Introduction: Pentagon Power Supply(24v)+Usb Chargers With Decoupage

By None
About: Hi, I'm Jovan but everybody calles my John. By profession I'm a graduate technician of mechatronics and by passion deeply in love with everything that's DIY; from woodworking to electronics and cooking.

Ello guys
A couple days ago I started thinking of a gift for my sister. Now I wanted to give her a power supply for her future projects, but why not add a couple of Usb chargers. So 12v power supply just wasn't enough, thats why i doubled it to get 24v.
After searching on Insterctables about varies power supplies, which are usually rectangle shape; I thought; why not make an extraordinary one with pentagon shape.
Now, important thing to mention is that, the main idea is about building that kind of shape & arranging inner components. Dumb think to say is that I used 2 power supplies of 12V/1A combined together. But again, the point is about the shape & arranged components. So no hard feelings.

Step 1: Tools & Materials

Before I go about Tools & Materials I used, I must mention that some tools & materials I forgot to take picture of or they are shown in different way. Some tools you can do without it.
Tools :

  • Electric Jig Saw
  • Battery drill
  • Angle grinder(optional)
  • Electric sander or pneumatic orbital one
  • Soldering iron
  • Hot-air gun(optional)
  • Solder & flux paste
  • Hot-glue gun
  • Plastic hammer & Chisel
  • Pliers & Screwdrivers
  • Tweezers & Scalpel
  • Measuring tape & marker
  • Ruler & Pencil compass
  • Sandpaper & Sanding disk for angle grinder(optional)
  • Heat-shrinkable tubings
  • Drill bits(3,5,8,13 mm)

Materials :

  • Thin plywood (30~29x20cm) - 3pcs
  • Plywood
  • AC/DC 12V/1A Power supply - 2pcs
  • Usb chargers - 2pcs
  • Switches 220VAC/6A - 2pcs
  • Step-down converter (with screen)
  • Fuse holder & fuse
  • AC cable & lot of wires
  • Banana plugs ( female & male) - 2pcs
  • Pot (10K) & pot knob
  • DC 2.1 connector
  • Pozidrive screws - 20pcs
  • Pozidrive M3 screws & nuts - 4pcs
  • Little electrical clamps & blocks - 2pcs
  • Acrylic plate
  • Regular & decorative napkins
  • Wood glue
  • Felt pads - 5pcs


Step 2: Making a Pentagon Enclosure

Pentagonal shape comes from a drawing. So the first thing needed to be done is to draw a pentagon, using the pencil compass & ruler.
Plywood plate that I used, is 20cm wide, so radius will be 10cm. And that's how much you'll need to spread your compass.
Now, more accurate details about drawing a pentagon you can see on YouTube or Instractables.

https://www.instructables.com/id/Drawing-a-Pentago...

After a couple of hours, I managed to draw one, not perfect and equal, but it'll work. When one plate was over I needed to draw another one. So 2 drawn pentagons are finished.

Step 3: Cutting Part

When drawing was over, next step is cutting it. Now be very caution when doing with jig saw. Set it to higher speed & pendulum action to 0. That way you'll make a clean cut.
After cutting the plates, sides are next. You'll have to make 5 of them, because of the shape of pentagon.
Dimensions of those little sides are 11x5cm. In that part comes in the third plate of plywood or if you have some left-over pieces of previous projects, just use them.
Now a little complicated part comes in. And that is making the parts for joining the whole thing,which will be in the corner of the side. That's why I used regular plywood with thickness of 18mm.
Despite that pentagon is equal at each side, I marked every corner and draw its angle on the plywood. Off course I marked the whole thing with numbers, so that i can know where each fit.
You'll need a pair of those drawn angles, one on the bottom and the other on the top of it. Just like shown in the pics.

Step 4: Putting It Together

Now the hot-glue gun comes in handy. Carefully I've put the side on the pentagon & glued it together on the middle. Don't go in the corners 'cause that will be the place for joining parts. When the glue was dried, I did the whole process for the other four pcs. Now you'll get the enclosure. But the structure isn't strong enough, so that's why are needed those joining parts.
I positioned them in such manner that they are perfectly (almost) fitted in the corner, as you can see in the pics. Off course you'll need to glue them first, before putting in the screws.
To make the hole for pozidrive screws, I used 3mm drill bit & then 5mm drill bit, to expand the hole for the screw head. When the holes are done, it's time to put the screws in. When I finished the bottom with screws, I to the top.
The trick with the top is to put the joints in such way that they are flat with sides. Gain do the same thing with screws. Use the angle grinder to remove excess metal of screws and even the sides, if you want to.
Now, the enclosure is finished. Lot easier would be with the 3D printer, but where is the fun in that,right ? :D

Step 5: Arranging the Components

In the pics you can see where I positioned components, but you can feel free to put it where you want it.
Now sketch the layout of the input of AC cable & fuse holder on one side, switches on the second, banana plugs, pot & DC connector on third & USB chargers on the fourth. Lets not forget the step-down converter, which will be on the top.
But leads us to 4 used sides, whats with the fifth? Well, the fifth one will be for cooling the whole circuit.
Once the layout is done, let's get to drilling it.

Step 6: Drilling the Layout

As you can see, when drilling & cutting be very patient. I wasn't, so my second switch is a bit out of place. Almost forgot to say, is that you should sand the surface and smooth it around, so that component would fit perfectly.
And another thing is that I moved a little bit the holes for banana plugs.
Now for making the holes for usb, I used a chisel & plastic hammer. I think its a little bit easier than drilling little holes down the line.
Also you can see how the layout for step-down converter turned out and where M3 screws are put, as well the push-button & indicator leds.
But you can do it your way, in such manner that's doable.

Step 7: Sanding

After finishing the layout of components I sanded the whole thing with P80 then P150 & at the end P240 sandpaper. In this process you can use pneumatic orbital sander or just regular electric one. As you can see edges are smoothed over so it has a nice texture.

Step 8: Wiring the Components

This part is the most complicated part for me, 'cause you'll need to think it over before doing something dozen of time.
Never the less, lets begin on removing the pot and connector on the step-down converter. When that's done I used bunch of wires to connect the pot with the PCB & made & soldered the positive and negative wires for both the banana plugs & DC connector. Also you can see the working test of the pot & the place where modules will be.
Next mini-step is to measure and cut wires for connection, both live & neutral, which you can see & solder there tip. After that is to remove wires from the adapters and make new connection between modules from + to - side, as shown in wiring schematic. Then connect the live wire form adapters to the switch & from switch to fuse.
*If you have any problem about wiring please feel free to ask and do it with extreme patients.
Another thing to say is, when soldering wires with the switch, pull them through the switch layout so that you'll avoid multiple time soldering & desoldering like I did,lol.

Step 9: Wiring the Components 2

After connecting the wires and stuff,leave the neutral wire hanging, 'cause you'll connect it at the end. Off course when finished with wiring, glue the adapters to plywood, with hot-glue gun.
When the connections within adapters are finished, I moved to soldering the USB chargers. Now I figured it out that its much more easier to connect them parallel, as shown in pics; so there is only one live wire going to switch & neutral, off course.
We need to return to cutting part and make a rectangle from the plywood with dimensions of 5.5x4.5cm, which will be supporting part for chargers. You must use USB cable to align the chargers, as shown, and then glue them to the supporting part and to the rest of the body.
When that's all done put in the AC cable and solder the live wire with fuse holder and the neutral one to electrical block terminal or connector. Also group down the rest of those neutral wires of the components and put them in that connector.
If this is a little confusing for you, maybe the pictures aren't, and if you have any questions about wiring , please feel free to ask
All that needs to be done is to connect - & + wires of the power supply to the step-down converter. And test it if it all works out & be very careful when doing so, cause you don't know if it's going to blow up or something.
If testing went well, connect the banana plugs with positive & negative output leads from step-down converter and also DC connector with the rest of the wires.
Now you can glue down the top plate with the rest of the body.
Also after putting the top plate, test again if the whole system works.

Step 10: Protective Glass

For making the protective glass I used some acrylic plate, which is really nice and it makes additional look to the power supply. The process of making such glass you can see in the pics. In this step I think the best solution for cutting the plate is using the angle grinder and the cutting disk for it. If you use jig saw, the teeth of the saw will heat up & melt the acrylic.
After cutting it, carefully sand it with sanding disk for angle grinder or sandpaper. Proceed with sanding until you have a perfect fit in the top part.

Step 11: Accessories

You have a power supply but you don't have the connections between the unit and the proto-board or some other surroundings.
That's why you'll need to create the accessories. They are made from some wires,heat-shrinkable tubings, male banana plugs, alligator clips & left-over DC male connector from the adapter.
*Important note to say is, if you have some red wire left as well as red banana plug, you may not use heat-shrinkable tubing.
When dealing with DC male connector, separate positive from negative wire & put some heat tubings for recognizing the polarity. Off course cut it to the length which you want it to be & solder the tips.
Soldering the tips you'r preventing the copper wires from spreading out when putting it in the proto-board.

Step 12: Decoupage Part

In decoupage part you'll need wood glue and some other stuff mentioned previously or shown in the pics. Also don't forget a lot of white napkins.
First thing is to dissolve wood glue with water to get mod-podge, but don't get it to diluted. Using the brush, in which case you can use any brush, spread the mod-podge all across the power supply & let it soak a little bit. After repeating the process couple of times put down white napkins, just as shown.
Soak it, put some napkins, leave it a little bit to dry, and again and again until you have thick white layer of napkins.
Let it dry over night or if you'r in a hurry just use hot-air gun to do so.

Step 13: Decoupage Part 2

When the unit is dry, you'll need to sand out those rough edges & the whole thing. In that process I used P150 & P240 sandpaper.
Off course don't over do it. Be gentle when going over sides & edges. The results are much better with sanding that without it.
After sanding it's time to put the final layer, which is the decorative napkins. Again you'll need to spread out the mod-podge & put down those napkins. When pressing with the brush, you must insure that the napkin is tense, in which will result a nicer look without curves.
Do it as in the previous step, but be careful when going around the switches and banana plugs. In that situation, you'll need to tear down some pieces of the napkins, so that you'll have a nice curve around it.
Again, let it dry out or just use hot-air gun. When it's all dried out , use scalpel to remove excess material around plugs and switches.
Now, when cutting around the protective glass, you'll need to turn on the power supply & carefully look the lines where the cut will go.
And that's that.

Step 14: Finishhhh

All that's left is to put felts pads on the bottom plate, so that you'll avoid damaging the napkins & off course, some fine sanding.
You have your self a pentagon power supply with USB chargers, made with decoupage. Congrats mate :D
Please don't be harsh about the concept of the circuit, the shape and idea is important, but the circuit more or less.

I think my sister will love it & that, that she will enjoy making awesome projects with it.
I would love to hear your opinions about it and to see your finished power supplies. If you have any question or suggestions feel free to ask or say, and I will lovely answer you. :D