Power supplies, controllers and prototyping

[vms]

Hi guys

I have added a gallery of photos and descriptions of some of the circuits I do at home. www.zerksus.com/gallery.htm

http://www.zerksus.com


The first photo on the page is a CNC power supply I did for C&S Center (Johannesburg, South Africa). You only need to add the 5VAC,24VAC and upto 35VAC (high power) and you are up and running. I have added a push to make/disconnect to break emergency relay circuit for safety. Currently you can safely draw 10A on the high power output (anything more and you need to add a heatsink and fan on the rectifier). This higher voltage is available on 4 fuse protected outputs. If a fuse blows an LED shows the faulty channel. The 5V and 24V outputs can be assembled for either linear regulators (clean power, up to 1A, but gets hot) or 250KHz SMPS up to 2A each. All connections are phoenix removeable screw terminals. We only made 5 PSUs as we don't really have a demand for it at the moment. The design is done so it is easy to have more made up.

Right at the bottom of the page are the new toys I am busy with. These are small device modules (like CPUs, USB hosts, SMPS PSUs and even GSM and GPS devices). This allows the DIY person to easily use high tech components on simple Vero prototyping boards. I made up a batch over Xmas and so far I have sold almost half the stock on 3 lines. The USB host module is of interest as this allows you an easy interface for your flashdrive. The idea was, for an CNC machine, to upload e.g. GCode to a flash drive and just plug it into your machine. I know this is now a very common way of doing things but usually too difficult for the average DIYer to do.

I started a new website for these modules named http://www.re-package.com. With these modules you can create a USB interface, controller and put a tracking system in if you want. I look at it as electronic LEGO for adults :-)

A friend asked me to start looking into PWM generators as well as half and full bridge drivers. At the moment I am busy with a 3x half bridge driver at 24V capable of switching 50A to 70A (yes for a CNC machine !! driving a 24 step stepper motor.. it will take your arm off at, even at slow speeds). So I thought I maybe just do a small sub 10A version for the smaller, more common motors.

Victor