BENCH POWER SUPPLY

This power supply can be built in less than an hour on a piece of copper-laminate. The board acts as a heat-sink and the other components can be mounted as shown in the photo, by cutting strips to suit their placement.

The components are connected with enamelled wire and the transistor is bolted to the board to keep it cool.

The Bench Power Supply was designed to use old "C," "D" and lantern batteries, thats why there are no diodes or electrolytics. Collect all your old batteries and cells and connect them together to get at least 12v -14v.

The output of this power supply is regulated by a 10v zener made up of the characteristic zener voltage of 8.2v between the base-emitter leads of a BC547 transistor (in reverse bias) and approx 1.7v across a red LED. The circuit will deliver 0v - 9v at 500mA (depending on the life left in the cells your are using). The 10k pot adjusts the output voltage and the LED indicates the circuit is ON. Its a very good circuit to get the last of the energy from old cells.
 
source : http://www.talkingelectronics.com.au/projects/200TrCcts/200TrCcts.html