This is prolly a way mo' betta place for it though.
No wanna hi-jack da "bean counters" thread,ya
Point taken--I'll move my ignorance-fest back here.

I could have asked Knna, but then I'd have had to have someone explain his answer to me.

I had begun to think you weren't going to see this post, and at some point my eagerness overcame my sense of etiquette. Hope not to have offended anyone, and thanks again for your willingness to help.

Dang! I had just found some little finned heatsinks at Radio Shack for the 317 in the TO-220 package. Going to have to think about mounting strategies for the LM 138 after I read up on it more. Looks like a big power transistor with the case electrically hot. Gotta figure out how to deal with that. CP.