Penny heatsinks?

In order to investigate the effectiveness of non-traditional heatsinks on the TO-220 component package, Warren tested out several approaches with pennies and even a paperclip.

In a recent thread on Head-Fi, someone asked how well a paperclip would work for heat-sinking a TO-220 part. Much speculation ensued (much of it from your humble author), including opinions that a penny might work better, and then the argument moved on to exactly how to use the penny and so on. I eventually decided that experimentation was called for, which lead to this article.

Perhaps surpisingly, the paperclip proved mightier than a single pennny. Read the detailed results of further testing – DIY Heat Sinks [via Hacked Gadgets]