The prototype of the power supply is almost done. Just a few parts missing. Once it is completed it will be tested and the output voltages will be adjusted. I am curious to see if it works as expected. Some notes about the PCB. Before I ordered the boards, I send an email to Doepfer asking if it would be allowed to sell the superfluous boards. Dieter Doepfer answered me, yes I can sell the boards if I make sure that the boards are not from Doepfer and any warranty is covered by myself. He also answered some questions about the boards, which was very helpful. I think I will send him one of my PSUs to ask for permission again. I don’t want to get in trouble because I am copying his intellectual property.
Time to focus on the next steps: The Busboard. My case will need eight Busboards. The PCB layout is finished for quite a while. It is a double layer board. The top layer is used as ground and the bottom layer has the traces for +12 V, -12 V, +5 V, Gate and CV. The layers are a bit thicker than usually, just to be on the save side. As some Eurorack modules need +5 V I decided to add a 7805 circuit to the board to be able to power them. The boards will be ordered soon.
The rails and other parts for the case were ordered today at Gie-Tec. The four rows of the case are double 19 inch which adds up to a total 672 HP. The case should have wooden side-wings and an aluminium housing, which should be powder coated. This is the rough plan. More in short.
DIY Eurorack-Case, the Power Supply Boards arrived
Today the PCBs arrived and I had to start soldering one immediately. You will notice that the layout is similar to the Doepfer PSU. I tried to develop a complete own board but I have to admit that the design is compelling. The circuit uses the LM 317 and 337 adjustable regulators, they deliver the +12V and -12V, a ringcore transformer, a bridge rectifier and a few other parts. I tried several layouts with this parts, but the Doepfer layout is the best. I think they perfected it over the years. I know that my board is a copy though but it was still a lot of research needed to get all the parts together and finally create the layout. As I will need at least four PSUs, I decided to let the boards be produced by a company. But this only makes sense if you order more than 10 or 20 pieces. So I might have some “in stock”…
First I have to finish my prototype to see if everything works as expected. Then I will order the parts for the “serial” production.
DIY: Creating a Eurorack-Case from scratch
This post was about the beginning of my DIY case journey. The next steps can be found in a more recent post as the journey continues.
If you want to read the full story, here are all the posts: