Custom heatsink: learn or outsource ?

[Phuncz]

So for a casemod I'll be needing to develop a special kind of heatsink that will need to be machined. I plan to get it finished around the end of the summer (not strictly).

Now the problem is I don't know CAD or anything related, the best I can do is Photoshop. Is it feasible for me to learn CAD well enough in that time that I might be able to design my own heatsink or should I look into outsourcing this to people that can do this for me ? The consideration I have to not do the latter is that I'll be needing to do a lot of measurements anyway (needs to clear motherboard components and have mounting points) but I'm not sure 6 months is enough for me to learn CAD well enough to be able to design it in my spare time.

Does anyone here ever went down any or both roads ?

 

[W.Feather]

Your going to want to get it outsourced. There is alot more to heatsink design than just the looks. There is the actual thermal/heat dissipation it can achieve, the exact dimensions. It is not as simple as rendering it in software (Well it can be if you go on the engineering principles then run simulations).

 

[Phuncz]

I might have skimped on the details but it's just going to be a single aluminium block design without heatpipes and fins, based on a design that already exists.

Let's just say it's about this "complex":

 

[W.Feather]

Still though, are you looking for actual function? Or just appearance in the build?

 

[Phuncz]

Oh no, ALL function. But it doesn't need to be the most efficiently design in the world ever, or something like that, but it should be able to function as a heatsink. This will also not be for a simple CPU to be overclocked or something like that, so I'm not going for some overclocking world record. But the heatsink I need, needs to be a big one that clears other components like MOSFET's and capacitors.