Oh let him have his fun.
40 volts and 5 amps can be a tough nut to crack if using BJTs .Power BJTs safe operating area drops off a lot over 30 volts so even the trusty 2N3055 is only capable of a couple amps flat out at 40 volts .That can shorten the life of the transistor. So if you want them to last you'll have to parallel 4 or 5 to keep the things cool. MOSFETs don't respond well to linear applications but can handle much more amperage when pulsed. Are you going to use MOSFETs or BJTs.Of course this is assuming you would like to build from scratch.Most PSU circuits on the web will only go to 30 volts since most regulators are really only capable of around 35 volts .Even the lm317 has a max rating of 37 volts.There are regulators that go higher like the TL783 if your looking for direct regulation.
If I may suggest a floating regulator like the LM723 or similar .They tend to be much more stable and are easier to use.There are others that use op amps as well .
There are hundreds of ways to build a PSU .It just depends on how complex and how modern to want it to be.
indeed let me have my fun! that's a big part of the motivation behind the elaborations.
but also my projects are really all over the place.
i do work with arduinos from time to time, battery operated devices using all kinds of cells, but i also screw around with jacob's ladders and recently i have
gotten a bit obsessed with tesla coils, particularly small ones. and then i'm also gonna be messing with low voltage AC when i get around to playing with this EL wire i have, and now recently i have been looking at diy spot welders.
my main focus though is on special effects for miniature dioramas, and for this i am looking at pretty much anything i can get done at a low cost, incl;
various high voltage spark thingies like the marx generator, and i want to see how small i can make a plasma ball, ultrasonic foggers to animate liquid,
electromagnets to mage items float in midair, tiny animatronics, floating water drops using a strobe, etc etc.
so yeah, variation is desirable.
and no i will not be building from scratch.
though i might do something similar from scratch for a specific project some time.
atm i am thinking of taking this approach:
step 1: build basic PSU out of old ATX psu with a single output that switches between the different voltages available from the ATX.
(-12 and -5 are on there, so why not inculde them) along with a volt/amp display and a temperature display.
possibly later i will expand this above 12v with some boost converters or something.
(so far everything should fit into the original ATX housing.)
step 1b: add a dedicated usb port or 2 on front and/or a series of them on the rear of the unit.
step 2: build second half of this unit in the form of a 317 based variable supply along with another volt/amp display.
i may use a different source for this, like the 32v 1.5A PSU i have (a particularly nice one from HP with lots of safety features)
in which case i would need a larger housing.
step 3a-z: over time add more features to the larger housing such as an AC output, func generator/pwm generator, dummy load, second temperature display (for ext), etc.
step 4: maybe integrate a ZVS driver in the thing.
i imagine this taking place over the course of a year or 2.
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