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Modular PSU & Soldering station

Universal enclosure that can be used as a lab power supply, soldering station or combination of two.

mileMile
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The goal of this project is to create a universal enclosure that can be used as a lab power supply, soldering station or combination of two.

Enclosure consists out of main body and front panel.

Main body is designed to be easily 3D printed in one piece without any supports.

Front panel is designed to be cut from 3mm thick tinted plexiglass sheet or 3D printed. On the front panel there are mounting holes for Ruideng DPS3003/5 power supply modules and/or Ksger T12 soldering iron controller. In general, a front panel for any combination or type of modules can be made, since outline dimensions are provided.

To power everything there is space for two Meanwell LRS-100-24 power supplies in the main body part. They each can provide 24 volts @ 4.5A. 100 watts of power per channel is enough for any soldering iron or lab power supply hobbyist may use. They each have a small voltage adjusting potentiometer that can be used to increase output voltage by few volts.

Use of quick connect terminals is not a must. Soldering will do just fine. Just make sure to insulate solder joints.


IMPORTANT:

This project uses main voltages that are deadly. Please use proper safety and follow wiring schematics and instructions outlined in video.

Before powering double check your wiring and before first use test output voltages(polarity and values).

100_Modular_PSU&Soldering_Station_Update.zip

3D models, Wiring schematics, Bill of materials, DXF drawings.

x-zip-compressed - 5.08 MB - 01/30/2021 at 14:42

Download

100_Modular_PSU&Soldering_Station.zip

3D models, Wiring schematics, Bill of materials, DXF drawings.

x-zip-compressed - 5.08 MB - 01/30/2021 at 14:38

Download

  • 1
    Things you will need

    Bill of materials(quantity depends on your configuration):

    This is everything(almost) laid out on the table:

  • 2
    Printing enclosure

    Enclosure was printed on Prusa I3MK3S using default settings for 0.3mm layer height preset in PLA material and also it was printed on Ender 3 Pro using 0.6mm nozzle and default settings for 0.28mm layer height in PLA material. Everything printed without no problems and without using supports.

    Here are some thermal cam images that show thermal performance of enclosure. Since I'm limited to 150W DC load I loaded each channel with 75W and let it run over night. As it can be seen the top of the enclosure reaches around 40 °C and sides around 30°C. This is expected since hot air is expanding upwards. There are also 50°C hotspots that correspond to internal placement of components(power transistors, switching diodes). I did test one channel with 100W load and temperatures were around 5°C higher. All tests were conducted at room temperature of 25°C.

    During the test enclosure was mildly warm(sides barely noticeable) to touch and it felt that construction kept its rigidity.

    This is the third revision of enclosure and first two versions are in everyday use for more than a year. They were used in lab environment for low power applications like powering electronic modules and high power ones like battery bank charging and they performed without issues. 

  • 3
    Wiring instructions

    For wiring schematics refer to images below(pdfs also available). First image shows wiring diagram for unit with two DPS3005 modules, while second one shows unit with one DPS3005 and KSGER T12 module. For more information about assembly refer to video above. 

    Your wiring should look something like this:

View all 4 instructions

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Discussions

lamdacomplex wrote 10/11/2022 at 19:23 • point

How difficult would it be to make the panels hot swappable? What concerns would have about attempting something like that?

  Are you sure? yes | no

Jonas Tranberg wrote 09/15/2021 at 18:45 • point

A good addition would be to flash the DPS modules with OpenDPS to make it look more sleek :)

  Are you sure? yes | no

Tony wrote 02/15/2021 at 01:37 • point

I finished this! It was such a fun little project, from printing the parts, to learning more about wiring. And now I have all the crimping tools and connectors I'll probably need at least for years, not to mention a MUCH better soldering station than the old Weller I had been using to make keyboards. Thank you for sharing this!

  Are you sure? yes | no

geekblack22 wrote 03/28/2021 at 12:30 • point

how much did it cost?

  Are you sure? yes | no

Marcin wrote 01/24/2021 at 01:17 • point

Amazing project! It looks sooo goood. Already started to order parts. :) 

I'm considering using LRS-150-36 or LRS-200-36 power supply (would be nice to have access to full range of voltage/current that DPS3005 offers), so would it be possible for you to share F3D files? Just enlengthened enclosure would work for 150W, but 200W model is also 18mm thicker.

Is there some way to tip you?

  Are you sure? yes | no

Mile wrote 01/30/2021 at 14:57 • point

Yes you can get project files. I don't accept tips.

  Are you sure? yes | no

Matt Zeglen wrote 02/05/2021 at 17:00 • point

I wondered the same thing. I have a handful of other power supplies with different dimensions and/or mounting locations.

  Are you sure? yes | no

Konrad wrote 02/12/2021 at 12:02 • point

Hi, I wondered do this too. And I'm going to use a LRS-150-36 power supply. But the LRS-150 is 30mm bigger and have different mount locations. 

Have you already edited a 3d model of the enclosure? Or maybe do you has SolidWorks model of the main-body and the fronts panels - the conversion from STP model did'nt works very well. 

  Are you sure? yes | no

Tony wrote 01/22/2021 at 23:04 • point

Love the added print specs and heat data! You went above and beyond! Thank you!

  Are you sure? yes | no

james.vansickle wrote 01/22/2021 at 20:19 • point

This is a great project!  I'm duplicating this using the LRS-350-24 supplies and adding USB for lab automation.  Challenge will be finding a suitable enclosure.

  Are you sure? yes | no

Matt Zeglen wrote 01/22/2021 at 03:55 • point

This is a really cool project. I've worked on projects and found myself with stacks of power supplies destined for the garbage. This is a great way to turn them into a useable benchtop supply. It's also an excellent project for the local college IEEE chapter and engineering fraternity.

  Are you sure? yes | no

Tobias wrote 01/21/2021 at 02:23 • point

I am seriously envious.. :-) Even a fanless PSU..

  Are you sure? yes | no

Yopo wrote 01/19/2021 at 18:39 • point

Is it possible to get a PSU + soldering cover with hole for the T12 module? I have no way to make one out of acrylic. Would appreciate an answer. :)

  Are you sure? yes | no

Tony wrote 01/19/2021 at 19:14 • point

I realized this as well and once my T12 arrives, I plan on just altering the .STL the maker provided (unless they provide one with the cutout for the screen) - if I end up doing that, I'll let you know.

  Are you sure? yes | no

Yopo wrote 01/20/2021 at 08:19 • point

Thank you. :)

  Are you sure? yes | no

Mile wrote 01/21/2021 at 00:23 • point

I can do it, but I am busy right now with another project so don't hold your breath :D 

  Are you sure? yes | no

Yopo wrote 01/21/2021 at 06:00 • point

No problem, it will take a while until the parts arrive anyway. If I don't have a front panel by then, I'll try it myself or Tony has already made one. But thanks :)

  Are you sure? yes | no

Mile wrote 01/30/2021 at 14:45 • point

You can fid file "100-1207_T12_Front_Panel_3D_Print.stl" in attached files.

  Are you sure? yes | no

Yopo wrote 01/30/2021 at 14:57 • point

Thank you very much. Would not have expected it so quickly. Thank you! :)

  Are you sure? yes | no

ハイエナ お母さん wrote 01/18/2021 at 10:36 • point

Really good project. Do you have any plans to add a hot air solder reflow handset to make it a triple whammy? Solder/Solder Reflow station and Dual bench PSU would be perfect

  Are you sure? yes | no

Mile wrote 01/21/2021 at 00:26 • point

Not for now. I am planning for some time now to buy hot air controller to try it out but I am really busy.

  Are you sure? yes | no

tinkerzone wrote 01/18/2021 at 01:01 • point

Hi, Can you confirm that the wiring diagram is correct? I'm finding it very confusing with the Red wires going to the Negatives, and black to positives

  Are you sure? yes | no

Mile wrote 01/18/2021 at 09:16 • point

There were some labeling mistakes. They are corrected now.

  Are you sure? yes | no

tinkerzone wrote 01/19/2021 at 04:19 • point

No worries, thanks for fixing!

Are you able to confirm that if you set to modules to the same voltage (say 15v) and then connected the positive of one to the negative of the other (to set a 0 volt ground) you would be able to use it as a +/-15v supply?

  Are you sure? yes | no

Mile wrote 01/21/2021 at 00:27 • point

Yes, you can use it as regulated split power supply source.

  Are you sure? yes | no

Tony wrote 01/15/2021 at 20:57 • point

I took a quick look at the files - do you publish the slicer settings you used for the enclosure? I'm most interested in the filament you used and resolution. Do you think this requires PETG or ABS, or would PLA work? (I wonder if the heat generated by the power supplies could potentially deform PLA?)

I plan on making a PSU/soldering station version once I'm comfortable enough with my printer to entrust a 2-day print to it.

Thank you for sharing such beautiful and functional work!

  Are you sure? yes | no

Yopo wrote 01/17/2021 at 14:44 • point

I printed it on my Anycubic i3 Mega with PLA, 0.3mm thickness and no support structure. There were no problems printing and with 0.3mm it already looks very good.

  Are you sure? yes | no

Tony wrote 01/17/2021 at 15:43 • point

Good info, thank you - have you used the enclosure yet? My concern is about PLA's tendency to soften in things like hot cars; I wonder if it might be a bad choice if the PSUs put out enough heat.

  Are you sure? yes | no

Yopo wrote 01/18/2021 at 06:20 • point

No, I have not tested it yet. I ordered the parts last Saturday and unfortunately they will take a while to arrive. I don't think the power supplies are particularly hot/warm, there are also more than enough ventilation holes.

  Are you sure? yes | no

Tony wrote 01/18/2021 at 15:20 • point

Right on. I will order my parts and print with the same general settings. The case is very ventilated at the very least, and it looks like the likely hottest parts are air-adjacent, not directly against the plastic anyway. I've been having a hell of a time trying to print PETG properly; I'd rather just do PLA because I know it'll print beautifully. Thanks!

  Are you sure? yes | no

Tony wrote 01/30/2021 at 16:11 • point

Hey, another question for you about your print: did you use a brim? I’m about 25% through (and it’s going to take a total of 36 hrs) but I see very slight warping on each corner. I’m debating whether I should stop and start again with a brim.

  Are you sure? yes | no

Yopo wrote 01/30/2021 at 16:21 • point

No I did not use a Brim. But I also have some deformation in the corners (corners have lifted a little, maximum 0.2 mm). However, this does not bother me because it is on the back. The rest was printed perfectly. Except for a few threads between the warbs, but which you can easily remove.

  Are you sure? yes | no

Tony wrote 02/01/2021 at 04:07 • point

Got it - I printed it again, this time with a brim - still got the lifting in the corners, but yeah, it was pretty light and didn't affect anything. Odd! But at least I know it wasn't just me. 33 hours and it's done and looks great!

  Are you sure? yes | no

Mile wrote 01/21/2021 at 00:37 • point

Enclosure was printed in PLA @ default settings and 0.3mm layer height on Prusa i3 and ender 3. Model itself is very easy to print. If you are concern about thermal performance I added "Step No. 2". Previous versions of enclosure are in use for more than a year now and there are no problems. Now, obviously if you use it space with no air circulation(and heat build up) you will have problems.

  Are you sure? yes | no

Tony wrote 01/21/2021 at 03:06 • point

Yep, makes sense! Just wanted to make sure -thank you for sharing your knowledge!

  Are you sure? yes | no

Eric Bidault wrote 01/14/2021 at 17:14 • point

Nice project! This enclosure is beautiful, would love to get the fusion project.

  Are you sure? yes | no

Benjamin Prescher wrote 01/12/2021 at 13:01 • point

Well done! I really like the design. Is there a link to Thingiverse for this? If the housing could be parameterized, it would certainly be a great fit for many projects. Best Ben

  Are you sure? yes | no

Mile wrote 01/14/2021 at 11:23 • point

Thank you. There are 3d models attached in the “FILES” section. I posted previous versions on Thingiverse, but I gave up on it since the site is broken. They have bugs that go back a few years and are still not fixed to this day. Step file is included so everyone can make small changes to it. If someone needs, I can send a fusion360 project.

In future revisions I may provide a parametric defined model, but I can't make any promises.

  Are you sure? yes | no

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