once when I was just getting into audio ( and thought a 1 watt amp out of some multimedia speakers was 30 watts) I had been messing with speakers for a while, and had a crummy subwoofer so I decided to build a speaker.
No, not a speaker box and throw a woofer in it - I made a woofer.
Used scotch tape wrapped with the sticky side out around a pvc pipe, then wound who knows how many turns of 24g enamel wire around it very neatly, then put another layer or so of tape on that, and trimmed the edges making a nice coil. I then got the bright Idea of glueing it to an old cd center, and glueing the cd to the middle of a canvas ( those ones that are streched over a frame) and put dowels in the edges to make it tight as a drum. Then I got an old magnet from an old car speaker, and made a frame to position it over the coil , used liquid nails construction glue to glue it to it, and adjusted it and the coil perfectly. Well I unhooked the speaker in my cheap creative computer subwoofer, which was about 20 watts, and hooked it up to that. Placed the 'sub' I built in a window and closed the window on it.
Wow did that thing crank out huge amounts of bass! But it wasnt usable above 90hz or so... it did go extremly low, using the house as a box.
Well I decided to try it with a bigger amp.. our new micro system for the kitchen was rated at 360 watts, so with deductive reasoning I decided it must be 180 watts each side. Well it only consumes 120 watts.. so it really puts out 50 watts at most, which I doubt even that. I know that now. Anyways, it worked just fine on that thing ( its a wonder it could handle 50 watts!
) and I figured the coil getting warm was normal. So the next day I took it to a friends birthday party, and he was having the band over to play around. Assuming it could handle the 180 watts just fine, we decided that his 120 wpch pa amp wouldnt hurt it at all.
Well , we turned it on and turned the amp all the way up ( which is what we always did and controlled the amp by the mixer)
Smoke instantly started pouring out of it , and the smell of melted scotch tape, wire, and graphite filled the garage. I never built another one again .
I also remember the time I was working on a TV for a friend, and my dad said we needed to discharge the tube. Well you usually disconnect the anode cap ( how were we supposed to know?) Gee its stuck! Son can you get me a pair of insulated cutters?
Dad got a nice zap when he found out my chineese pliers had that foam-rubber grip on them that doesnt insulate anything
No, not a speaker box and throw a woofer in it - I made a woofer.
Used scotch tape wrapped with the sticky side out around a pvc pipe, then wound who knows how many turns of 24g enamel wire around it very neatly, then put another layer or so of tape on that, and trimmed the edges making a nice coil. I then got the bright Idea of glueing it to an old cd center, and glueing the cd to the middle of a canvas ( those ones that are streched over a frame) and put dowels in the edges to make it tight as a drum. Then I got an old magnet from an old car speaker, and made a frame to position it over the coil , used liquid nails construction glue to glue it to it, and adjusted it and the coil perfectly. Well I unhooked the speaker in my cheap creative computer subwoofer, which was about 20 watts, and hooked it up to that. Placed the 'sub' I built in a window and closed the window on it.
Wow did that thing crank out huge amounts of bass! But it wasnt usable above 90hz or so... it did go extremly low, using the house as a box.Well I decided to try it with a bigger amp.. our new micro system for the kitchen was rated at 360 watts, so with deductive reasoning I decided it must be 180 watts each side. Well it only consumes 120 watts.. so it really puts out 50 watts at most, which I doubt even that. I know that now. Anyways, it worked just fine on that thing ( its a wonder it could handle 50 watts!
) and I figured the coil getting warm was normal. So the next day I took it to a friends birthday party, and he was having the band over to play around. Assuming it could handle the 180 watts just fine, we decided that his 120 wpch pa amp wouldnt hurt it at all. Well , we turned it on and turned the amp all the way up ( which is what we always did and controlled the amp by the mixer)
Smoke instantly started pouring out of it , and the smell of melted scotch tape, wire, and graphite filled the garage. I never built another one again .
I also remember the time I was working on a TV for a friend, and my dad said we needed to discharge the tube. Well you usually disconnect the anode cap ( how were we supposed to know?) Gee its stuck! Son can you get me a pair of insulated cutters?
Dad got a nice zap when he found out my chineese pliers had that foam-rubber grip on them that doesnt insulate anything
Stupid on our part...
My first experience with getting electrocuted was with an extention cord with a male end on both ends. One end was plugged in, and I was walking with the other end swinging in my hands to my dads shop to plug it in. Something kept giving me a good shock on my right leg, but when I looked down, there was nothing there. I finally realized I was shocking myself when on the last swing, the ends hit something metal and kind of attached themselves to the metal object. I shocked myself three times before realizing this.
My second stupid thing happened when I was in tech school. It was like the first month and I had just learned about how motors were made. So I took a coil of wire home with me. I made "bearings" out of a coat hanger and ran the coil of wire on this. I put a magnet by the coil and attached a 9V battery to this. It caused it to tweak a little bit. So I figured 120 V would cause it to tweak alot. I was wrong. All I did was invent welding again.
My second stupid thing happened when I was in tech school. It was like the first month and I had just learned about how motors were made. So I took a coil of wire home with me. I made "bearings" out of a coat hanger and ran the coil of wire on this. I put a magnet by the coil and attached a 9V battery to this. It caused it to tweak a little bit. So I figured 120 V would cause it to tweak alot. I was wrong. All I did was invent welding again.
These are from my father. Believe them or not:
He went on a business trip in Russia and had to stay at a dorm. Unfortunately for him, he came down with a bad cold while he was there, and the neighbors enjoyed playing loud music into the wee hours of the morning. He desparately wanted some peace and quiet, so he took a large nail, bent it into a U shape, and stuck it into the wall socket to blow the mains fuse in the building. Too bad that there was no fuse, and so the transformer across the street blew, but not before turning the nail orange hot. He came back home the next day and then remembered that he never took the nail out of the wall.
Another time, when he worked with high-powered lasers, he accidentally made a dead short to a 40kV pulse supply with a 10m or so long 8ga wire. The wire EVAPORATED (!) within two seconds causing the room to fill up with thick black smoke and the fire department pulling in to the lab building. By this time my father was long gone.
At the same lab, mice were a constant nuisance as they liked to chew on cables. He set up a mousetrap by grounding a metal plate on the floor, placing an electrode from a 5kV high current supply above the plate, and stringing a piece of cheese on the electrode. He swept out the ashes every morning.
He went on a business trip in Russia and had to stay at a dorm. Unfortunately for him, he came down with a bad cold while he was there, and the neighbors enjoyed playing loud music into the wee hours of the morning. He desparately wanted some peace and quiet, so he took a large nail, bent it into a U shape, and stuck it into the wall socket to blow the mains fuse in the building. Too bad that there was no fuse, and so the transformer across the street blew, but not before turning the nail orange hot. He came back home the next day and then remembered that he never took the nail out of the wall.
Another time, when he worked with high-powered lasers, he accidentally made a dead short to a 40kV pulse supply with a 10m or so long 8ga wire. The wire EVAPORATED (!) within two seconds causing the room to fill up with thick black smoke and the fire department pulling in to the lab building. By this time my father was long gone.
At the same lab, mice were a constant nuisance as they liked to chew on cables. He set up a mousetrap by grounding a metal plate on the floor, placing an electrode from a 5kV high current supply above the plate, and stringing a piece of cheese on the electrode. He swept out the ashes every morning.
I only ever evaporated (sublimated actually) very fine gauge wire used to hook up transformers during voltage tests... I decided to test the neon in a switch... with no load inline... and accidentally switched the mains directly to each other. ZOP! and the wire is gone!
It makes one shake for a while...
It makes one shake for a while...
Ok heres one for ya...
I once had an old Ibm Clone... I think it was made by altec lancing
i had bought the thing at a yard sale for 12 bucks...
one day i took the lid off to pop in a joystick card so i could play IBM centipede With a joystick...
only problem is i never shut the pc off
as i placed the card it bumped some of the contacts on the video card... i looked at the screen amazed to see all the diffrent ascii characters in all colors, at the extreme 80x60 resouloution
I went to get my dad to show him what the screen looked like...
the second i got back,,, the screen went black and 1 second later as i looked into the poor machine the ONLY chip on that 8-bit isa card EXPLODED!!! It made a nice pop and that instant i vowed never to own a clone 8088,
I was about 13 when it happend... but i Knew better than to do that... i guess i was just bored...
now my dad has given me his Ibm XT
Its slower... but then again its got a 25Mb Hard drive and 1Mb of on-Board Memory
I still play centipede on it... but now i dont need to swap floppies
-NEVER AGAIN-
I once had an old Ibm Clone... I think it was made by altec lancing
i had bought the thing at a yard sale for 12 bucks...
one day i took the lid off to pop in a joystick card so i could play IBM centipede With a joystick...
only problem is i never shut the pc off
as i placed the card it bumped some of the contacts on the video card... i looked at the screen amazed to see all the diffrent ascii characters in all colors, at the extreme 80x60 resouloution
I went to get my dad to show him what the screen looked like...
the second i got back,,, the screen went black and 1 second later as i looked into the poor machine the ONLY chip on that 8-bit isa card EXPLODED!!! It made a nice pop and that instant i vowed never to own a clone 8088,
I was about 13 when it happend... but i Knew better than to do that... i guess i was just bored...
now my dad has given me his Ibm XT
Its slower... but then again its got a 25Mb Hard drive and 1Mb of on-Board Memory
I still play centipede on it... but now i dont need to swap floppies
-NEVER AGAIN-
amerika got 115V, europe 230V
a computer got a nice red switch on the back, 115 and 230V switch.
when you live in europe and you put that switch on 115V your PC is really fast, for about 0.1 seconds
and fun with wire and batteries.
woooooow wire can be magnetic with an battery, what happents with AC(got 6V transformer)
oooooh the screws go everywhere, i want it stronger(plug it in mains 230V)
ooooh nice and dark.
i burned down the 50A fuse at school
kinda funny
a computer got a nice red switch on the back, 115 and 230V switch.
when you live in europe and you put that switch on 115V your PC is really fast, for about 0.1 seconds
and fun with wire and batteries.
woooooow wire can be magnetic with an battery, what happents with AC(got 6V transformer)
oooooh the screws go everywhere, i want it stronger(plug it in mains 230V)
ooooh nice and dark.
i burned down the 50A fuse at school
kinda funny
Just a few:
- connected 3V bulbs to mains - about 7 years old
- tried to see what happens if one uses a screwdriver to short the power rails (thick metal bars) of the apartment's energy meter (welded the scredriver to the bars so bad that I couldn't remove it myself) - 11 years old
- connected watch batteries to a 24V transformer (instant explosion) - 12 years old
- tried to charge non chargable AAA batteries with a 12V supply (no explosion fortunately but got very close) - about 12 years old
- connected out of accident a 10000uF cap with reverse polarity to about 40V supply (no explosion but it was the hottest cap I've seen so far) - about 20 years old
- was repairing an amp and something was intermittently stinging my elbow but I didn't bother to look (proved to be mains voltage) - about 25 years old
- connected an woofer to a 100V trafo out of curiosity (only chance I've had to see a speaker on fire) - around 25 years old
- still alive (29 years old)
- connected 3V bulbs to mains - about 7 years old
- tried to see what happens if one uses a screwdriver to short the power rails (thick metal bars) of the apartment's energy meter (welded the scredriver to the bars so bad that I couldn't remove it myself) - 11 years old
- connected watch batteries to a 24V transformer (instant explosion) - 12 years old
- tried to charge non chargable AAA batteries with a 12V supply (no explosion fortunately but got very close) - about 12 years old
- connected out of accident a 10000uF cap with reverse polarity to about 40V supply (no explosion but it was the hottest cap I've seen so far) - about 20 years old
- was repairing an amp and something was intermittently stinging my elbow but I didn't bother to look (proved to be mains voltage) - about 25 years old
- connected an woofer to a 100V trafo out of curiosity (only chance I've had to see a speaker on fire) - around 25 years old
- still alive (29 years old)
was in college. the lab had a an electric motor that you could configure the windings as you pleased to make the motor do different things. The field windings were such that there was a bunch of clearance between them and the rotor windings. and the rotor basically was unhoused. There was no chance of the rotor windings expanding under the centrifical force and binding with the field windings. I had it wired as a series wound motor with about 6 light bulbs in series with the field windings. I had the bulbs such that I could switch them in and out of the circuit.
I started with all of the bulbs out of the circuit and began switching them in one at a time. A small crowd had gathered wanting to see what I was doing. I was so amazed to see that the motor sped up each time I switched in a light bulb. This motor theory stuff really works. I had 5 of the bulbs switched in (reducing the field current). It was making an awesome high pitched shreek and spinning at about 60,000 rpm when the professor walked in. I was just about to switch the last bulb in when the thoroughaly pissed professor realized what I was doing. Good thing too. it would have spun itsself to bits had I flipped the last switch.
I started with all of the bulbs out of the circuit and began switching them in one at a time. A small crowd had gathered wanting to see what I was doing. I was so amazed to see that the motor sped up each time I switched in a light bulb. This motor theory stuff really works. I had 5 of the bulbs switched in (reducing the field current). It was making an awesome high pitched shreek and spinning at about 60,000 rpm when the professor walked in. I was just about to switch the last bulb in when the thoroughaly pissed professor realized what I was doing. Good thing too. it would have spun itsself to bits had I flipped the last switch.
My second switch mode power supply. The first was lower frequency and still works. This one was supposed to be 12V in, +/-60V out. 2x8200uF output caps and insufficient filter inductance. Worked perfectly on a 12V current limited power supply. Hooked it up to a car battery and had six very expensive (to me at the time) TO-247 hexfets explode in my face.
I don't consider the results of plugging in a 12" speaker driver or welding screwdrivers on bus bars intentionally to be "failures"
I don't consider the results of plugging in a 12" speaker driver or welding screwdrivers on bus bars intentionally to be "failures"
Time for my contribution...
My earliest recollection is of when I was about ten years old. I was at a friend's house. He had a voltmeter that looked like an old fashioned pocket watch, but without the chain and lid.
He was trying to measure the voltage on the big cap inside an electronic flash when his hand slipped and he touched the cap's terminals. The involuntary reaction of the muscles in his arm sent the voltmeter flying through the room. I won't forget the expression on his face...
Later I was trying to find out if the central heating system in our house would act as a return wire (neutral). I connected a lightbulb to the live post of a wall socket on one side and held the other wire to a bare pipe of the central heating system. There was light...for a second or two until the residual current device tripped turning off all the electricity in the house. Immediately my parents and brother assumed I was the cause and started shouting at me. I guess that was not the first time I caused a house-wide "blackout" .
I nearly electrocuted myself on several occasions. Experimenting with switchgear for fluorescent lights or wiring up extension cords while still plugged in...stuff like that...
Then when I understood the workings of transformers I experimented a little. I had two tiny clock radio transformers. In one experiment I connected them in series on the secondary windings to see if I would get mains voltage on the second transformer's primary windings. It did, until I hooked up a 60 W bulb. A few seconds of light was followed by a thud from one of the transformers and a plume of smoke and the bad "fried transformer" smell... At least I had learned what power ratings are about!
Most memorable is blowing up a 2 kW power supply at work. At the time the company I work for was producing a SMPS that we tested before shipping to the client. The test-procedure was designed to prevent mishaps from occurring by a strict order. After testing quite a few of these PSU's I deviated from the test-procedure at one point when I realized I had forgotten to check something. I had already switched the unit on when I slipped with the probe. A cascade of explosions was the result. It took only a few seconds, but they felt like the longest seconds of my life...
My earliest recollection is of when I was about ten years old. I was at a friend's house. He had a voltmeter that looked like an old fashioned pocket watch, but without the chain and lid.
He was trying to measure the voltage on the big cap inside an electronic flash when his hand slipped and he touched the cap's terminals. The involuntary reaction of the muscles in his arm sent the voltmeter flying through the room. I won't forget the expression on his face...
Later I was trying to find out if the central heating system in our house would act as a return wire (neutral). I connected a lightbulb to the live post of a wall socket on one side and held the other wire to a bare pipe of the central heating system. There was light...for a second or two until the residual current device tripped turning off all the electricity in the house. Immediately my parents and brother assumed I was the cause and started shouting at me. I guess that was not the first time I caused a house-wide "blackout"
.I nearly electrocuted myself on several occasions. Experimenting with switchgear for fluorescent lights or wiring up extension cords while still plugged in...stuff like that...
Then when I understood the workings of transformers I experimented a little. I had two tiny clock radio transformers. In one experiment I connected them in series on the secondary windings to see if I would get mains voltage on the second transformer's primary windings. It did, until I hooked up a 60 W bulb. A few seconds of light was followed by a thud from one of the transformers and a plume of smoke and the bad "fried transformer" smell... At least I had learned what power ratings are about!
Most memorable is blowing up a 2 kW power supply at work. At the time the company I work for was producing a SMPS that we tested before shipping to the client. The test-procedure was designed to prevent mishaps from occurring by a strict order. After testing quite a few of these PSU's I deviated from the test-procedure at one point when I realized I had forgotten to check something. I had already switched the unit on when I slipped with the probe. A cascade of explosions was the result. It took only a few seconds, but they felt like the longest seconds of my life...
I guess I've been lucky really as I haven't really destroyed many things that I can remember, I tried to fix a car amp one, the one the heatsinked semiconductors blew in the SMPS part, so I replaced it, only to wire 2 of the pins together without realizing it. When I turned the amp on it blew the diode in to 2 pieces, I may still have the pics somewhere.
I also managed to melt a x800 graphics card, I was trying to smooth out the PWM fan voltage, only to short out the pins while it was on and eventually melt a nice big hole in the PCB...
In fact most of my worst jobs have been when working on computer gear, I've have computer watercooling go wrong also...
I've also had a 230v zap while turning on a DAC when it was out of it's case... I'm more careful now. 
I also managed to melt a x800 graphics card, I was trying to smooth out the PWM fan voltage, only to short out the pins while it was on and eventually melt a nice big hole in the PCB...
In fact most of my worst jobs have been when working on computer gear, I've have computer watercooling go wrong also...
I've also had a 230v zap while turning on a DAC when it was out of it's case...
I'm more careful now. 
DIY cockup #1 (Me)
Was having my 1920's villa refurbished, so I decided to rewire the lighting. Original lighting was in steel conduit which had long rusted into one piece, so I pulled the lighting fuses and set to work with a jigsaw. Guess what (obviously really) - one of the conduits came off the heating fuses. Flash Bang no more jigsaw blade.
DIY cockup #2 (A friend)
Used to work sound at rock festivals in the 80's, which involved being onsite a week before opening. Hot summer days and being amongst friends, nobody wore much clothing. Site electrician was working above the main feed in transformer wearing only his tool belt. 8" crescent spanner fell out of his belt, and in accordance with Murphy's second ammendment (selective gravitation) landed squarely across the 11Kv terminals. Flash Bang - spanner simply ceased to exist. Sparky had an instant Hiroshima suntan over half his body and was thereafter nicknamed "Flash" - I don't know if he ever lost the nickname.
DIY cockup #3 (my kids)
At ages of 2 and 4, one boy decided see what would happen if he stuffed the speaker wires of their ghetto blaster into the mains socket. BAAAAAARP Flash no more "Postman Pat". Boys emerge from their room, older one with carbon all up his arm, pointing to the younger one saying "He did it".
M
Was having my 1920's villa refurbished, so I decided to rewire the lighting. Original lighting was in steel conduit which had long rusted into one piece, so I pulled the lighting fuses and set to work with a jigsaw. Guess what (obviously really) - one of the conduits came off the heating fuses. Flash Bang no more jigsaw blade.
DIY cockup #2 (A friend)
Used to work sound at rock festivals in the 80's, which involved being onsite a week before opening. Hot summer days and being amongst friends, nobody wore much clothing. Site electrician was working above the main feed in transformer wearing only his tool belt. 8" crescent spanner fell out of his belt, and in accordance with Murphy's second ammendment (selective gravitation) landed squarely across the 11Kv terminals. Flash Bang - spanner simply ceased to exist. Sparky had an instant Hiroshima suntan over half his body and was thereafter nicknamed "Flash" - I don't know if he ever lost the nickname.
DIY cockup #3 (my kids)
At ages of 2 and 4, one boy decided see what would happen if he stuffed the speaker wires of their ghetto blaster into the mains socket. BAAAAAARP Flash no more "Postman Pat". Boys emerge from their room, older one with carbon all up his arm, pointing to the younger one saying "He did it".
M
The two types of work
There are three types of work:
1. Work that can be done at a desk involving computer with MATLAB, components, 50W soldering iron, electronic prototypes in which all currents are less than 1A, all frequencies less than 80kHz, all components which may safely be assumed ideal, and a refreshing glass of white wine. This is called Pleasant Work.
2. Work that cannot be done at a desk and involves attaching things to, removing things from, installing things in, planting things in, or modifiying things on, a dwelling house, an automobile, or a portion of arable land. This is known as Elephant Work.
3. Work which does not fall into either of the above categories and is known as Grovelling Toil.
There are three types of work:
1. Work that can be done at a desk involving computer with MATLAB, components, 50W soldering iron, electronic prototypes in which all currents are less than 1A, all frequencies less than 80kHz, all components which may safely be assumed ideal, and a refreshing glass of white wine. This is called Pleasant Work.
2. Work that cannot be done at a desk and involves attaching things to, removing things from, installing things in, planting things in, or modifiying things on, a dwelling house, an automobile, or a portion of arable land. This is known as Elephant Work.
3. Work which does not fall into either of the above categories and is known as Grovelling Toil.
Where to start....
* I think it started when I was about two years old.. Put my night light in the mains socket with my fingers between the bare pins. Things weren't that safe in the 70's but I still remember this lesson! Take that you young siblings
* In Holland we have (had..) two types of main plugs. Grounded and ungrounded. The latter is completely round, the former has some indents here and there. I used a Buck 110 to "custom fit" the ungrounded plug in a grounded socket. Got me some nice stiches and still no feeling in the right top half of my thumb..
* Well you need some lights to go with your music, so I got a nice DIY stroboscope light. I was too cheap to spend some bucks on the housing so I made a wooden box and used high gloss lacker. When I did a live test fit, the lacker appeared to be somewhat conducting, electrically speaking. The whole house went on black..
* Dismantling a colour TV for the parts. To check if it was really dead, I plugged it in and checked sound/screen. Nothing there, so I unplugged it, immediately removed the cover and took off the high voltage wire. Since it was pretty dusty inside I swept the upper side of the tube (inside of tv). If I wasn't making a high speed movement I would not have been able to type this message.... The label read 25kV with large warnings in bright colours. I hit the door with my back about 4 feet behind me. I was trembling for the rest of the day. When I asked for a beer later that night the bar guy asked me if I was sure. I had to explain I did not have an alcohol problem
* Sound and lights continued. Bought a 5 channel mixer. Unfortunately good sound means (close to) no filtering, resulting in blown OPAMPs when I unplugged a device when the mixer was on. I already soldered sockets so I could swap them fast. Routinely I opened the top of the mixer, noting the bare (!) fuse because it was still plugged in. I had to move the mixer just a foot to the right to start working on it. My thumb touched the fuse and I felt like I was screaming for at least 2 minutes before I finally found the strength to drop the mixer. A friend sitting next to me said 'What happend?'. I replied he was a jerk because he had to hear me scream and do nothing! He said it only took about half a second for me to scream and drop the mixer... Still have a nice dent in my (other) thumb.
* So we have these small hamster-like creatures in this part of the world that eat your sparkplug cables for breakfast. There are little devices emitting a high pitch noise that should keep these animals out of your car (they don't work BTW). Mom asked me if I could install it in their car. "Of course, no problem" I stated boldly! Grabbing a wrench, starting to unscrew one battery terminal, I dropped the wrench. Still being attached to the negative terminal, it fell on the positive terminal..... As fast as the sparks flew, my heart started beating and the scenarios of battery bombs went through my mind. With all the courage left in me I grabbed the wrench off the terminals before it had welded together. My mom looked like nothing happend, I was as pale as a sheet of paper.
* Restoring an oldtimer with electrical window operation. Took the inside panels off and pushed the down button. The window grabbed the cable and pulled the buttons inside the door. Instinctly I grabbed the buttons. Being a Volvo, there was a huge bar inside the door (side impact protection). My hand got caught between the bar and the window with my finger on the 'window down button' Yelled at my wife to turn off the ignition, couldn't use my hand for 3 days. Luckily it wasn't broken since I just revised the motors to be as strong as original...
* And, as stated before, don't strip wire with your teeth! I also have a nice 'wire cutter' front tooth.
* Oh yeah, touching a car cigar lighter to see if it's still hot is also a bad idea... Good news is the nice circles in your finger will go away in about a year..
Good lessons
R,
A
* I think it started when I was about two years old.. Put my night light in the mains socket with my fingers between the bare pins. Things weren't that safe in the 70's but I still remember this lesson! Take that you young siblings
* In Holland we have (had..) two types of main plugs. Grounded and ungrounded. The latter is completely round, the former has some indents here and there. I used a Buck 110 to "custom fit" the ungrounded plug in a grounded socket. Got me some nice stiches and still no feeling in the right top half of my thumb..
* Well you need some lights to go with your music, so I got a nice DIY stroboscope light. I was too cheap to spend some bucks on the housing so I made a wooden box and used high gloss lacker. When I did a live test fit, the lacker appeared to be somewhat conducting, electrically speaking. The whole house went on black..
* Dismantling a colour TV for the parts. To check if it was really dead, I plugged it in and checked sound/screen. Nothing there, so I unplugged it, immediately removed the cover and took off the high voltage wire. Since it was pretty dusty inside I swept the upper side of the tube (inside of tv). If I wasn't making a high speed movement I would not have been able to type this message.... The label read 25kV with large warnings in bright colours. I hit the door with my back about 4 feet behind me. I was trembling for the rest of the day. When I asked for a beer later that night the bar guy asked me if I was sure. I had to explain I did not have an alcohol problem
* Sound and lights continued. Bought a 5 channel mixer. Unfortunately good sound means (close to) no filtering, resulting in blown OPAMPs when I unplugged a device when the mixer was on. I already soldered sockets so I could swap them fast. Routinely I opened the top of the mixer, noting the bare (!) fuse because it was still plugged in. I had to move the mixer just a foot to the right to start working on it. My thumb touched the fuse and I felt like I was screaming for at least 2 minutes before I finally found the strength to drop the mixer. A friend sitting next to me said 'What happend?'. I replied he was a jerk because he had to hear me scream and do nothing! He said it only took about half a second for me to scream and drop the mixer... Still have a nice dent in my (other) thumb.
* So we have these small hamster-like creatures in this part of the world that eat your sparkplug cables for breakfast. There are little devices emitting a high pitch noise that should keep these animals out of your car (they don't work BTW). Mom asked me if I could install it in their car. "Of course, no problem" I stated boldly! Grabbing a wrench, starting to unscrew one battery terminal, I dropped the wrench. Still being attached to the negative terminal, it fell on the positive terminal..... As fast as the sparks flew, my heart started beating and the scenarios of battery bombs went through my mind. With all the courage left in me I grabbed the wrench off the terminals before it had welded together. My mom looked like nothing happend, I was as pale as a sheet of paper.
* Restoring an oldtimer with electrical window operation. Took the inside panels off and pushed the down button. The window grabbed the cable and pulled the buttons inside the door. Instinctly I grabbed the buttons. Being a Volvo, there was a huge bar inside the door (side impact protection). My hand got caught between the bar and the window with my finger on the 'window down button'
Yelled at my wife to turn off the ignition, couldn't use my hand for 3 days. Luckily it wasn't broken since I just revised the motors to be as strong as original...* And, as stated before, don't strip wire with your teeth! I also have a nice 'wire cutter' front tooth.
* Oh yeah, touching a car cigar lighter to see if it's still hot is also a bad idea... Good news is the nice circles in your finger will go away in about a year..
Good lessons
R,
A
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