on video Making a ATX Bench Power Supply

Let’s be real, yanking the ATX power supply out of an old desktop computer and turning it into something you can use on the workbench isn’t exactly an advanced project. In fact, you could probably argue it’s one of the first DIY builds a budding electronic hobbyist should tackle — after all, you’re going to need a reliable bench supply if you want to do any serious work anyway.

But of course, there’s a big difference between doing the minimum and really giving something your all, and we think this ATX bench supply from [Steve Thone] of The Neverending Projects List is a phenomenal example of the latter. It not only looks impressive, but it’s been tricked out with plenty of bells and whistles to make it as capable as possible. What was once a basic 230 watt PSU pulled from an old Dell is now a piece of gear that any hacker or maker would love to have in their collection.

As with your basic ATX conversion, this bench supply has outputs for 3.3, 5, and 12 volts. [Steve] has taken things a step further though, and given each one not only its own pair of banana jacks, but a dedicated switch, fuse, and LED volt/current meter. In addition, he’s added an adjustable buck boost converter that can output up to 36 V and features an attractive color LCD display.

Everything is mounted into a sturdy 3D printed enclosure that’s large enough to give all the components and wiring some breathing room. The labels on the front panel were created with the classic pause-and-swap-filament trick, and go a long way towards making the project look like a commercial offering.

While this isn’t the first tricked out ATX PSU we’ve seen here at Hackaday, it may well be one of the most polished. Of course, even if you don’t need a new bench supply, there’s still plenty you can do with these ubiquitous pieces of hardware. 

Let’s be real, yanking the ATX power supply out of an old desktop computer and turning it into something you can use on the workbench isn’t exactly an advanced project. In fact, you could probably argue it’s one of the first DIY builds a budding electronic hobbyist should tackle — after all, you’re going to need a reliable bench supply if you want to do any serious work anyway.

But of course, there’s a big difference between doing the minimum and really giving something your all, and we think this ATX bench supply from [Steve Thone] of The Neverending Projects List is a phenomenal example of the latter. It not only looks impressive, but it’s been tricked out with plenty of bells and whistles to make it as capable as possible. What was once a basic 230 watt PSU pulled from an old Dell is now a piece of gear that any hacker or maker would love to have in their collection.

As with your basic ATX conversion, this bench supply has outputs for 3.3, 5, and 12 volts. [Steve] has taken things a step further though, and given each one not only its own pair of banana jacks, but a dedicated switch, fuse, and LED volt/current meter. In addition, he’s added an adjustable buck boost converter that can output up to 36 V and features an attractive color LCD display.

Everything is mounted into a sturdy 3D printed enclosure that’s large enough to give all the components and wiring some breathing room. The labels on the front panel were created with the classic pause-and-swap-filament trick, and go a long way towards making the project look like a commercial offering.

While this isn’t the first tricked out ATX PSU we’ve seen here at Hackaday, it may well be one of the most polished. Of course, even if you don’t need a new bench supply, there’s still plenty you can do with these ubiquitous pieces of hardware.