Simple Resistive Load

Two days ago, a couple of fellow students (David Alvarado and David Munday) and I built a simple resistive load bank. We took a cue from Jennifer Elaan's "Old World Light Bulb Load" and used incandescent bulbs as the load. The last porcelain fixture on the end has a plug on it, so that we can daisy chain more interesting (reactive) load modules later on.

The enclosure was designed in Solidworks and cut out of 1/4" MDF by our local laser cutter. It was fitted and glued together using the standard tab-in-slot method.

The total cost of this project was about $60, but would have ended up costing <$30 if we had chosen to buy our parts from a different hardware store. (Soon, I shall post a 3D PDF of the assembly showing our wire stress-relief mount.)