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Capacitor Shock Toy Machine?

A

Andrew Edmond

Jan 1, 1970
0
When I was a kid, I read a schemetic in a magazine that showed how to
make a shock machine out of a transformer, a capacitor, a 9V battery
and a push/release switch. At age 12 I was able to build one and had
a great time shocking my friends (small but still startling).

At age 14, I built an electric chair (a living room chair with foil
wrapped on the arms, with a push button to deliver the shock) for
halloween.

At age 30, I'm trying to recall how I did it as a kid, and am having
tons of trouble :)

Any electrician minded people willing to help me with this halloween
project?

If I remember correctly, I hooked the leads of the 9V battery to the
transformer (120V / 12.6V 1.2A transformer) and then hooked the leads
on the other end of the transformer to a small capacitor (pinky tip
sized cylinder). From the capacitor I hooked one lead through a push
button switch and the other lead on an open circuit. Each lead
terminated in a standard kitchen knife.

The net effect is that you'd hold the kitchen knives as easy-grip
conductors and then push the button. The current from the capacitor
would be released into your body offering a small but shocking jolt.

When I did it as an electric chair when I was a kid it was so much fun
on Halloween!

If anybody might be able to give me some pointers for refreshing my
memory on this, I'd be much obliged!

Andrew
CC reply to edmond at aravia.com!
 
T

The Al Bundy

Jan 1, 1970
0
Andrew Edmond said:
When I was a kid, I read a schemetic in a magazine that showed how to
make a shock machine out of a transformer, a capacitor, a 9V battery
and a push/release switch. At age 12 I was able to build one and had
a great time shocking my friends (small but still startling).

At age 14, I built an electric chair (a living room chair with foil
wrapped on the arms, with a push button to deliver the shock) for
halloween.

At age 30, I'm trying to recall how I did it as a kid, and am having
tons of trouble :)

Any electrician minded people willing to help me with this halloween
project?

If I remember correctly, I hooked the leads of the 9V battery to the
transformer (120V / 12.6V 1.2A transformer) and then hooked the leads
on the other end of the transformer to a small capacitor (pinky tip
sized cylinder). From the capacitor I hooked one lead through a push
button switch and the other lead on an open circuit. Each lead
terminated in a standard kitchen knife.

The net effect is that you'd hold the kitchen knives as easy-grip
conductors and then push the button. The current from the capacitor
would be released into your body offering a small but shocking jolt.

When I did it as an electric chair when I was a kid it was so much fun
on Halloween!

If anybody might be able to give me some pointers for refreshing my
memory on this, I'd be much obliged!

Andrew
CC reply to edmond at aravia.com!

Why not to hook up 120/230V directly on the chair with some switch between?
:) You need someone else to operate the switch (or just a plug :) and make
sure the chair as well the feet of the 'person under test' are well isolated
from the floor, otherwise the circuit breaker may trip...

But longer lasting fun you can use the parts you were talking about:)

Connect the 9V battery with a switch to the 12V side of the transformer. Now
when you close the switch and release it a current will be build up and
suddenly interrupted. This interruption causes the voltage to rise high on
the 220V side. This high voltage you can feel and is only there for just a
very short moment.

The capacitor you had can be used to store the energy in so when discharging
it by some switch to the person he will feel the shock better. But then you
need 2 switches, one to generate the high voltage to charge the capacitor
and the other one to discharge the capacitor to the person.

Good luck,
Al


Oh, and I don't take any responsibility....
 
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