Re: Safe handling of Capacitors

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Jim Lux by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <jimlux-at-earthlink-dot-net>

White PVC pipe works nicely....

It's a good idea to put a medium sized resistor (say 100-1000 ohms or so)
in series with the discharge electrode.  That way, when you discharge it's
only 10-100 amps, and a click or pop, instead of several kiloamps and a BANG.

Check out the electronic flash FAQ (on the web somewhere).. there's a
fairly good discussion on how to build a "bang stick".

Personally, I'd build two grounding rods with wire leads that go to ground.
 It's more useful, because you can ground both ends of the cap, and you can
be sure that it's really at ground, and not just floating due to some other
circuit component.

The very finely stranded and very flexible wire sold for auto stereo
installation is nice to use.  It's available in reasonably heavy gauges
(AWG 6 or 8), it's flexible enough, and it's insulated.

Tesla list wrote:
> 
> Original poster: "Robert Hughes by way of Terry Fritz
<twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <rfhughes-at-epix-dot-net>
> 
> so basically your telling me to use a rod with an insulated grip to
> discharge it by touching the capacitor with on end and then grounding
> the other...
> 
> Ok now where do i get a suitable pole?