Home Built Jacob's Ladder

[Freyyr]

Figured we might as well get the new forum kickstarted with a topic about a little project of mine.

Figured I'd put this here, as we have no high voltage projects category or a general purpose miscellaneous section yet.

Anyway, I built this today. It's a very rough-and-ready Jacob's Ladder, put together from junk over the course of an hour or two today. It's also not safe, as it's grounded only with a thinly insulated piece of bell wire to an extension cord's GFI plugged into the wall. I do not want to be anywhere near the spark gap if that fails.

The core of the circuit's an old TV's flyback transformer putting out around 10-20 kV DC at some low amperage, so it shouldn't be fatal. Not that I want to find that out.

So, do I gain any geek cred for this?

[Lacky]

Nice ladder. ^_^ You have any instruction manuals on how to make one? Always wanted to make one of those =P

Good Job.

P.S.: You are crazy...you didn't want to go near it if it fails, yet you stick objects (paper) into it jsut to set it on fire...ahh well. Nice job.

[Freyyr]

There's a pretty decent guide here that'll work for a CRT TV or a CRT monitor:
http://www.afrotechmods.com/reallycheap/Jacob/jacob.htm

Be really careful, though, and make DOUBLE sure you discharge the CRT and any still-charged capacitors as described at the beginning of that guide. If you fail, it probably won't be fatal, but there's always those weird 1% cases. Plus, having been shocked a few times, it hurts like a bitch.

Play it safe, know your skill, and wear rubber soled shoes and gloves while working with HV. It might be smart to get somebody to watch you as you discharge the CRT who can call 911/perform CPR if something goes wrong.

Please, please, please be careful and don't kill yourself.

[Lacky]

Wow...you're making it sound like this is an organ donor transplant that can go seriously wrong. Is it really THAT dangerous?

Cheers for the guide.

[mysterious123]

That's very nice!

Great job.

I wish I could make one of those!

Looks like fire... But it's electricity.

I found a guide how to make it in Youtube Lacky:

http://www.youtube.com/v/e56LS0Mq48s...olor1=0x006699

[Lacky]

Thanks for the link Mysterious, but I can hardly hear the audio. My speakers etc. are up full, so it must be the video. Plus, it is sped up/fast forwarded I believe. The person is making it super fast!

Thanks for the thought though.