I have etched the PCB for the LM317 variable power supply. I used the design outlined in the previous post. It seemed to come out well! Here are some photographs of the process.
The design printed on glossy paper!
The design ready to be transferred onto the PCB - Get the clothes iron out!
The design transferred onto the PCB ready for etching!
The PCB after etching....Not too bad, some tracks were over etched.
Fanfare!! The populated PCB, quickly switched on to see it working....I couldn't resist.
So where did things go well? - The design was well transferred and populating the PCB was very simple. The spacing between components was excellent! A professional design would be much harder to put together because space is always at a premium. Nothing smoked when I switched it on...that's always reassuring!
Where did things go wrong? - I over etched the PCB (left it too long in the etching fluid)....It meant some of the tracks were broken. I managed to fix this quickly with some thick braided copper wire. I also used the wrong package size for the transformer. I didn't check which transformer I had before I printed the PCB design. It's a common mistake and one I won't make again for a while. I will probably change the transformer to the correct one as I may well make some of the power supplies as kits for people at my local hack space!
The underside of the populated PCB - notice the extra holes and repairs!
The next thing to do is put the power supply in an enclosure and get some panel meters. We need to be able to see what the output voltage and current is and we need to ensure that this is safe to use. We don't want any accidents or mistakes when there are mains voltages and high current available!
That's all for now people! Take care and have fun always....
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ReplyDeleteHello, I appreciate your educational blog. I'm working in a Power Adapter manufacturing house. Can you add video clips please?
ReplyDeleteThanks, @Rimi from Ac Dc Adapter
Cheers for reading the blog and for commenting. I promise to upload a video of the PSU in action once I have finished building it. I have been busy with other things at the moment. I promise to finish up and post videos soon!
DeleteAlex
Rimi, As requested I have added another post on how I finished the power suppy.
DeleteI hope its what you were looking for.
Cheers
Alex
I can not honestly tell you the number of friends, customers, and others that bought a non- dell power adapter for a dell unit, and found out that it will run the unit, with reduced performance, but will not charge. and paid lots of money. I keep a collection of actual dell power supplies 65w, 90w, 120w ,just to help out when that happens. funny thing , if you shop around you can get the real ones for less than the kingston, etc "universal"!
ReplyDelete