You Can Build This Beautiful and Useful Bench Power Supply
Giovanni Aggiustatutto designed a DIY bench power supply that'll look good on any workbench, while serving a very useful function.
After a soldering iron and multimeter, a bench power supply is one of the most useful tools an electronics tinkerer can own. The goal of a bench power supply is to provide whatever voltage a device requires — usually DC with safeties, such as overcurrent protection. There are many, many bench power supplies on the market with varying capabilities. But if you’re keen on building your own, this bench power supply designed by Giovanni Aggiustatutto is both beautiful and practical.
A good bench power supply needs to provide a precise voltage across a range that covers most common use cases. An Arduino Uno Rev3 works at 5V, a Raspberry Pi Pico works at 3.3V, most motor drivers work at 12V or 24V, and so on. Your bench power supply should be able to handle all of those. Aggiustatutto’s design can supply power between 0.6V and 36V, at up to 80W — though that is limited to 5A. So at 3.3V or 5V, it could provide up to 5A. At the maximum of 36V, it would top out at just over 2A. The user can also set a current limit, which is handy for preventing disaster caused by design or wiring faults.
The key component in this build is a voltage regulator module from AliExpress, which provides all of that functionality, an LCD display, and control interface. Aggiustatutto’s design adds the necessary complementary parts, including the input DC power supply, banana connectors, power switches, indicator LEDs, and so on.
Aggiustatutto also added two regulated USB ports. Those connect directly to the 19V input power supply (through switches), so they operate independently of the main variable-voltage power supply. They’re useful for development boards that accept USB power (which is most of them these days), or simply charging your phone.
Finally, there is an enclosure to package everything up. That is simple, but quite attractive, sturdy, and 3D-printable. An outer black frame holds gray panels. Those panels are easy to swap out if the user ever wants to make changes to their bench power supply.
The whole thing is very compact and should look good on any workbench, while serving a very useful function.
