Question Bench Power Supply - On the cheap...

[MiseriesChild]

Ok, so here is a project that I have been working on to help out with building my portables. Not a portable itself but I wanted to get you guys opinion on how I should finish it up. I took an old useless desktop and stripped all the parts out and figured I would use the power supply as a bench power supply. It does put out 12V, 5V, and 3V respectfully so I wired it up with a power switch and power LED along with alligator clips for a total of three sets of those voltage outputs each.

Now here is the question, I need to finish it somehow to look decent and have a non conductive place to let the alligator clips "Feed" until I need them, (like wood or plastic) so I wanted to get some opinions/ideas on something cool that I could do to make it look good on my desk. What you all think??

P.S. please don't mind my messy work area... still working on organizing it, lol!!

 

[cheese]

Potentially some kind of white plexi box may look good, then have compartments for the different voltages and their leads.

P.S. please don't mind my messy work area... still working on organizing it, lol!!

Your work area is so much better than mine lmao ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Gman]

I always wanted to make a tool like this for my workstation, very useful. Oh I use that same multimeter! I hate it lol

 

[MiseriesChild]

Potentially some kind of white plexi box may look good, then have compartments for the different voltages and their leads.


Your work area is so much better than mine lmao ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

That does sound pretty sweet!! I have a buddy that works with all kinds of plastics in his design shop including engraving plastic and plexi... might have to hit him up for ideas and some custom cut pieces. . I actually though about using something like banana connectors or speaker connectors to attach the leads but didn't have any banana connectors and not sure how many amps the speaker connectors could handle safely. Plus all that costs extra and I figured screw it, keep it simple and most of all... cheap, lol!!

LOL!! Yeah I just setup that little work station so I'm still trying to get some kind of "origination" system going on, lol!! It's a lot better than my old computer desk though, a lot more elbow room to work with.

I always wanted to make a tool like this for my workstation, very useful. Oh I use that same multimeter! I hate it lol

Hellz yeah man!! I actually got the idea from one of Ben Heck's videos, . I figured I had some old PC's laying around, need something to use while testing and building portables and it was pretty much all free so... why not, lol!! .

And nice!! That little multimeter hasn't been too too bad to me but has been a major pain in the @#$ at times, LOL!! It has actually become by backup since I invested in my Fluke 117. I figured it's a cheap meter and I've had the dang thing so long that it was going to take a dump on me soon so I might as well invest in something that will be a good meter last a long time.

 

[cheese]

That little multimeter hasn't been too too bad to me but has been a major pain in the @#$ at times, LOL!! It has actually become by backup since I invested in my Fluke 117.

That looks like a nice meter, Fluke is a good brand
I got a mid-range one from radioshack since I was having issues with my junk meter reading voltages and stuff way off

 

[MiseriesChild]

That little yellow on in the pic has been a pretty good meter and pretty accurate but one of the probes broke on me last week. I got it from ACE Hardware for like $10 or $15 a few years ago so it owes no service, lol!! While trying a spare set of probes I had laying around I ended up with a small crack in plastic where the positive plug plugs in so the voltages can get a bit wonky now if I'm not careful. I've been looking for a good replacement did some research and decided on the Fluke 117. It is a bit over kill but I figured the "Ya get what ya pay for" saying best suited the situation, especially when it comes to not frying my portables or music equipment, (I use active pickups in my guitars).

I'm a bit gun-shy when it comes to RadioShack and tend to stay away from some of their stuff. When time to change out tips on my RadioShack soldering station I found out that they don't make replacement tips for that model, (a 20/40 watt combo) and I would have to drop $60 for a whole new station. That's when I threw in the extra $30 and invested in my Weller WES50 which has been awesome!!

Not that RadioShack doesn't have some good products though, how's that meter treating you so far?

 

[cheese]

It's been alright, I can't say if it's super accurate, but it gets to at least within a tenth of a volt or so of expectations instead of this dead AA cell outputting 4v
I also have a soldering station from radioshack that's been pretty good, much better than the plug in ones from them

 

[MiseriesChild]

Nice!! At least it gets that close... a decent multimeter is a must unless you want to blow stuff up, (if you can't tell I speak from experience), lol!! Still getting used to how the Fluke reads resistance with the 6 digit display though. I have to turn the decimal into a comma or move the decimal two places to the right, it can get a bit confusing but just a learning curve.

And I loved my RadioShack soldering station, worked awesome for YEARS... until I need a new tip. . If I could find new tips for it I would still be using it or at least have it as a backup for my Weller. And I couldn't agree more, the 20watt pencil style irons suck IMO. Most don't even like to melt solder and are mostly useless unless you're just using it to melt plastic or etch wood, they do that VERY well, lol!!