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Re: I'm trying this at home.



Original poster: "Terry Fritz" <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>

Hi Ralph,

At 09:16 PM 7/1/2001 -0400, you wrote:
>In a message dated 7/1/01 5:27:16 PM Central Daylight Time, tesla-at-pupman-dot-com 
>writes:
>
>Terry and all,
>
>May I again urge our moderator to reject all postings taking a cavalier / 
>grandstanding
>attitude towards electrical safety. All it will take is one accident caught 
>up in the 24-hour
>news cycle and the nanny state Nazis will shut down our hobby
>in an instant, and they "...don't need no stinkin' badge."
>
>Not at all cheerful on this subject,
>Ralph Zekelman
>

The subject of Tesla coil safety is always a hot issue...

I don't think anyone has taken a "light" attitude toward safety here.  None
of use wants to get hurt, but there are risks with this hobby that we all
must accept and understand.  Very many of us used to get shocked in our
early days, but we learned to work safer.  As we work with higher and
higher power levels, this learning becomes more and more important.  By
sharing our knowledge with others, we can help them avoid the learning and
dangers we went through.  It is not a perfect world so the guarantees are
zero.  However, the hobby is safer for our having tried to do all we can to
help others be as safe as we have learned to be.

Trying to reject posts on the safety subjects simply removes the
opportunity for the rest of us to help make the hobby safer.  We would then
be doing a disservice in that those that do not realize the great dangers
would never get the chance to be "enlightened" about those dangers and ways
to avoid them.  Good, bad, or indifferent... people getting shocked or
doing dangerous things is a part of this hobby.  All we can do is try to
steer them toward the safest practices we know. 

Chris may get killed buy something he heard on this list.  However, his
life may be saved by something he heard on this list too...  I would think
the latter is far more likely.  Thus, posts on this difficult subject are
allowed...  The people who have tried this stunt before Chris were working
with far less knowledge than Chris has.  Used to be, people would climb on
their coil and flip the switch "thinking" it was pretty safe.  Chris talks of:

"I fully understand the dangers involved, and I know that if I do this
wrong I can die doing it. I understand that a Master has died in the past
(One of the 3 coiling deaths ever) doing this exact same demonstration. I
understand that there could be long-term effects that can include unknown
interior burns than can take forever to heal, etc etc. Even with a full
appreciation of the dangers involved I am still stupid enough to take the
risk."

"I will have a well trained crew on hand, including EMTs and an Ambulance
parked outside (we're doing the demo for the local Public Safety Dept as a
bit on Electrical Hazards and such.)"

So it seems he has a fairly good idea that this is not "safe".  I would
guess that he picked up most of this "danger" stuff from this list and the
web...

So rather than running away from such messy situations, it is just another
part of our hobby we must deal constructively with...

A lot of things could happen to Chris.  His hair or clothing could catch
fire, he could be startled by an arc off his nose and break his neak
falling to the concrete, He could burn his foot and fall onto the primary,
the "off" switch on variac could arc through and deliver full power without
being able to turn it off...  There is no end to the list of possible
things that could go wrong.  Of course, he could decide against it and walk
outside and get run over buy the geekmobile too...  The only thing that
will protect him is knowledge.  He could try to figure it all out buy
himself, but he is asking for advice to avoid the problems others have noted.

I don't think any of use can be blamed for trying to help Chris do
something like this as safely as possible.  Of course, not doing these
stunts is far safer, but it appears Chris will do this despite our advice
to the contrary.

Cheers,

	Terry