- Joined
- Jun 11, 2006
- Messages
- 8,650
I know it’s been along time since I have posted a DIY build so I figured I would do one for fun. I don’t need one of these but figured I would post about it because I have a handful of customers that could benefit from one. Plus it’s along weekend for me and wanted a fun project.
So a little background to why I chose this. We where at the dump dumping all our scrap steel from the plasma table and I look down and this was laying on the ground just asking to be given a home. Normally I don’t like builds that use some weird found devise as it’s hard for others to recreate it. But a quick eBay search and thy are rather cheep and easily acquired.
As you can see it’s a ac/dc model train controller. Whats interesting is it’s a duel channel which is perfect for what I want to do with it. It outputs variable DC and a constant AC source. Here you can see the back and how the outputs are set up
My plan it to Rewire it a bit so I can have an adjustable AC and DC source and a switch to toggle between them. Here it is with the cover off.
I plugged it in and tested voltages and channel 2 would output ac and dc but channel 1 was dead. So I started probing around and discovered the diode pack that rectifies the ac from the transformer is bad. This is not a big deal because that’s going to be removed as I want adjustable AC from that channel. You can see the bad rectifier on the left. It’s the thing with stacked aluminum fins.
A quick peak under the hood and it looks like I got plenty of wires and switches to make this work how I want.
This is far as I have gotten but will be updating the build as I mod this. I’m trying to keep it simple and easy to fallow along. But in the end it should be just about perfect for electro etching.
So a little background to why I chose this. We where at the dump dumping all our scrap steel from the plasma table and I look down and this was laying on the ground just asking to be given a home. Normally I don’t like builds that use some weird found devise as it’s hard for others to recreate it. But a quick eBay search and thy are rather cheep and easily acquired.
As you can see it’s a ac/dc model train controller. Whats interesting is it’s a duel channel which is perfect for what I want to do with it. It outputs variable DC and a constant AC source. Here you can see the back and how the outputs are set up
My plan it to Rewire it a bit so I can have an adjustable AC and DC source and a switch to toggle between them. Here it is with the cover off.
I plugged it in and tested voltages and channel 2 would output ac and dc but channel 1 was dead. So I started probing around and discovered the diode pack that rectifies the ac from the transformer is bad. This is not a big deal because that’s going to be removed as I want adjustable AC from that channel. You can see the bad rectifier on the left. It’s the thing with stacked aluminum fins.
A quick peak under the hood and it looks like I got plenty of wires and switches to make this work how I want.
This is far as I have gotten but will be updating the build as I mod this. I’m trying to keep it simple and easy to fallow along. But in the end it should be just about perfect for electro etching.
