Bench power supply suggestions

I plan on engraving panels for a bench power supply.
Any suggestions on other things to add or change welcomed.

The DB09 connector will have the +-12, 0V and +-5V outputs.

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Stupid question: Will this be metal? Are the banana connectors isolated against the plate?

The front and back panels will be made from .064" acrylic plastic.
The banana jacks are plastic, similar to these:

The USB jack is this one:

Edit the AC outlet is this:

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LarryD:
The front and back panels will be made from .064" acrylic plastic.
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Is that for legend or mounting ?

Problem i used to find was with odd shaped holes, D types etc , lots of filing or expensive punching operations were needed.

Laser cut acrylic with etching works well and not too dear these days.

I will be using carbide D bits, 10 degree angle, cutting with CNC tool :

This is close to final version, .064" thick, material is black cut white lettering.

Blue is cut out.
Red is labeling.
White is hidden behind or the front outline of the part.

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But no 3.3V DC supply?

I was looking at bench power supplies on eBay, and see 0-30VDC, 5A ones from China for less than $40 USD shipped. These have adjustable constant voltage/constant current modes, and over-current protection.

If you want to build a adjustable bench supply, there are XL4015 adjustable buck converters with output adjustable voltage and current (CV/CC), up to 5A output for about $4 USD shipped. These are usually advertised as a "Lithium Charger 5A Step Down Power Supply Module", but not a very good idea to use them for that since they don't actually shut off when battery is fully charged, so that could cause battery degradation if left unattended.

For about another $7 USD, you can add a DC watt meter (volts, current, power), commonly used by RC hobby with 4-digit current/voltage resolution. Use those with one of the brick AC adapters from a laptop (20VDC, 4.5A).

Yes, 3.3v would make this ideal, the open frame supply shown in the opening post has +-12 and +-5v.

I got one of these for$140, a good value. 2X 0-30v 3amps and 5v 3amps, CV CC.
Series and parallel mode giving 0-60v 3amps or 0-30 6amps.

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@borland

Thank you, added 3.3V, I will use a buck converter 5 to 3.3V converter.

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Looks like you are running out of room. You seem to have all the major things covered...+/-12V, +/-5V, 3.3, outlet to plug in coffee pot, ...

Is this going to be a remote panel? That's something I could get into.

I'm always looking for ways to open up more room to work with and cable control. I've been playing with a ic proximity chip and will put some on/off touch buttons under black glass just as soon as I finish the circuits.

what is missing is a variable voltage and a panel meter your going to end up building another for 0-36 volts but if you plan to experiment with op amps there is +- voltages

I cut out the panels and installed the components.
I think it tuned out well.

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That turned out sharp, nice work Larry.

Thanks Bob.

I had four of these power supplies sitting around for 15+ years gathering dust.
Decided I need to use it or lose it.

Very nice work, Larry!
What kind of material did you use for the front and back panels?

I am planning to do something similar with a universal power supply with different voltage output plus for HV tube experiments using a 1:1 transformer ( in my country 230V/230V) to isolate from direct mains supply.

Thank you rpt007.

I use "Black on Bright White Laserable Acrylic Sheet", many other color combinations are available. Comes in 1/16 and 1/8" thickness.
These are often used for name tags, signage etc.
You should be able to get this from Engraving supply shops.

Edit
I ordered some of these in several thicknesses, no coloured core though.

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I ordered some of these in several thicknesses, no coloured core though.

This might sound dead obvious to most people here but I am a bit behind when it comes to panel making.

How do you get from this to the picture of post #10 ??

:slight_smile:

That material has no color core so then text will be matt black.
As mentioned, there are acrylic sheets available with a color core.

Here are similar panels:
2015-11-23_15-22-24.jpg

You design the layout with programs like Sketchup or AutoCAD.
Print the 1:1 layout on paper, confirm spacing with actual components.

With a hobby CNC machine, use bits as seen in post #4, import the drawing file to the CAM program then cut the panel.
I use BLUE set to 64 thou and RED to 20 thou.

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Can you recommend a good hobby cnc machine?

Mine is 25+ years old, maybe try Sparkfun.

Also, this might be of interest using laminated paper.

http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=219747.msg1601329#msg1601329

See attached PDF for using Sketchup.

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Sketchup Making a Front Panel Bezel REV1-0.pdf (1.2 MB)