Just A Bunch Of PSU Modules?

All good projects need a name don’t they? Sadly I think just a bunch of modules has been taken by Pete Juliano for one of his many radio projects. Oh well, such is life. I was thinking Buck This or Well Switched or Ebay Wonder might also do. Anyway, i have now completed the project. It has its lid on and it works. Here are the final images, a couple of them are even hi-res using the SLR and not my mobile.

Here is one of those Tribal Knowledge moments that we often hear about. This is 6 core shielded computer cable, I used it to wire up the pots. It helps keep things nice and neat.

It worked out quite ok, next time I will spend some more time measuring then cutting just to the right size.

I do not like playing with mains voltage or anything that can kill you. It is why i went for a modular option, so that when I am done there is no exposed 240v anywhere inside the case that dummy hear can touch while doing da-finger-poken inside the case. Not that the lid will come off hardly every, i just am very cautious of anything that can kill me.

Here i have started to wire up the DC power side of things. I am not all that much of a neat freak like my friend Simon 6MSC, who can make toriod winding look like an art form, but I am trying to keep things somewhat tidy.

Now we are getting into the meat of it, things are all wired up and zippy tied all over the place.

All the power is done and dusted.    

An overhead shot of the whole guts of it.

Now i do not pretend to be a metal worker. I was really happy with the bottom half of the case. But, alas i turned the top half into an abortion. First off i folded the metal on the wrong side of the line and made it to narrow so that it would not fit properly. So I had to try and fold it flat and start again. Sure i could have scrapped it and started over, but hey, why waste such a large sheet of metal. So i folded it a 2nd time, this time it fit, but one side is 5mm short. I can live with that. I know that the next time i make a case, which will not be all that far away, will be much neater now that I know what I am doing. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed the project.

So i got in and did a bit more work on the lab power supply. Finished off marking out and drilling every hole for every component so i do not have to go back and make a mess inside when i start to wire things up. Other than 2 tie bars across the top, the lower half of the case was done in the image below.

 

Mounted the switch mode PSU into the case, its held in with 4 M5 bolts and is not going anywhere, the fused, switched power connector and EMI filter are also bolted in with M5 bolts. The earth wire will be bolted to the case also with M5 bolts as well as serrated washers, so it cannot go anywhere. Go over the top on safety is my motto.

 

Mounted all the front panel items. From here its now just a matter of wiring up the spaghetti and making it all work together. But that will be another day, i do not think i have any wire suitable for 240v ATM and will need to go and get a meter of 3 core to pull apart for the internal wiring.