Thanks dave . Looking at that circuit diagram I copied and built, why did i have to change the collector and emitter wiring around so the metal plate i have the 2n3055 on now live + out
I think you must have mis-identified the pins of the 2N3055 the emitter and base shouldn't be connected to the heatsink, as they are the 2 pins
the metal case of the 2N3055 is the collector and if no insulators are used, the heatsink will be at the input voltage, not the output voltage
If you use heatsink pads and screw isolators between the transistors and the heatsink, then you can have the heatsink completely neutral.
Note that the 2 pins, base and emitter, are closer to one end of the case than the other .... this is how you can identify which is which
the output is from the tied emitters, via the emitter resistors, not the collectors
The LM317 appears to be connected OK just drawn badly
this is the standard way ( just one current pass transistor in this case)
Allso I tried adding green led for power on , the "red red violet gold" resistor gets way too hot so tried others up and down the range until the led was barley lit and all resistors I try for the led will burn the finger
Red Red Violet isn't even a resistor value .... maybe you read it wrong ?
Have you resistor and green LED across the input to the LM317 where the voltage is constant
for a 22V supply, use a 4.7k Ω yellow violet red
Dave