17:50 The chip sucktion isn't clearing the work area because the shroud is blocking all the air from the edges and it's all coming down from where the router is. If you remove a bit of the skirt and reduce the clearance around the chuck more air will come in laterally and swirl around picking up dust as it goes.
Add a third valve to your dust collection system so you can attach an auxiliary hose for sucking up errant dust and chips manually during CNCing :-) Just have a vacuum cleaner attachment at the end.
As a couple of other posters have pointed out, the majority of switching power supplies will NOT work as a benchtop power supply without some sort of minimum load attached. This is even more important if you are using an older supply. Basically, a switching power supply will not output any voltage if the current is zero. So when you turn it on and it is not attached to anything then the voltage coming out will be zero and you will think the power supply is broken. How much of a load depends on the power supply itself. In the original IBM PC/AT, you needed a load of at least 7 AMPS in order for the power supply to function properly. That's quite a bit of wasted power. Many of the newer power supplies have minimum loads built in to guarantee that the power supply provides voltage with no additional external load. But if it doesn't have this feature then you need to provide a minimum external load. You also have to worry about whether or not the load goes on the 5V line or the 12V line. So how much load and what line to put it on are important questions to ask when creating a benchtop power supply out of a PC switching power supply. So just grabbing and old power supply and hooking it up without a minimal external load can leave you scratching your head if your power supply of choice does not implement its own internal minimum load source.
Thanks Phillip. All of the supplies I have laying around are older than 5 years so I always have to deal with that issue if I intend to use one of them. It's good to know that the power supply manufacturers have made things a lot easier for us these days.
I think it depends on the application. For a project where you are using the power supply as a dedicated supply then the load itself can come from the project itself. But for a bench top power supply, there will be times when there will be no load at all and the power supply is expected to still output a voltage in these conditions. I've used old power supplies for dedicated robotics projects and didn't have to worry about the load as long as the robot was always moving. But there were also times when I tried to use old power supplies for robotics projects that didn't always move and the microcontroller running the system didn't pull enough juice by default so I had to add an additional load to meet the minimums. Still, I appreciate you commenting and correcting me. It's good to know that most of the new supplies do not require minimum loads in order to function. That alone is worth the extra price of just buying a cheap new one rather than trying to repurpose some of the countless old supplies that I have.
I just made one from a computer that ran windows 98 and it works fine without a dummy load BTW i cant stop playing with it though, for some reason its really fun!
PC power supply's typically go out of date because of poor efficiency not GPU power requirements. Also the rating's are usually the peek power not constant output. And the amperage is not for a single cable but for all the cables combined.
Garrett Grove As long as your psu has molex connectors and the right power requirement, you can stil easily use it. Get educated please. Also, I never said I'm smarter than he is. I just thought that something so stupidly common should be known by him. But hey, maybe he isn't into computers that much.
Garrett Grove That's not really a good argument.. And if your psu has the right wattage, it doesn't make a difference at all. Molex connectors and pci-e connectors are both connected to the same trace in the psu.
Garrett Grove Again, Why isn't it the right way to do it? It works the exact same way. And since when where we talking about PCs from manufacturers? People who own PCs without GPUs generally don't put one in there later on.
Have you considered building an enclosure for your shop vac? You could have it vented either inside or out, using a muffling system, insulated walls and a large enough door to access the vac it'self. It could cut down on on the noise considerably.
Hello Ben, From building also my own PC PSU Workbench generator, i DO recommend installing a Load resistance (like 200 Ohms ceriamic or so) on the 5V line (inside the PSU casing after experiencing stabilities issues (Like PSU not starting without load)
As a tip, you can also get server power supplies for cheap - I bought a 1200watt HP "platinum" efficiency for $25. Not only are they cheap, they're small in size, very reliable and don't usually have wires. Makes for a really clean bench supply.
For my own notes: 4:04 Power supply - * Blck ground, Yellow 12V, Red 5V, Orange 3.3V. (Blue constant 5V) 1) Master On/Off: Connect Green wire to ground (black) using switch - turns on power supply 2) On light: Put a resistor in for power on indicator (1K suitable) with LED - hook up to any 3.3V (Orange) line 8:53 (end of advert) 3) Cut off and heat shrink ends of excess leads. 4) Connect wanted leads to screws.
+Noah Bonvissuto Should be easy enough. Just build a battery powered power supply supplying the voltages you need to run the N64. Also, you might need a display, also operated on the same battery.
The chip collection for the Router would work better if you weren't using one vacuum to do it and the vacuum table. Not only are you losing suction because you are doing both with one vacuum but you are also losing suction from the fact that with the chip collection you have the vacuum traveling a great distance through the tubes.
Assuming the vacuum table isn't leaking, it shouldn't change the effectiveness of the dust collecting once the system reaches steady state, in an ideal system the difference with and without the vacuum table would be negligible.
At 15 minutes in, the episode went into dolby 5.1 mode i heard Ben behind me cause i havent set up properly yet, It scared the living bejeebus outta me cause I wasnt expecting, Cheers Alison :D haha. Peace.
External device after the PSU regulates it. If you were only drawing up to 1 amp, you can use an LM317 adjustable regulator in constant current config. Watch EEVBlog's power supply tutorials for more info on it!
Naoki Saito Thanks for your advice, I guess I've seen some of Dave's videos about power supplies. I'll watch them again. LM317 is not enough for me, because you can draw much more current from a computer PSU. It would be a waste to use only up to 1A.
I don't understand why you just didn't open the PSU up and desoldered the unnecessary wires, a lot cleaner for little work. If they are jammed together like crazy I just cut them at the solderjoint at the PCB.
Hey Ben just a thought,but if you used the larger hose size from the vacuum into your manifold (increase the T size as well), would that not at least provide a higher volume of air flow in order to divide it between the two functions?
Ben you should replace the plastic on your dust collector with the brush from a upholstery cleaner for a vacuum cleaner. It will still be flexible but provides a better seal around the job.
I have a few items I don't have any use for that I think you would benifet from. Do you have a PO Box or some where I can mail them to you. I have some LCD screens computer parts...ect.
If i would have made the power suply i would have used banana connectors. That way i don't need to have extra cables beeing in the way, just plug in what i need.
and don't forget that GND is connected to earth pin in all the computer PSU. Putting the ground lead of your oscilloscope on any powered wire will cause a short!
I like to tie all my same voltage wires together in parallel when I make a bench power supply. This ensures I can pull as much power as the PSU is rated for without tripping the breaker or burning the wires up.
Ben you're quite the intelligent guy, i saw your pc desk, did you design that yourself? Also if you and you post the pattern? I'd like to make my own rather than buy an L Shaped desk. Thanks!
Thank you for the video. The ATX used as a workshop power supply is a nice idea. People building such a device should be aware of the 25 A (as this one is rated), ain't nowhere realistic with wires at that dimension. I wouldn't recommend pulling more than 6-7 A through those wires at 9-8 A they would be hot and the insulation would begin to melt.
Why didn't u use the shrink wrap thingy (I'm Swedish don't now the English word for it) Instead of the electrical tape if u take one who is fitting snug over cable and heating it with a few millimeters out from cable it shrinks to realy small hole and if then bend it when still warm u get it short free ;)
Oh yeah, heat shrink tubing. He even showed them in one of his bins for it when he was talking about wire colors. Maybe he just preferred doing it the way he did.
I alway use em working great even if u have usb cables who is to short and uses a extension cord take shrink tubing over the male and female plugs and heat em.now the stay connected I did that on mouse cord and the kids stubble on cord and still connected
Wy not beside the existing cable guide/ cable chain for left right. This way you do not need the beam above the table. But only a small guide at the side of the table front to back.
Ben and Allison (not sure if that's how you spell it haha) just thought I'd let you guys know I love the stuff you guys are doing good work guys :). Ohh and Ben don't worry I think you're hilarious :)
You can make the power supply fanless(passive cooling) by screwing the voltge regulators(tranzistors) to a big block of aluminium or some CPU heatsink laying around. Of course this will make it bigger, but you can do some wire bridges to keep it all inside the case,
You could've done some binding posts and "banana to alligator clips". That way you could easily disconnect the wires, get longer wires, or other types of connectors. But it looks like a fancy way without screwing the device open.
I would advise you to at least add a fuse or polyfuse as a limit, the 5v trace on the pi can only handle about 1.5A at max, and it also has a load resistor on it if you use the USB port.
slango20 Amps are drawn on the go. You won't exceed the 1.5 if that's the limit for Rasp PI. It takes as much as it needs as long as the power supply can keep with it.
DaGunchijs some things connected to the pi can draw more than it can handle, and the 5v pin doesn't have the polyfuse that's on the micro USB. connect a wifi module and a wireless mouse/keyboard module and you can pop the thing if they draw too much. my advice was to add a fuse if they were connecting to the 5v pin, to replace the one that exists on the USB connector
Ben, you should have added a T fitting and another pipe. So after the CNC cuts it out and there are chips left, you just open the valve on T so suck up the chips.
I would've added a third valve and hose to the chip collector with a short hose so you can vacuum the remaining chips and dust up after the routing table was done.
A couple comments (not meaning to insult but inform) FYI, the ratings on that PSU are overhyped garbage most likely... From here it looks like a coolmax unit, which is a brand not know for quality. I bet the UL cert is fake too! Also, PSUs do not go out of date per se in the way stated. Wattage is wattage. Yes, newer designs can be more efficient, but that's what 80+ is for. Now, what will make a PSU "obsolete" is if it is a 5V heavy design... for a number of years (still now in the crappiest of crap units) companies would add modern connectors (PCIe, etc.) to old designs that didn't have enough on the 12V to support them. But otherwise, if you have enough Wattage and the PSU is 12V heavy and has the right connectors, it will be fine; I have plenty of 6 year old PSUs that would be more than enough for most modern builds. Keep in mind they are QUALITY units, not cheapo sledgehammer bait junkers.
The brand of PSU matters for a PC, where having a stable output is critical, but it's likely this won't be used for anything that important, he's got another power supply which he can use for finer voltages and currents, this is probably for high current loads. I agree that PSUs have gone out of date because of new connectors, like SATA power
I've actually memorized the entire ATX color code and it's widely used on power supplies that don't even have ATX pins - Purple is +5VSB, blue is -12V.
I was thinking a video out hack for 3DS would be good. I know people do the mod, but it would be handy for those that want to record footage and are willing to do their own mod!
Should have done a 3 way valve maybe hung a hose on the table or have it near by to have a easy way to connect and do final cleanup with one vacuum to clean it all.
+Eric Escamilla I'm pretty sure you add something like a 5w 5ohm power resistor on the 5v line or add a dummy load like tail light bulb from a vehicle. Lol...not trying to pretend like a know a damned thing - this is where I'm sort of stuck on building my second supply (can't remember how I built first one)...Maybe this will at least get you on the right trail...
+Eric Escamilla Many SMPs that come from PCs have a specified minimum load. If you run it with a lighter load, the regulation might be poor. Put a 10 Ohm 10W resister on the 12v rail and you should be fine. It will draw a little power, but the line regulation will improve.
Well if parts aren't always in reach now you obviously need to make a robot that grabs them out of the bins and some sort of transportation system (model railway? Flying drone?).
You could probably have used a single Y valve to share the -pressure of the vac, only one switch to operate. Also you can mark your "sweet spot" on the body of the valve
My old PSU won't power anything on its rails with the Power ON wire grounded. (Power supply turns on, just nothing get power, ie, HDDs) If I attach it to the old MB, it powers HDDs fine :-/ Anyone have a clue what is going on or how to fix it, I also tried grounding the Power Ok wire, done nothing.
So when Felix, at end of clip said "hi camron" and waved at camera, it may have just been how exhausted I am, but I thought I was tripping balls and he was talking to me >
its a dust shoe not a dust collector. the way it is mounted if you where doing a cut that is the same or less than the hight of the dust collector it would get torn off and do some damage. A better design is to have one where its lowest point is at the same hight as the bottom of the spindle motor not the collet. also if you have a bigger pipe connected to it it will suck more the pipe should also be connected at the side or front of the shoe less chance of it getting in the way, and if you use dust brushes it needs to be able to move up and down and as what's already been said a bigger hole around the collet does make it work better it has more air coming in what courses a vortices. I have two shoes that I use on my machine a sort and long. the sort is for small cuts and the long one is for deep cuts when doing 3D work. the long one is connected to a plate that is on the spindle, the shoe is held on with magnets. the short is connected to a mount what has two rods going through it so the shoe can move up and down
6:10 DO NOT DO THAT. Capacitors can still store a decent charge in the psu. Or at least make sure you don't have any ground wires in the bundle so you cant short it out.
id have added a third vacuum valve for a clean up hose after the router finishes switch the dust collector off and valve 3 on and suck up the remaining chips with a hose
Huh.. I still have like 15 year old 200w power supply running my home server. Just open it up once a year to clean the dust out, check the capacitors(Have resoldered two already). Oil the fan every couple of months and it should run cool n queit for years to come. Even kitchen cooking oil works good!
Ok so a teacher and I at our school are having a debate about soldering-don't you take the iron and the solder and touch them both to the wire; he thinks you heat up the two surfaces and then put the solder on them so that they join from the remaining heat (which I don't believe is correct) the first way is how I was taught and how Ben does it
It depends on what you are trying to accomplish. The way Ben solders actually drives me crazy because if not done just right it can cause cold solder joints that fail down the road. Ben gets his stuff to work long enough for the show. But I'd be really interested in knowing how many of his projects fail several years later from cold solder joints breaking. I'm not trying to criticize Ben. He has his technique and he is very good at it. But I would not say that it is a commonly taught technique. The way I was taught to solder is that both pieces you are soldering should have a good PHYSICAL connection first. Ideally, they should not be able to move with respect to each other or else a cold solder joint is more likely to form. Then, you place the iron against BOTH pieces and heat them to a temperature that is hot enough to melt the solder. Next, you touch the solder to the pieces (not the iron) and the solder should flow around both of them. Finally, you remove the iron from the work pieces and they should not be allowed to move as the solder cools. However, there are just going to be times when you need to touch the solder to the iron to get it flowing or where you need to put solder on one piece first and then bring them both together later. So what I described above is the common technique used when you can physically connect the two pieces in relation to each other. What Ben likes to do is skip this step and "tack" the two pieces together using only solder. And again, this drives me crazy because there is a huge potential for cold solder joints to form if not done correctly. I am not an expert. I would look on youtube for some tutorials on soldering from organizations that actually teach the techniques.
I should also say that the type of projects that Ben does tend to require his method of "tack" soldering. He does a lot of miniaturizations and repurposing. You simply can't use a traditional soldering technique on these types of projects. Frankly, I wouldn't be able to solder half the stuff that Ben does because I'm just not good at that technique. Ben has likely spent years developing his sense of touch and finesse that allows him to use his technique successfully. But for most people (especially inexperienced ones), using Ben's technique on certain types of work would result in failure so it is not taught as a classic technique. His method of "tack" soldering definitely has its uses. But it should not be used for all types of soldering. So as I stated above, the answer is: "it depends".
It varies, typically you want the metal that you're soldering together to be heated first and then apply the solder. Otherwise you'll end up with cold/cloudy solder joints that will fail. This may mean pre-heating each bit of metal individually and applying a small amount of solder to help the process.
Typically best to heat both surfaces and then apply the solder. I don't remove the heat source before applying the solder. Just make sure you apply the solder on your parts and not melting it directly on your soldering iron. If you see the solder flowing on the metal, that typically means you're all set. By coating both surfaces in solder and then heating them. You have two main problems. The first being that your surfaces might be quite far apart from each other. The other problem is that it's hard to know if you've flowed all of the solder in your connection which means sometimes you end up with a cold solder. In my experience, it's very easy to make a dodgy connection using this latter technique. Though sometimes it's the only practical solution.
Yes, it all depends on what you are soldering to what. For example when I am making connectors, after fluxing, I tin each connection point with a small amount of solder first (using the method previously stated, by preheating each connection point first). Then I make the physical connection; add heat and just a touch of additional solder. Other factors to consider are; the irons heat setting, the diameter of the solder that is being used, and the heat absorption ability of material that is being soldered. Lastly for components, a quick check of the data sheet will usually indicate the max duration that heat can be applied at a given temperature, usually 3 sec. with through-hole components.
Partly opening the valve on the table side is silly. It's a FLOW regulator, not a PRESSURE regulator. If you have covered all the holes, there is flow only thru leaks. Think it thru.
You might want to mention that the computer PCU is not current regulated which means on some of them you may get a nice 5v @ 40amps killing your equipment and yourself.
An ATX-Power supply isn't suitable for a bench power supply. It doesn't have a current limit. If you have a short circuit in your circuit, 25 amps will flow trough it, which will certainly destroy it. You can't rely on the overcurrent protection. These SMPS aren't suitable for HF stuff either. It makes more sense to buy a cheap bench power supply or if you want to learn something about electronics: design your own.
0:30 overview
1:35 dust collector pt1
3:11 building the storage kart
4:03 making the power supply
11:26 dust collector pt2 (actually making it)
vidm96 You're like a DVD menu, but harder to find & yet more convenient at the same time.
17:50 The chip sucktion isn't clearing the work area because the shroud is blocking all the air from the edges and it's all coming down from where the router is. If you remove a bit of the skirt and reduce the clearance around the chuck more air will come in laterally and swirl around picking up dust as it goes.
Add a third valve to your dust collection system so you can attach an auxiliary hose for sucking up errant dust and chips manually during CNCing :-) Just have a vacuum cleaner attachment at the end.
As a couple of other posters have pointed out, the majority of switching power supplies will NOT work as a benchtop power supply without some sort of minimum load attached. This is even more important if you are using an older supply. Basically, a switching power supply will not output any voltage if the current is zero. So when you turn it on and it is not attached to anything then the voltage coming out will be zero and you will think the power supply is broken.
How much of a load depends on the power supply itself. In the original IBM PC/AT, you needed a load of at least 7 AMPS in order for the power supply to function properly. That's quite a bit of wasted power. Many of the newer power supplies have minimum loads built in to guarantee that the power supply provides voltage with no additional external load. But if it doesn't have this feature then you need to provide a minimum external load. You also have to worry about whether or not the load goes on the 5V line or the 12V line. So how much load and what line to put it on are important questions to ask when creating a benchtop power supply out of a PC switching power supply.
So just grabbing and old power supply and hooking it up without a minimal external load can leave you scratching your head if your power supply of choice does not implement its own internal minimum load source.
those are very old supplies. supplies made in the past 5 years dont have that issue. this is why you have to tie the green to ground.
Thanks Phillip. All of the supplies I have laying around are older than 5 years so I always have to deal with that issue if I intend to use one of them. It's good to know that the power supply manufacturers have made things a lot easier for us these days.
Treasure Pirate i have always heard any simple load resister will also work. just make sure its switched incase it runs away on you
I think it depends on the application. For a project where you are using the power supply as a dedicated supply then the load itself can come from the project itself. But for a bench top power supply, there will be times when there will be no load at all and the power supply is expected to still output a voltage in these conditions.
I've used old power supplies for dedicated robotics projects and didn't have to worry about the load as long as the robot was always moving. But there were also times when I tried to use old power supplies for robotics projects that didn't always move and the microcontroller running the system didn't pull enough juice by default so I had to add an additional load to meet the minimums.
Still, I appreciate you commenting and correcting me. It's good to know that most of the new supplies do not require minimum loads in order to function. That alone is worth the extra price of just buying a cheap new one rather than trying to repurpose some of the countless old supplies that I have.
I just made one from a computer that ran windows 98 and it works fine without a dummy load
BTW i cant stop playing with it though, for some reason its really fun!
PC power supply's typically go out of date because of poor efficiency not GPU power requirements.
Also the rating's are usually the peek power not constant output. And the amperage is not for a single cable but for all the cables combined.
Exactly, you'd think this guy knows his shit..
ivanjacob He started off as a hobbyist and learned more and more throughout the years, so yeah, he probably doesn't know everything.
Garrett Grove As long as your psu has molex connectors and the right power requirement, you can stil easily use it. Get educated please.
Also, I never said I'm smarter than he is. I just thought that something so stupidly common should be known by him. But hey, maybe he isn't into computers that much.
Garrett Grove That's not really a good argument.. And if your psu has the right wattage, it doesn't make a difference at all. Molex connectors and pci-e connectors are both connected to the same trace in the psu.
Garrett Grove Again, Why isn't it the right way to do it? It works the exact same way.
And since when where we talking about PCs from manufacturers? People who own PCs without GPUs generally don't put one in there later on.
Fantastic video. I really love the subject of shop improvement, and hope this is a series you continue.
Have you considered building an enclosure for your shop vac? You could have it vented either inside or out, using a muffling system, insulated walls and a large enough door to access the vac it'self. It could cut down on on the noise considerably.
+1... . . . . and include a good cyclonic separator.
Power supply came out really nice.
Hello Ben, From building also my own PC PSU Workbench generator, i DO recommend installing a Load resistance (like 200 Ohms ceriamic or so) on the 5V line (inside the PSU casing after experiencing stabilities issues (Like PSU not starting without load)
As a tip, you can also get server power supplies for cheap - I bought a 1200watt HP "platinum" efficiency for $25. Not only are they cheap, they're small in size, very reliable and don't usually have wires. Makes for a really clean bench supply.
For my own notes:
4:04 Power supply -
* Blck ground, Yellow 12V, Red 5V, Orange 3.3V. (Blue constant 5V)
1) Master On/Off: Connect Green wire to ground (black) using switch - turns on power supply
2) On light: Put a resistor in for power on indicator (1K suitable) with LED - hook up to any 3.3V (Orange) line
8:53 (end of advert)
3) Cut off and heat shrink ends of excess leads.
4) Connect wanted leads to screws.
ben have you ever thought to build a portable nintendo 64?
thats a great idea. i would love to see that
He did that forever ago on his website: www.benheck.com/n64-portable/
I would love to see an updated build with a video though...
+Noah Bonvissuto Should be easy enough. Just build a battery powered power supply supplying the voltages you need to run the N64. Also, you might need a display, also operated on the same battery.
The chip collection for the Router would work better if you weren't using one vacuum to do it and the vacuum table. Not only are you losing suction because you are doing both with one vacuum but you are also losing suction from the fact that with the chip collection you have the vacuum traveling a great distance through the tubes.
Assuming the vacuum table isn't leaking, it shouldn't change the effectiveness of the dust collecting once the system reaches steady state, in an ideal system the difference with and without the vacuum table would be negligible.
have you considered a different feed rate to produce more dust than chips? or possibly doing more depth passes as well?
At 15 minutes in, the episode went into dolby 5.1 mode i heard Ben behind me cause i havent set up properly yet, It scared the living bejeebus outta me cause I wasnt expecting, Cheers Alison :D haha.
Peace.
Ben, how would you implement adjustable current limiting circuit to the computer power supply?
External device after the PSU regulates it. If you were only drawing up to 1 amp, you can use an LM317 adjustable regulator in constant current config. Watch EEVBlog's power supply tutorials for more info on it!
Naoki Saito
Thanks for your advice, I guess I've seen some of Dave's videos about power supplies. I'll watch them again. LM317 is not enough for me, because you can draw much more current from a computer PSU. It would be a waste to use only up to 1A.
There are other ways to get more current though you might be looking at mosfets and feedback circuits.
Naoki Saito
I guess modifying the circuitry from the PSU would be too much.
Nick Guy Thanks, I'll play with LM317 to learn more :)
would it be easier to de solder the wires not needed from the power supply?
I don't understand why you just didn't open the PSU up and desoldered the unnecessary wires, a lot cleaner for little work. If they are jammed together like crazy I just cut them at the solderjoint at the PCB.
well think about it. your opening up a POWER SUPPLY! THATS STUPID!
No it's not if you know what you are doing, discharge the caps and start desoldering.
should have a third valve with a fine nozzle, for part cleanup after part is done, with a few feet of flexy hose
Hey Ben just a thought,but if you used the larger hose size from the vacuum into your manifold (increase the T size as well), would that not at least provide a higher volume of air flow in order to divide it between the two functions?
Ben you should replace the plastic on your dust collector with the brush from a upholstery cleaner for a vacuum cleaner. It will still be flexible but provides a better seal around the job.
Felix is awesome, he should be in more of these videos.
Just curious is it possible to reverse engineer a computer power supply and use it as a power inverter?
what is that module next to him (right) at 1:00
Looks like an oscilloscope and signal generator below
I have a suggestion. What if you used bristles to seal the chip collector (like that round shop-vac end attachment with whiskers all around the edge)?
You should use the exhaust from the shop vac to blow back on to the bit to blow the chips around to collect more.
Hey ben, any plans on a "Ben answers you questions about CNC machines" video? :)
15:00 Ahh stereosonic sounds!
Good episode!
Hmm. I know this an old episode, but what about having a third vacuum hose for cleaning off the workpiece after it's been cut?
I like episodes like that you should do more of them
Aw, poor Felix @6:23 gets no love.
If your old supply is loud a great hack is to open it, peel back the label on the fan and apply some oil to the fan bearing.
I have a few items I don't have any use for that I think you would benifet from. Do you have a PO Box or some where I can mail them to you. I have some LCD screens computer parts...ect.
Thanks Moe Faraj but they would probably be better off donated to your local hacker/maker space :)
How about an extra port at the shopvac valve section, to collect the excess dust during or after routing? Just a thought (;
If i would have made the power suply i would have used banana connectors.
That way i don't need to have extra cables beeing in the way, just plug in what i need.
and don't forget that GND is connected to earth pin in all the computer PSU.
Putting the ground lead of your oscilloscope on any powered wire will cause a short!
I like to tie all my same voltage wires together in parallel when I make a bench power supply. This ensures I can pull as much power as the PSU is rated for without tripping the breaker or burning the wires up.
Ben you're quite the intelligent guy, i saw your pc desk, did you design that yourself? Also if you and you post the pattern? I'd like to make my own rather than buy an L Shaped desk. Thanks!
Thank you for the video. The ATX used as a workshop power supply is a nice idea. People building such a device should be aware of the 25 A (as this one is rated), ain't nowhere realistic with wires at that dimension. I wouldn't recommend pulling more than 6-7 A through those wires at 9-8 A they would be hot and the insulation would begin to melt.
"I don't want blue, blue is stupid." New favorite quote
Why didn't u use the shrink wrap thingy (I'm Swedish don't now the English word for it)
Instead of the electrical tape if u take one who is fitting snug over cable and heating it with a few millimeters out from cable it shrinks to realy small hole and if then bend it when still warm u get it short free ;)
Oh yeah, heat shrink tubing. He even showed them in one of his bins for it when he was talking about wire colors. Maybe he just preferred doing it the way he did.
I alway use em working great even if u have usb cables who is to short and uses a extension cord take shrink tubing over the male and female plugs and heat em.now the stay connected I did that on mouse cord and the kids stubble on cord and still connected
anyway to make the +12v variable up to 30v?
Very nice Ben :D
Wy not beside the existing cable guide/ cable chain for left right. This way you do not need the beam above the table. But only a small guide at the side of the table front to back.
Ben and Allison (not sure if that's how you spell it haha) just thought I'd let you guys know I love the stuff you guys are doing good work guys :).
Ohh and Ben don't worry I think you're hilarious :)
how would you go about limiting one of the 12 volt rails to 9 volts with at least 3 amps?
Use a linear regulator or buck converter
You can make the power supply fanless(passive cooling) by screwing the voltge regulators(tranzistors) to a big block of aluminium or some CPU heatsink laying around. Of course this will make it bigger, but you can do some wire bridges to keep it all inside the case,
12:43 Ben, air is a fluid! I am guessing you wanted to write liquid!
You could've done some binding posts and "banana to alligator clips".
That way you could easily disconnect the wires, get longer wires, or other types of connectors.
But it looks like a fancy way without screwing the device open.
A power supply with -12 are good for dual rail circuits.
Also, -12 to 12 gives you 24V, etc
Yup, but the -12V ones usually can't supply a lot of current.
But it's indeed useful in some applications.
Thank you so much!
For the Bench PSU, how safe would it be for a RPi or Android? Is the Amperage auto-adjusting?
I would advise you to at least add a fuse or polyfuse as a limit, the 5v trace on the pi can only handle about 1.5A at max, and it also has a load resistor on it if you use the USB port.
slango20 Amps are drawn on the go. You won't exceed the 1.5 if that's the limit for Rasp PI. It takes as much as it needs as long as the power supply can keep with it.
DaGunchijs
some things connected to the pi can draw more than it can handle, and the 5v pin doesn't have the polyfuse that's on the micro USB. connect a wifi module and a wireless mouse/keyboard module and you can pop the thing if they draw too much. my advice was to add a fuse if they were connecting to the 5v pin, to replace the one that exists on the USB connector
Ben, you should have added a T fitting and another pipe. So after the CNC cuts it out and there are chips left, you just open the valve on T so suck up the chips.
I would like to see you build a crystal CB radio that can run a led with the signal strength from all the people with linear amplifiers
4:40 Saying that they restart on a short is a bit of a misleading statement...I've burnt out so many supplies permanently when they had a short.
I would've added a third valve and hose to the chip collector with a short hose so you can vacuum the remaining chips and dust up after the routing table was done.
A couple comments (not meaning to insult but inform)
FYI, the ratings on that PSU are overhyped garbage most likely... From here it looks like a coolmax unit, which is a brand not know for quality. I bet the UL cert is fake too!
Also, PSUs do not go out of date per se in the way stated. Wattage is wattage. Yes, newer designs can be more efficient, but that's what 80+ is for. Now, what will make a PSU "obsolete" is if it is a 5V heavy design... for a number of years (still now in the crappiest of crap units) companies would add modern connectors (PCIe, etc.) to old designs that didn't have enough on the 12V to support them.
But otherwise, if you have enough Wattage and the PSU is 12V heavy and has the right connectors, it will be fine; I have plenty of 6 year old PSUs that would be more than enough for most modern builds. Keep in mind they are QUALITY units, not cheapo sledgehammer bait junkers.
Its a coolmax... Good luck and a fire extinguisher if you use one of these!
The brand of PSU matters for a PC, where having a stable output is critical, but it's likely this won't be used for anything that important, he's got another power supply which he can use for finer voltages and currents, this is probably for high current loads. I agree that PSUs have gone out of date because of new connectors, like SATA power
I've actually memorized the entire ATX color code and it's widely used on power supplies that don't even have ATX pins - Purple is +5VSB, blue is -12V.
I was thinking a video out hack for 3DS would be good. I know people do the mod, but it would be handy for those that want to record footage and are willing to do their own mod!
Should have done a 3 way valve maybe hung a hose on the table or have it near by to have a easy way to connect and do final cleanup with one vacuum to clean it all.
Why wouldn't of you used Velcro or a couple of small neodymium magnets and super glue to attach the valves for the shop vac
I Love to have a place Like that some-day...
Ben, install a blower to stir up the chips and sawdust for the vacuum to stuck up.
I would love to have a cnc router table like that ... makes my 3d printer seems a bit small...
air, and gases in general are also fluids.
not sure why but my diy psu puts out 12.58 volts instead of 12 volts. Any suggestions as to what may be causing this? thx
+Eric Escamilla I'm pretty sure you add something like a 5w 5ohm power resistor on the 5v line or add a dummy load like tail light bulb from a vehicle. Lol...not trying to pretend like a know a damned thing - this is where I'm sort of stuck on building my second supply (can't remember how I built first one)...Maybe this will at least get you on the right trail...
+Eric Escamilla Many SMPs that come from PCs have a specified minimum load. If you run it with a lighter load, the regulation might be poor. Put a 10 Ohm 10W resister on the 12v rail and you should be fine. It will draw a little power, but the line regulation will improve.
I do want to see a project where he uses the Nintendo ROB, maybe make it controllable with a pi or put a webcamera inside it
It's pretty difficult to get hold of one of those.
Wish i could help you, i have one, but i kinda want to do the project myself, and postage would be a pain for me
+The Ben Heck Show how about one of those RAD or RAD 2.0 robots.. you could hook it up to a Pi and make a shop gofer
Well if parts aren't always in reach now you obviously need to make a robot that grabs them out of the bins and some sort of transportation system (model railway? Flying drone?).
You could probably have used a single Y valve to share the -pressure of the vac, only one switch to operate. Also you can mark your "sweet spot" on the body of the valve
My old PSU won't power anything on its rails with the Power ON wire grounded. (Power supply turns on, just nothing get power, ie, HDDs)
If I attach it to the old MB, it powers HDDs fine :-/
Anyone have a clue what is going on or how to fix it, I also tried grounding the Power Ok wire, done nothing.
6:22 like a boss
Gosh, every German VDE- or TÜV-jerk would make you burn in hell, if you would ever put something like that PSU on top of a workbench over here...
So when Felix, at end of clip said "hi camron" and waved at camera, it may have just been how exhausted I am, but I thought I was tripping balls and he was talking to me >
A "blast gate" style valve would be more effective than the ball valves on the vacuum system.
I have connected the green and black wire and the psu turns on for a split second then stops why would that be
+Zee villi 3.3v sense has to be connected to 3.3v if present
+Kartal Kapena thanks mate
Man u r 1000% genius thanks for video
its a dust shoe not a dust collector.
the way it is mounted if you where doing a cut that is the same or less than the hight of the dust collector it would get torn off and do some damage.
A better design is to have one where its lowest point is at the same hight as the bottom of the spindle motor not the collet.
also if you have a bigger pipe connected to it it will suck more the pipe should also be connected at the side or front of the shoe less chance of it getting in the way, and if you use dust brushes it needs to be able to move up and down and as what's already been said a bigger hole around the collet does make it work better it has more air coming in what courses a vortices.
I have two shoes that I use on my machine a sort and long. the sort is for small cuts and the long one is for deep cuts when doing 3D work.
the long one is connected to a plate that is on the spindle, the shoe is held on with magnets.
the short is connected to a mount what has two rods going through it so the shoe can move up and down
6:10 DO NOT DO THAT. Capacitors can still store a decent charge in the psu. Or at least make sure you don't have any ground wires in the bundle so you cant short it out.
If you have a PSU which will die because you short out the wires, you should probably throw it away anyway.
I meant for safety purposes. Not to prevent the power supply from dying.
oh for petes sake , open the PS and cut the wires at the board, make it clean!
I think I'm going mod a power supply would come in really handy
id have added a third vacuum valve for a clean up hose after the router finishes switch the dust collector off and valve 3 on and suck up the remaining chips with a hose
Blue line is the -12v supply
I kinda need one
Can you make a cartridge pc
I have a power supply that's 600 watt is that is to munch ? answer. no just fine... lol
Huh.. I still have like 15 year old 200w power supply running my home server. Just open it up once a year to clean the dust out, check the capacitors(Have resoldered two already). Oil the fan every couple of months and it should run cool n queit for years to come. Even kitchen cooking oil works good!
Ok so a teacher and I at our school are having a debate about soldering-don't you take the iron and the solder and touch them both to the wire; he thinks you heat up the two surfaces and then put the solder on them so that they join from the remaining heat (which I don't believe is correct) the first way is how I was taught and how Ben does it
It depends on what you are trying to accomplish. The way Ben solders actually drives me crazy because if not done just right it can cause cold solder joints that fail down the road. Ben gets his stuff to work long enough for the show. But I'd be really interested in knowing how many of his projects fail several years later from cold solder joints breaking. I'm not trying to criticize Ben. He has his technique and he is very good at it. But I would not say that it is a commonly taught technique.
The way I was taught to solder is that both pieces you are soldering should have a good PHYSICAL connection first. Ideally, they should not be able to move with respect to each other or else a cold solder joint is more likely to form. Then, you place the iron against BOTH pieces and heat them to a temperature that is hot enough to melt the solder. Next, you touch the solder to the pieces (not the iron) and the solder should flow around both of them. Finally, you remove the iron from the work pieces and they should not be allowed to move as the solder cools.
However, there are just going to be times when you need to touch the solder to the iron to get it flowing or where you need to put solder on one piece first and then bring them both together later. So what I described above is the common technique used when you can physically connect the two pieces in relation to each other. What Ben likes to do is skip this step and "tack" the two pieces together using only solder. And again, this drives me crazy because there is a huge potential for cold solder joints to form if not done correctly.
I am not an expert. I would look on youtube for some tutorials on soldering from organizations that actually teach the techniques.
I should also say that the type of projects that Ben does tend to require his method of "tack" soldering. He does a lot of miniaturizations and repurposing. You simply can't use a traditional soldering technique on these types of projects. Frankly, I wouldn't be able to solder half the stuff that Ben does because I'm just not good at that technique. Ben has likely spent years developing his sense of touch and finesse that allows him to use his technique successfully.
But for most people (especially inexperienced ones), using Ben's technique on certain types of work would result in failure so it is not taught as a classic technique. His method of "tack" soldering definitely has its uses. But it should not be used for all types of soldering.
So as I stated above, the answer is: "it depends".
It varies, typically you want the metal that you're soldering together to be heated first and then apply the solder. Otherwise you'll end up with cold/cloudy solder joints that will fail.
This may mean pre-heating each bit of metal individually and applying a small amount of solder to help the process.
Typically best to heat both surfaces and then apply the solder. I don't remove the heat source before applying the solder. Just make sure you apply the solder on your parts and not melting it directly on your soldering iron. If you see the solder flowing on the metal, that typically means you're all set.
By coating both surfaces in solder and then heating them. You have two main problems. The first being that your surfaces might be quite far apart from each other. The other problem is that it's hard to know if you've flowed all of the solder in your connection which means sometimes you end up with a cold solder.
In my experience, it's very easy to make a dodgy connection using this latter technique. Though sometimes it's the only practical solution.
Yes, it all depends on what you are soldering to what. For example when I am making connectors, after fluxing, I tin each connection point with a small amount of solder first (using the method previously stated, by preheating each connection point first). Then I make the physical connection; add heat and just a touch of additional solder. Other factors to consider are; the irons heat setting, the diameter of the solder that is being used, and the heat absorption ability of material that is being soldered. Lastly for components, a quick check of the data sheet will usually indicate the max duration that heat can be applied at a given temperature, usually 3 sec. with through-hole components.
Gee, thought I was watching Yankee Workshop for a minute ;-)
Where is the movie reference
Partly opening the valve on the table side is silly. It's a FLOW regulator, not a PRESSURE regulator. If you have covered all the holes, there is flow only thru leaks. Think it thru.
You might want to mention that the computer PCU is not current regulated which means on some of them you may get a nice 5v @ 40amps killing your equipment and yourself.
Mounting tape, what can't it do?
Ben, Can you do a build on raspberry pi the control a furance.. Making the raspberry pi the thermostat.
Love the build and learn alot.
Thanks Thomas
You can build third spare hose and valve to vacume chips after routing (sorry about lang.)
You guys should do a Homebrew NES game
An ATX-Power supply isn't suitable for a bench power supply. It doesn't have a current limit. If you have a short circuit in your circuit, 25 amps will flow trough it, which will certainly destroy it. You can't rely on the overcurrent protection. These SMPS aren't suitable for HF stuff either. It makes more sense to buy a cheap bench power supply or if you want to learn something about electronics: design your own.
a true dust collector would have a quiter blower than a vac and some have way more than enough power to drive both sides
"And here's where I keep my various lengths of wire."
I would have desoldered all the wires from the PSU PCB and replace them with 18gauge
that would require a very powerful iron to handle the heatsinking of the wires and internal planes. my 30 watt couldn't handle it at all
slango20 Use a proper desoldering pump ;)
why would you not call these heck hacks