File this one away for your mad scientist costume next Halloween: [bitluni]’s Pocket Jacob’s Ladder is the perfect high voltage accessory for those folks with five dollars in parts, a 3D printer, and very big pockets.
[bitluni]’s video shows you all the parts you’ll need and guides you through the very simple build process. For parts, you’ll require a cheap and readily-available high-voltage transformer, a battery holder, some silver wire for the conductors, and a few other minor bits like solder and a power switch.
Once the electronics are soldered together, they’re stuffed inside a 3d printed case that [bitluni] designed with FreeCAD. The FreeCAD and STL files are all available on Thingiverse. We’re not sure what type of jar [bitluni] used to enclose the electrodes. If your jar isn’t a match, you’ll have to get familiar with FreeCAD or start from scratch with your favorite CAD package.
Either way, we enjoy the slight nod toward electrical safety and the reuse of household objects for project enclosures.
If you’re interested in a Jacob’s Ladder with significantly higher voltage we’ve got you covered, or we’ve also written about another tiny portable Jacob’s Ladder.
The full video is embedded after the break.
[thanks to Baldpower for the tip]
First!
.. Thanks for sharing
People still race to comment “first?” I thought that finally died out years ago.
THIRD!
Ostracus must be sick today :(
How did you do that?!?
Second!
Great build. :-)
Now, put an electric pickle in the pickle jar!
That little black box must be more than a transformer – he is putting in DC and getting AC out.
“Transformers! More than meets the eyes!”
Yes, this project is basically “buy a black box from China that does 90% of the work, then connect up the power and make a nice case” :-/
I have been building these since I was about 10 years old and I got the plans in a library book. As an adult I have always wanted to build one in a case that I could purge with different glasses and see the effects. This would be an easy add on to something like this. Around the house here I have CO2, argon, nitrogen and oxygen, propene, and a CO2/argon mix. Might wanna use a clear plastic film or or even a saran wrap cover instead of a glass jar if you play with oxygen or propane….
Plastic film and oxygen sometimes mix too well.