Look Inside a Power Voltage Regulator

[Alan]

Ever wonder what is inside one of those TO-3 (case style) Voltage Regulators? Me too. I replaced one that died in my power supply and decided to perform a lobotomy on the old one. It is a LM350 regulator which is a 3 Amp, 1.2 Volt to 32 Volt output device. Check out how thin the wires are that connect to the large pins. I was expecting something much more beefy than this...

Note: There are more pictures in the gallery. Gallery pictures are also viawable in high resolution.
http://forum.hackedgadgets.com/image_gallery/thumbnails.php?album=search&search=lm350

The device before any carnage.


Here the cap is half cut off (using a dremel with a abrasive disk).


All cut, pop the top off!


Check out the guts!


A few more pics.