There has been plenty of talk about using a cheap router speed controller to regulate electric heat sources on this board, and others. Some people have had better luck than others, and many have reported excessive heat.

I tried a router speed controller from Harbor Freight, and on the first use I found that the back plate got hot enough to burn my fingers. It was obvious that a larger heatsink was required to handle the continuous use required to distill.

I've heard about people using a fan to keep it cool, drilling vent holes in the plastic box, and adding heat sinks, but could not find any specifics. So, I decided to post a pic of my mod.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]867[/ATTACH]

I used a heatsink from an old Pentium III slot 1 processor. I cut the tabs off the ends with a hacksaw, and then pressed out the mounting pins with a bench vise. I drilled out the holes where the mounting pins were to accommodate four mounting screws which hold the heatsink to the original back plate of the controller. I used longer screws and some half inch aluminum spacers under the back plate to allow air flow into the plastic box. That seemed easier than drilling a bunch of holes in the box.

My intention was to cut a hole in the original back plate so I could mount the triac directly to the heatsink, but I got lazy, so the heatsink is just stuck on the back and the triac is in its original location. I used heatsink compound on the triac, and between the back plate and the heatsink. It works well this way and the back plate doesn't seem to get any hotter than the heatsink.

The fan may not be necessary, but it was already on the heatsink and I had an old 12 volt wall wort laying around to run it. With the fan on it runs quite cool.