AC variable bench supply , hobby +

[KD0CAC John]

It may , or I'm sure its been covered before , but my search methods do not work well .
I have been setting up a repair bench mostly from hobbying ham radio , I have aways chased repair & building in all my hobbies .
And on occasion will supplement little income with repairs , like a BBQ place and keeping there smokers going for $25-$50 a trip and food
I do have variac about 20amps and may add meters .
Just recently went looking for other options , lots of what I see is plugged in AC outlets and stepped down to 5 - 10 volts but still AC .
An example of the recent search was this B&K 1653 and A model http://www.coleparmer.com/Product/B_K_Precision_1653A_150_Volt_2_Amp_Isolated_Variable_AC_Power_Supply/UX-20017-10?referred_id=778&mkwid=A8OVN0YS&pcrid=29828508279&gclid=CMP5g4L_sL4CFedFMgodnkEAMw
I was a little surprised at the lack of options my searchs came up with .
Since this is more hobby with little to no pay , cost is an issue ?     

[saturation]

For safety I'd put plug your variac into an isolation transformer then the isolation transformer into a SPD before mains to reduce the risk of higher voltage transients making it through.  You could monitor your power supply with your DMM, both for current and voltage as you please.  It should cost you less to put together than the B&K, which has been around for over 20 years as various models.

http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/dynascan_k_variable_ac_power_supp.html

which try to work and look like a popular Sencore PR57 model:

http://www.teknetelectronics.com/Search.asp?p_ID=1459&pDo=DETAIL

You didn't specify how accurate the voltage and frequency you need, so I presume power line regulation is adequate.

[Wh1sper]

I'm using ELV AC-PS 9000m or WSN 9000.
It's a DIY kit out of the '93th nice gear.
Hunt it @ebay while I'm not sure it was sold in US

[KD0CAC John]

I did give an example of use , circuit boards in general equipment , just reduced to lower voltage - mostly 5vac - 12vac .
If I'm going to spend much $50 -100 + , then I may as well get more features , lower voltage under 5vac and less than a 1 volt ?
I am setting up a repair bench , so not too fond of multiple connections being set up for each use - making simple testing a bigger job , I do check the adjustment with multi-meter .
Being that I am getting into this now , I was surprised there wasn't more options , because so much stuff I've looked at was the same thing , low voltage AC just to run controls of gear .
Another big driver of looking at setting up repair bench & powersupplies is ham radio , but that is almost all DC gear , to mains some of it .