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Re: [TCML] Re: Accidents -report or not? (fwd)
Hi Gerry, Peter, Dave, all,
I suppose that there should be a "happy medium" on proper
reporting of personal electrical "mishaps". I can see the point
of both sides of this issue so I don' know if there is a simple,
"black or white" solution. Like Gerry, I enjoy my hobby and
do not want any governmental body coming along to protect
me from the dangers of my own making that are inherent of
the coiling hobby. OTOH, if I determine a true danger to life
and limb, then I also feel obligated to warn others. I think that
the bottom line is that just about anyone who takes an innate
interest in builing Tesla coils is going to become quite aware
of the electrocution dangers involved and will quickly learn
"what not to touch" in the interest of self-preservation. Of course
unreasonable risk can arise when we get a little "too comforta-
ble" or careless. There are many things that we are exposed
to every day that can be both useful and deadly, if not used pro-
perly - automobiles, fire, gasoline, guns, exercise weights, ect. and
of course, electricity - the list is virtually endless. You take some
risk as soon as you get out of bed, everyday of your life. The
key is keeping these risks to managable/acceptable levels and yes,
this can be done with Tesla coil building, too ;^)
Getting back to the Tesla coil issue, someone else has mentioned
before that before the onslaught of the internet, many coilers often had
to search and hunt for months just to find a few pages worth of Tesla
coil construction information that may or may not be accurate.
This kind of insured that the avearge coiler had to "pay his dues"
through the learning process and didn't build a 25 kVA pole pig
fired coil for his maiden project. By the time that he was ready
to take on that pig powered project, he had gained a lot more
knowledge through raw experience. Nowadays, a beginner can
hop on Google and get all of the accurate info that he needs to
build a truly mammoth coil that can prove immediately fatal with
one wrong move and that aspect of this does worry me a bit. Not
that I'm against the internet at all, but this situation could be a bad
accident waiting to happen since we can't control who does or
does not access this information. On the bright side, the internet
can also better alert us to the dangers of this hobby, too. No easy
solution to this one ;^/
David Rieben
-------------- Original message --------------
From: Garry Freemyer <garryfre@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> No offense intended, but I don't report when I get shocked not out of shame, but
> out of the simple fact, that people don't understand Tesla coils and people fear
> what they don't understand and what they fear they tend to outlaw if geven an
> excuse to do so. Reporting every little shock or accident is one good way to
> give them that excuse.
>
> Education beforehand is a good way to prevent accidents, I don't have to put
> anyone's name to them, or give out statistics. Reporters ten do sensationalize
> things that get the oh's and ah's and Tesla coils fall into that category.
>
> I don't think it's my civic duty to report every little booboo I do, any more
> than I would report falling off a laddar unless it were at work.
>
> It's not about shame, its about being balanced. I do not feel that I have done a
> dis-service if I don't report that I once had a defective NST switch that
> resulted in me getting a jolt.
>
> I want to protect my hobby not sacrifice it on the Altar of self-imposed civic
> duty.
>
> PS: This sounds harsh, I don't intend it to be so, I suppose that if I spent 5
> hours thinking of it, I could season this with salt and make it read like a
> tasty snack, but instead I only have time to say No offense intended.
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Tesla list
> To: tesla@xxxxxxxxxx
> Sent: Sunday, November 11, 2007 6:21:45 PM
> Subject: Re: Accidents -report or not? (fwd)
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Mon, 12 Nov 2007 10:16:58 +0900
> From: Peter Terren
> To: Tesla list
> Subject: Re: Accidents -report or not?
>
> You never hear of any accidents for two reasons: because people are ashamed
> to admit to them and because there is a feeling in the HV community that
> people start to compete (Thats nothin', I got a shock from a pole pig..").
> The feeling here and on 4HV forum is that no-one wants to talk about them.
> I strongly believe that this is WRONG.
> Occupational Health and Safety (or what ever it is called where you are) for
> both government and business mandates reporting of all adverse problems.
> This is responsible practice the world over.
> I believe that we should come clean as a hobby on this with responsible
> reporting and indicating how things could have been done more safely.
> And for the record, I had one significant shock around 30mA a few years ago,
> documented on the old 4hV forum before the thread was shut down.
>
> Peter http://tesladownunder.com
>
> > ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> > Date: Sun, 11 Nov 2007 14:11:14 -0500
> > From: David N. Van Doren
> > To: tesla@xxxxxxxxxx
> > Subject: Accidents
> >
> > There are a lot of coilers out there, some very experienced and some other
> > wise, and a lot of coils, but I never hear of any accidents (God forbid)
> > It amazes me that people are so careful. (this is a good thing) The way
> > things are, I am surprised that we can get half the stuff we get. Such as
> > NST's, OBIT's, Pole pigs and so on. A capacitor can store a charge for a
> > good wile. there are so many places in this hobby that someone can get
> > hurt. Maybe I shouldn't think about this, but knowing about what has gone
> > wrong sometimes can help in knowing what to watch out for.
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Dave
> >
> >
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