I know it's boring, but sometimes you have to consider not killing people.
Like a lot of other interesting stories, it starts with "So we have
these jacob's ladders..."
They're currently mounted in some wooden half-boxes that will be
finished off with plexi so that people can't reach in and touch them to
die. We have this neat clear plastic tube/pipe (maybe 5 or 6" diameter)
that we are considering using instead, and this would give a greater
viewing angle.
The problem is, that I don't remember the material, and I'm unable to
convince myself that it won't kill.
I bought it at TAP, and I think it's acrylic but it could be polycarb
(or ??).
We confirmed that the jacob's ladder does not arc when the wall of the
tube is placed between the two wires..which I think is a reasonably good
test...but doesn't confirm that the the wall of the tube will be safe
for human fingers in the event that one side of the ladder accidentally
touches the tube.
One person suggested rubber gloves, long wooden stick with a grounded
wire attached and poking around to see if it out of the tube. I like
this idea and will attempt soon...but any other ideas about testing with confidence?
Back in the day, made neon tubes. High voltage and when burning in high
currents. Would take the burn in lead attach it to a 4 ft length if tube
standard length and while standing on wooden platform complete the circuit.
Could get a 4 ft arc.
On Jul 26, 2012 9:53 PM, "Jason Plumb" <ja...@noisybox.net> wrote:
> I know it's boring, but sometimes you have to consider not killing people.
> Like a lot of other interesting stories, it starts with "So we have
> these jacob's ladders..."
> They're currently mounted in some wooden half-boxes that will be
> finished off with plexi so that people can't reach in and touch them to
> die. We have this neat clear plastic tube/pipe (maybe 5 or 6" diameter)
> that we are considering using instead, and this would give a greater
> viewing angle.
> The problem is, that I don't remember the material, and I'm unable to
> convince myself that it won't kill.
> I bought it at TAP, and I think it's acrylic but it could be polycarb
> (or ??).
> We confirmed that the jacob's ladder does not arc when the wall of the
> tube is placed between the two wires..which I think is a reasonably good
> test...but doesn't confirm that the the wall of the tube will be safe
> for human fingers in the event that one side of the ladder accidentally
> touches the tube.
> One person suggested rubber gloves, long wooden stick with a grounded
> wire attached and poking around to see if it out of the tube. I like
> this idea and will attempt soon...but any other ideas about testing with
> confidence?
Two things. I prefer glass. A jacobs Ladder produces a lot of ozone and various nitrogen compounds. You don't want them completely sealed. And its a good thing to put them on a timer.
Anyway, how thick is the plastic? And assuming you are using a neon sign transformer or a oil burner transformer it is probably not going to kill anyone even if they come in contact with the electrodes.
If you want extra safety you can put the NST on a isolation transformer and not ground the case of the NST or burner transformer. They are mid point grounded on the secondary. This would give you a floating output on the NST with no reference to ground. You still could break down the insulation of the isolation transformers but that is not likely to happen. You can also put a GFCI on it.
-Jerry
On Jul 26, 2012, at 9:53 PM, Jason Plumb <ja...@noisybox.net> wrote:
> I know it's boring, but sometimes you have to consider not killing people.
> Like a lot of other interesting stories, it starts with "So we have
> these jacob's ladders..."
> They're currently mounted in some wooden half-boxes that will be
> finished off with plexi so that people can't reach in and touch them to
> die. We have this neat clear plastic tube/pipe (maybe 5 or 6" diameter)
> that we are considering using instead, and this would give a greater
> viewing angle.
> The problem is, that I don't remember the material, and I'm unable to
> convince myself that it won't kill.
> I bought it at TAP, and I think it's acrylic but it could be polycarb
> (or ??).
> We confirmed that the jacob's ladder does not arc when the wall of the
> tube is placed between the two wires..which I think is a reasonably good
> test...but doesn't confirm that the the wall of the tube will be safe
> for human fingers in the event that one side of the ladder accidentally
> touches the tube.
> One person suggested rubber gloves, long wooden stick with a grounded
> wire attached and poking around to see if it out of the tube. I like
> this idea and will attempt soon...but any other ideas about testing with confidence?
> Back in the day, made neon tubes. High voltage and when burning in high
> currents. Would take the burn in lead attach it to a 4 ft length if tube
> standard length and while standing on wooden platform complete the
> circuit. Could get a 4 ft arc.
> I know it's boring, but sometimes you have to consider not killing
> people.
> Like a lot of other interesting stories, it starts with "So we have
> these jacob's ladders..."
> They're currently mounted in some wooden half-boxes that will be
> finished off with plexi so that people can't reach in and touch them to
> die. We have this neat clear plastic tube/pipe (maybe 5 or 6" diameter)
> that we are considering using instead, and this would give a greater
> viewing angle.
> The problem is, that I don't remember the material, and I'm unable to
> convince myself that it won't kill.
> I bought it at TAP, and I think it's acrylic but it could be polycarb
> (or ??).
> We confirmed that the jacob's ladder does not arc when the wall of the
> tube is placed between the two wires..which I think is a reasonably good
> test...but doesn't confirm that the the wall of the tube will be safe
> for human fingers in the event that one side of the ladder accidentally
> touches the tube.
> One person suggested rubber gloves, long wooden stick with a grounded
> wire attached and poking around to see if it out of the tube. I like
> this idea and will attempt soon...but any other ideas about testing
> with confidence?
> Back in the day, made neon tubes. High voltage and when burning in high currents. Would take the burn in lead attach it to a 4 ft length if tube standard length and while standing on wooden platform complete the circuit. Could get a 4 ft arc.
> On Jul 26, 2012 9:53 PM, "Jason Plumb" <ja...@noisybox.net> wrote:
> I know it's boring, but sometimes you have to consider not killing people.
> Like a lot of other interesting stories, it starts with "So we have
> these jacob's ladders..."
> They're currently mounted in some wooden half-boxes that will be
> finished off with plexi so that people can't reach in and touch them to
> die. We have this neat clear plastic tube/pipe (maybe 5 or 6" diameter)
> that we are considering using instead, and this would give a greater
> viewing angle.
> The problem is, that I don't remember the material, and I'm unable to
> convince myself that it won't kill.
> I bought it at TAP, and I think it's acrylic but it could be polycarb
> (or ??).
> We confirmed that the jacob's ladder does not arc when the wall of the
> tube is placed between the two wires..which I think is a reasonably good
> test...but doesn't confirm that the the wall of the tube will be safe
> for human fingers in the event that one side of the ladder accidentally
> touches the tube.
> One person suggested rubber gloves, long wooden stick with a grounded
> wire attached and poking around to see if it out of the tube. I like
> this idea and will attempt soon...but any other ideas about testing with confidence?
On Thu, Jul 26, 2012 at 10:07 PM, Jerry Biehler <jerry.bieh...@gmail.com> wrote:
> With the bombarding transformer, right? Those will put out 15kv at an amp.
> -Jerry
> On Jul 26, 2012, at 10:03 PM, dan p <gunterhausf...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Back in the day, made neon tubes. High voltage and when burning in high currents. Would take the burn in lead attach it to a 4 ft length if tube standard length and while standing on wooden platform complete the circuit. Could get a 4 ft arc.
>> On Jul 26, 2012 9:53 PM, "Jason Plumb" <ja...@noisybox.net> wrote:
>> I know it's boring, but sometimes you have to consider not killing people.
>> Like a lot of other interesting stories, it starts with "So we have
>> these jacob's ladders..."
>> They're currently mounted in some wooden half-boxes that will be
>> finished off with plexi so that people can't reach in and touch them to
>> die. We have this neat clear plastic tube/pipe (maybe 5 or 6" diameter)
>> that we are considering using instead, and this would give a greater
>> viewing angle.
>> The problem is, that I don't remember the material, and I'm unable to
>> convince myself that it won't kill.
>> I bought it at TAP, and I think it's acrylic but it could be polycarb
>> (or ??).
>> We confirmed that the jacob's ladder does not arc when the wall of the
>> tube is placed between the two wires..which I think is a reasonably good
>> test...but doesn't confirm that the the wall of the tube will be safe
>> for human fingers in the event that one side of the ladder accidentally
>> touches the tube.
>> One person suggested rubber gloves, long wooden stick with a grounded
>> wire attached and poking around to see if it out of the tube. I like
>> this idea and will attempt soon...but any other ideas about testing with confidence?
