Easy Prototype Breadboard Unit With DUAL PSU's and Less Then $10

I love playing with electronics, the best fun comes when you have a good idea, and you want to do it NOW!

But...you soon lose interest when you realise the effort need to set up your workbench, even for the tiniest of projects, and the effort to clear things away later

SO.....being a lazy bugger...i made this...

A small unit that is portable and can store its accessories inside. Many times ive wanted to try a small circuit, but being lazy i couldnt be bothered to dig out the prototype board, the wires, set things up with a PSU etc so i purchased a small case that cost $0.60c made a dual power supply, one at 5 volts and the other variable 0 to 20v and combined the whole unit.

Both of the power supplies are pretty basic, and the circuits can be found anywhere on the net, so i wont go into any specific construction in this area, but feel free to ask any questions. One uses a standard 7805 regulator, and the other an LM341 The DC adaptor was a spare 24v DC unit i had lying around, any unit from 8 volts to 30 volts DC will work with this unit.

Layout is not important and is down to the individual choice, the following pages shows my layout.

Step 1: Get the Bits Together

The box was from a local cheap shop, it cost about $60c

its solid and locks, and has space inside to pack away all of your bits when you have finished

The picture shows some of the bits i have added

Step 2: Mounting the Hardware

Once you have decided what bits and features you want, carefully position and mount your hardware. The case i used was made from soft plastic and the holes easily made with a small cross point screwdriver and enlarged with the blade of a pair of scissors, using it like a reamer. 

Step 3: PSU

The two power supplies are fairly basic and made "ugly bug" style on a piece of copper PCB with "islands" created with a craft knife and the spare copper peeled away, both of the regulators were soldered to the pc board which acts as a heatsink. The board in turn was soldered to the variable resistor which held it in place.

Step 4: Putting It All Together

Once the PSU was completed and tested, it was time to mount the PCB and connect everything up. Again, construction was fairly simple and didnt take long. Once everything was wired up, i cut a piece of sponge rubber (not shown) that fitted inside the lid to protect the electronics and other components. As the external PSU only delivers 1 amp heat wasnt a problem.

Step 5: Finally

And here we have the finished unit, now when i have the urge to play with a circuit, everything i need is in one place, with minimal setting up time and everything is portable.

I hope you have fun building yours, post the pics here for everyone to see.

Happy building!