ATX Bench Power Supply Enclosure

by simon.w.nordberg in Circuits > Electronics

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ATX Bench Power Supply Enclosure

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Here's an enclosure I built a while back!

Materials

  • 1 ATX Power Supply
  • Plexiglass 60x40cm (23.6x15.7 inches)
  • A Few Pieces of Wood
  • 1 On/Off Switch
  • Wire Lugs
  • 1 LED
  • 1 Resistor
  • 2 1m Wires (39.3 inches)
  • 2 Crocodile Clips
  • 3 Red Male Banana Plugs
  • 3 Red Female Banana Plugs
  • 1 Black Male Banana Plug
  • 1 Black Female Banana Plug

Tools

  • Drill
  • Jigsaw
  • Sanding Paper
  • Screws
  • Box Cutter
  • Table Saw

Construction

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Drill a hole for the fan and AC power connector. Use the box cutter to deburr the edges.

I used a wood base and wood in the upper corners to fasten the screws.

Countersink

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Countersink the screws and deburr the edges for that smooth look! ;)

Installing

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Be careful when drilling in plexiglass. It cracks easily.

Usually the ATX is turned on by shorting the green and black wire. This was not true for me.

Make sure you search online for ATX color coding and wire placement in the connector. If you are not sure or your wires does not follow the color coding, check the ATX connector as these are uniform on all ATX PSUs.

I hooked up an LED to the 3.3 wire to create an ON indicator.

I choose to only use 3.3v, 5v and 12v but there is usually wires for -5v and -12v as well.

I cut off the unused wires, insulated them and tuck them back in the casing.

Thoughts

I have heard that you can connect the positive voltages and use the -5v and -12v wires as ground to get even higher outputs since it's the voltage difference that determines the output voltage. However since I'm not even sure this is true and i'm not an electronics expert in any way and, I decided it was a bit unsafe.