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Re: RE Arcs off the fingers and getting killed in the process...


Hi all
I suppose I should add my two bits as well.

Last spring I was working on my coil when it was brand new, so to speak. I 
had just constructed my first cap, six 12 oz salt water bottle caps.  It was 
my 16th birthday, I was home alone and so excited to work on my coil that I 
disregarded my family's rule not to work on the coil energized when nobody 
that wasn't trained in CPR was in the house.

What's more, I was using heavy guage bare copper wire for a couple 
connections in the primary circuit.  I was testing the cap in different 
places in the circuit to see if it made a difference.

After several tries I reached over to the surge suppressor I was using as a 
switch to turn the coil on.  THe case was grounded, and I brushed against 
the bare wire I connected the cap to the primary with with my right hand as 
my left finger touched the case of the surge suppressor.

zap! every muscle from my waste to my neck contracted, including my vocal 
cords and all (I involuntarily yelled) and a huge convulsion just like you 
see on TV with defibrillators, but worse, occurred.

Needless to say I consider myself very lucky to be alive, especially since I 
had almost been killed in a polevaulting accident a month before.

So, the moral is to THINK about what you do before you do it. Think about 
it.  Do everything consciously. Check, double check and even triple check 
connections and switches if you aren't sure. Unplug everything when you work 
on it, unless it's absolutely necessary. Always work on the coil when some 
other competant person is in the room.

I have learned the hard way (and almost the hardest way!) too many times.  
Learn from my mistakes, and other people's mistakes too.

Some of us are lucky enough to learn from our own since we aren't dead, and 
I believe we should make sure others don't make the same mistakes.  "some 
people's lives are meant only to serve as an example to others" or something 
like that.  Luckily I didn't give my life for an example, but that doesn't 
mean I can't still be one.

Safe coiling to everybody.
Nathan Ball


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