Re: [TCML] Jacob's Ladder

[Scott Bogard <sdbogard@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi David,
     It is the current that nearly solely determines the range an arc
can be stretched, so I imagine there will be no improvement at all
upgrading to a 15kV NST.  You can add another 9kV in parallel, and it
will make your arc stretch much longer, but also puts you deeper into
"lethal" territory (most likely not, but there is always a chance.)
DO NOT USE DC!!!!!  If you touch a wire it will latch onto you and you
will die an agonizing death.  Ac will let go in one 60th of a second
and muscle contractions will pull you off of the wire, substantially
safer.  If you want to do something cool and new, I would suggest
building a glass enclosure and filling it with with an argon gas/air
mixture, with the right concentrations you can make cool colors, get a
much longer spark, but still have it keep it's Jacob's ladder
characteristics.  Not to mention a glass tube will support a helix
shaped ladder quite nicely.  Food for thought.

Scott Bogard.

On 2/1/11, David Steinberg <david.steinberg@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I have a 9kv / 30mA NST, some ¼” copper tubing, 7 CDE 942 caps (0.15mfd
> 2,000 v) and high voltage wire left over from building my tesla coil.
>
>
>
> I’m looking to construct a good jacob’s ladder.  Here are my design
> parameters:
>
>
>
> 1.      The voltage / current should be sub-lethal.  That being said, I
> think the 9kv transformer may not be powerful enough.  I would consider
> building a voltage multiplier, etc., if that would help.  Or switching to a
> 15 kv NST.
>
> 2.      I’d like to use my left-overs, but I don’t mind buying a few new
> things;
>
> 3.      A simple coat-hanger V-design is out of the question.  It must be
> interesting – perhaps a spiral, perhaps something different and interesting;
>
>
>
> I am looking for any and all ideas and / or designs.  Should I go ac or dc?
> Is there a simple way to boast the power of the 9kv transformer, or should I
> go with something else?  Anyone have a great and novel design?
>
>
>
> Thanks,
>
>
>
> David
>
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