heat sinks too large

The heat sinks that came with my stepper drivers appear to be so large that they will cause components on the drivers to short. I am concerned about putting them on. Should i be/

If they short components, you ought to be concerned. At worst it can burn your house down.

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alvinhochun
If they short components, you ought to be concerned. At worst it can burn your house down.

Well, that's a great help!
Most of the units I've seen have larger heat sinks that the A4988 chip. You need to cover it with a piece of Kapton or some non conducting insulation (having cut out a square for the heatsink to bond to the chip).

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Waitaki 3D Printer

Thanks Waitaki. I had not even thought of doing that.

Yep, polyimide tape will work. Some of the offshore houses provide 11 x 11 heat sinks which makes it easy to short them to the pins on the board. A heat sink that is 8.8 or smaller seems to do the trick. On the bigger sinks you can wrap the tape around the sides of the sink while making sure you clear the pins on the board. If you have a set of nippers you may be able to cut the profile of the pins sticking out of the top of the board back a little to help with clearance.