay fairly consistent over prolonged periods of time.

Of course, it wasn’t until after I completed my design that I learned that nickels actually have a higher compositon of copper in whatever alloy is used for their production, so that may be a future project.

Downloads for the cooler components can be found here

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--DIY Raspberry Pi CPU Cooler--