Regulated Power Unit

[milairuk]

Hi Everyone,
After nearly 6 months of design and construction I have finally finished a PSU capable of 45v - 350v variable outputs. You can see more on my website http://www.milair.co.uk/valvepsu.html
Hope this inspires some winter construction amongst you.
John

[Hunts smoothing bomb]

Looks excellent,
Superp pro finish


Lee

[Gordon]

Excellent.
Gordon.

[Colin]

John,

What an excellent poject! The qualiy of construction and finish are first class. Congratulations, you must be very pleased with it. The write-up on your website is superb too. It makes me want to get the soldeing ion out ...

rgds
Colin

[Colin]

Originally Posted by milairuk

Hope this inspires some winter construction amongst you.
John

John,

I've been down this road myself but chose a more traditional approach and stuck with a 'hot bottles' solution.

Here's my attempt at a H.V. psu -

'B' supply 0-400v fully variable at 100mA.
'C' supply 0-150v fully variable
LT - various fixed voltages

Takes up more bench space than your though ...

rgds
Colin

[Skywave]

John; Colin -

Well I'm impressed - for what that's worth

All I can say is that those two completed projects set a new standard for 'suitable entries' to the 'Homebrew Equipment' Section.

Well done to you both.

Al / Skywave.

[milairuk]

Originally Posted by Colin

John,

I've been down this road myself but chose a more traditional approach and stuck with a 'hot bottles' solution.
Colin

Thanks to all for your remarks, much appreciated as this is the first "serious" project I have made for probably 20 years.
Colin - Your PSU looks like it was made by Racal or a similar military manufacturer - the build quality is beyond description. How about putting up the circuit for interest ?

John

[Colin]

Originally Posted by milairuk

the build quality is beyond description.
John

John,

Funny, but that's exactly what I thought about yours.

Originally Posted by milairuk

How about putting up the circuit for interest ?
John

I'm afraid I can't claim any degree of originality here.

I'd been looking for a High Voltage PSU for a while and missed out on a Farnell E350 and a couple of Heatkit units on eBay. They had all gone for what I thought were very high prices.

I was toying with the idea of building a PSU and I came across a couple of transformers on eBay that I recognised as coming from a Heathkit IP-17 PSU. I acquired them for a modest sum as no other bids were made on the auction. On arrival it seems they had never been used and must've been NOS items. The vendor had found them in a box at his place of work.

With the transformers as a starting point it seemed sensible to use the IP-17 circuit as a basis for the PSU. The case was kindly donated by Ed Dinning and all the other bits were from the spares box. You'll probably recognise some NOS components in there from the 60's.

The unit works really well and does everything I need it to. However, as I said in an earlier post, I really like the neat finish and compact size of your unit. It probably runs a lot cooler too.

I've attached the Heathkit IP-17 circuit if anyone's interested. My PSU has a few 'twiddles' but it's basically the same.

I wonder if you've come across this article?

http://www.antiquewireless.org/otb/resto0504.htm

Did you find a supplier for the Supertex LR8N3 in the UK or did you source them from Mouser?

rgds
Colin



rgs
Colin

[Tim]

Wow!! I have to get me one of those! Very nice, both.

[unitelex]

Super job John !

Case looks like one from the "Centurion" range - where did you get it from if you don't mind me asking, I thought they stopped making them a while back? I used one some years ago, but could not find any since.

Also, you mentioned on your site that you used a "Dial" creation software program - is that a commercial package ?

Thanks
Chris

[milairuk]

Originally Posted by Colin

John,
I wonder if you've come across this article?
http://www.antiquewireless.org/otb/resto0504.htm
Did you find a supplier for the Supertex LR8N3 in the UK or did you source them from Mouser?
rgds
Colin

Hi Colin,

Yes, the article you mention was what started the grey cells stirring, I did also acknowledge it on my website.
I brought the LR8's from Mouser direct, the UK disty will only sell them in 100+'s. The BUL38's are also available from Mouser, but Farnell here in the UK also stock these. I must order some more LR8's - I got 10 but with various "mistakes" I'm down to 3 now.

Tnx for posting the cct, I always find them interesting

John

[milairuk]

Originally Posted by unitelex

Super job John !

Case looks like one from the "Centurion" range - where did you get it from if you don't mind me asking, I thought they stopped making them a while back? I used one some years ago, but could not find any since.

Also, you mentioned on your site that you used a "Dial" creation software program - is that a commercial package ?

Thanks
Chris

Hi Chris,

If my memory serves me correctly this was a Centurion case. It's been in my loft for donkey's years - must be at least 20. The actual case was too small, so I made new Front, Back & Sidepanels to increase the height. The only original parts are the extrusions and the top & bottom panels ! I also used the original front panel for the sub-panel on the new design. Needed to polish up the aluminium extrusions a bit as well !!

The dial software is FrontDesigner 3, see
http://www.abacom-online.de/uk/html/frontdesigner.html

John

[Chris55000]

Hi!

To Colin and John, breathtaking superlative pieces of equipment from both of you - I couldn't match such quality without many months effort!!!

Colin, could you answer a couple of questions please:-

a) How did you make such beautifully coloured/lettered meters - can it be done at home?

b) Would I need a professional engineering workshop to produce such a front panel - I have my own Component Tracer Project in gestation!

I'm really glad you based your design on an Heathkit - I'll be doing the same for exactly the same reasons as you did!!!

Wow!!!! I'll be showing my friends these pictures in the morning!!! They'll be as impressed as I am!!!

Chris Williams

[Colin]

Chris,

Thanks very much for your kind comments. I've replied to your questions below;

Originally Posted by Chris55000

a) How did you make such beautifully coloured/lettered meters - can it be done at home?

The simple answer is yes. I use an excellent piece of software called Meter ( see here - http://tonnesoftware.com/meter.html ) James Tonne provides first class support and the software is easy to use and effective. I use the original meter face to set up the software and then produce a new face/scale to suit my needs. This is then printed on glossy photo paper and stuck on the reverse side of the original meter face. I've done lots of these and the results really are great.

Originally Posted by Chris55000

b) Would I need a professional engineering workshop to produce such a front panel - I have my own Component Tracer Project in gestation!

I made the front panel from the aluminium blank that came with the case using a pillar drill and a half round file. It could be done with a hand drill if you were careful. The detail and labels etc. are all done in MS Powerpoint but you could use any drawing package. I simply set up the facia and position all the controls and legends etc. on screen and then print on a colour inkjet. The PSU facia was done on two A4 sheets and joined together in the middle. I covered the whole lot in clear sticky-back plastic in good old Blue Peter tradition (can anyone else remember Val Singleton ...) and used a spray adhesive to stick it to the case front. It's a fairly basic, if fiddly operation that can be done without special equipment.

Originally Posted by Chris55000

I'm really glad you based your design on an Heathkit - I'll be doing the same for exactly the same reasons as you did!!!

No point in re-inventing the wheel and Heathkit designers certainly knew more about valves than I do.

Happy to help if you need any more information.

Rgds
Colin