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Topic: Most electrifying experience

Freddie Dobbs
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 115
From: Pinson, AL, USA
Registered: Jun 2001

posted 09-25-2001 12:42 PM

I was just curious, what’s the worst shock you have received?

I will never forget mine came at the Cinema 8 on the parkway in Huntsville, I was replacing a motor cap on the bottom of the door on a FP20 console. It was close to the wall and there was just enough room to open the door. I was on my knees bent over wedged between the door and the wall. After a few minuets my neck got tired so I lowered my head and BAM.....I looked like Kramer, I thought I would beat myself to death before I could get un-wedged and out.. When I bent over I had put my head on the two 220 leads on the transformer.

Guess this explains a lot for you guys..........

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Christopher Duvall
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 500
From: Denver, CO
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 09-25-2001 01:16 PM

The biggest shock I received happened when i had a brief stint as a video game repair tech. I was working on a CRT after I thought I had discharged it. I somehow brushed against the flyback transformer and then found myself on the floor clutching my chest. From that point on, I discharged monitors numerous times before working on them.

As far as the projectors are concerned, I have only been hit with major static shocks when breaking down prints in the winter.

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Paul G. Thompson
The Weenie Man

Posts: 4718
From: Mount Vernon WA USA
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 09-25-2001 01:45 PM

The worse for me was when I got plowed with the ignition pulse from a Xetron XH lamphouse. It threw mw across the booth without my feet touching the floor, and plastered me on the wall like a fly that was nailed with a fly swatter. Then I slid down the wall like a blob of jelly. (this is what the projectionsit said, anyway)

Myhair stood on end for two days after that, and I could not comb or brush it down. It looked like a *foof* hairdo.

Paul

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John Pytlak
Film God

Posts: 9987
From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 09-25-2001 02:08 PM

Let me count the ways

These have a real "kick":
25 kilovolts from a charged color TV CRT
Automobile ignition wire
Lawnmower ignition wire
Xenon igniter

These can have real "holding power":
500 volt B+ vacuum tube plate voltage
120 VAC line voltage to ground

These are "burning issues" that can "jump at you":
AC from flyback transformer (Plate lead on 1B3GT or 3A3B rectifier tubes)
Neon lamp transformer discharge
RF output of home-brew 50 watt radio transmitter

Fortunately, I have been careful (or lucky) enough to never have significant current find its way through vital organs. And most of these accidents occurred before I turned 20.

------------------
John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

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Mark Gulbrandsen
Resident Trollmaster

Posts: 16657
From: Music City
Registered: Jun 99

posted 09-25-2001 02:18 PM

I worked in a TV repair shop while I was a senior in high school. I was working on a 19" B&W Zenith and forgot about the ground strap connection that was missing between the chassis and the tuner chassis after it was pulle dout of its cabinet. Well, I completed the circuit with my left and right hands sending 285 volts DC right through me. Well, Kramer didn't exist then so I don't know if I looked like him or not after it happened, but it sure made me feel really bad for a couple of days. BTW: another guy in the shop pulled the plug so I could let go! DC is nasty stuff. Have not gotten bit that bad since although I persist at working on live circuits all the time. Last to go was my Fluke DVM. Slipped and a lead fell into the 6KV focus circuit of an old RCA 721TS tv that I was restoring. Well, the Fluke is dead but the RCA is running like a champ again after nearly 40 years of sitting idle.
Mark @ GTS

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Greg Mueller
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1687
From: Port Gamble, WA
Registered: Jun 99

posted 09-25-2001 02:32 PM

I was doing some casual labor once and the job was to replace some rotten wood gutters on a house. Eventually we worked around to the point were the power lines come in from the pole. We were two stories up on one of those aluminum planks in between two aluminum ladders. I was on all fours trying go underneath the wires and I guess I wasn't low enough. Funny how fast you can be flattened out. I was killed instantly.
------------------
Greg Mueller
Amateur Astronomer, Machinist, Filmnut http://www.muellersatomics.com/

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Don Sneed
Master Film Handler

Posts: 451
From: Texas City, TX, USA
Registered: Aug 2001

posted 09-25-2001 04:25 PM

My worst shock was coming home from a service call & caught my wife(now ex-wife) in bed with a plummer, whooaaa weeee--now that was a shock!!! Especially when I wasn't getting it....True story,

My worst electrical shock was working on a TV in electronic class & touch the back of the CRT....WHOOOAAA WEEEEE....I know not to do that again.....That Hurt !!

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Jerry Chase
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1068
From: Margate, FL, USA
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 09-25-2001 04:51 PM

A cousin of mine was killed by a powerline shock back when I was a kid. It wasn't an easy death. I've been extra careful since then, although I have been knocked across the room by capacitors.

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Paul Mayer
Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under!

Posts: 3836
From: Albuquerque, NM
Registered: Feb 2000

posted 09-25-2001 06:21 PM

My worst one? Probably when I got my fingers across some screen voltage (about 800VDC) while aligning a Barco video projector. Left some nice pinhole burns in my finger tips that stayed for a long while afterward.

Another memorable one happened while working on a three-phase motor circuit used to sync the three Christies we used on an Elvis tribute show at the Las Vegas Hilton in the summer of 1988. The circuit ran from the backstage pair of machines to a single machine up on the balcony; we were occasionally losing sync and I had decided to check and tighten all of the twistlock connectors in that run. Shut the circuit down and tagged it, then went up into the antipro to work on the first pair of connectors. Someone energized the circuit (even though it was tagged) while I had the connector opened up. My partner says I did quite a dance up there on the metal catwalk of the 2nd AP. To say nothing of the lyrics I sang That tingle tells ya...

Back to packing boxes,

Paul
Specializing in B&W projection, all black or all white
SMPTE Hollywood Section
Long Beach until next Thursday
Las Vegas from next Thursday

PS: Who was it here that had this signature line:
Theater alignment in progress. Caution: High levels of pink noise and blue language...

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Paul G. Thompson
The Weenie Man

Posts: 4718
From: Mount Vernon WA USA
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 09-25-2001 09:07 PM

Mark, remember those damn metal picture tubes? Those got my knuckles on many ocassions. Well, I'll tell you.....after a zap or two, the shop "Martinis" become "Martoonys".

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Bruce McGee
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1776
From: Asheville, NC USA... Nowhere in Particular.
Registered: Aug 1999

posted 09-26-2001 01:20 AM

Damn metal picture tube!

21AXP22 metal tube in a Motorola color TV.

I was changing a tube on this set when I brushed the tube with the back of my hand. I heard a faint crackle, then was knocked about 2 feet against a steam radiator. They dont have much padding... The homeowner was pissed that I could have bled on her carpet.

I charged her extra.

Sony Trinitrons have a nice 600 volt boost circuit on the CRT socket. That one can be fun, too.

I have fond memories of making body connections with 1B3, and 3A3 tubes.

B+ voltage in a tube amp hurts and seems to hold you in place while it tickles your innards.

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Paul G. Thompson
The Weenie Man

Posts: 4718
From: Mount Vernon WA USA
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 09-26-2001 01:50 AM

Bruce, how about a 5C-22/HT415 Thyratron? That was in the APG-51B radar used in the F3H-2 Navy Issue Demon Fighter Aircraft. With a plate voltage of 18KV before a trigger fires it, it will definately cause your eyeballs to roll around just a little.

I have seen a co-worker in the USN make contact with that plate cap before the PFN discharged, and it threw him across the room and up on the bench. After urinating and crapping in his britches, we called an ambulance. Lucky for him, he survived.

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Pete Naples
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1565
From: Dunfermline, Scotland
Registered: Feb 2001

posted 09-26-2001 03:03 AM

I'm sure all of you have read about my latest zapping. I'ev been belted from end of the garage to the other by a Lumenition system on my Range Rover, my HT tester read about 35,000 volts if I remember right. No current of course.

One time I was 12 feet up a ladder, changing a light bulb, I know I'd isolated the lights in that corridor, but some dumb dumb must've come along and turned it back on. Next thing I know there's a big bang and a flash, and I'm lying on the concrete floor, light fitting in one hand, light bulb in the other, wandering what the hell just happened. The only good thing to come out of this was that the singularly most attractive usherette came rushing to my aid. I'd half a mind to pretent to have stopped breathing so she'd have to carry out mouth to mouth....

My uncle once took an overhead power line and survived, god knows how. He'd been sailing on a loch in a little 14' boat, the boat got stuck in some reeds at the side, so he had one hand in the water, pushign it out of the reeds, and the other hand on the aluminium mast. The mast touch an overhead line and it went to earth through him. His lifejacket caught fire and the top of the mast melted. This line was 11,000 volts, and would carry one hell of a current. Miraculously he's still walking around to day. Oddly enough he gave up sailing after that.

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Mark Gulbrandsen
Resident Trollmaster

Posts: 16657
From: Music City
Registered: Jun 99

posted 09-26-2001 09:28 AM

Hi Paul,
I didn't run across any sets with the metal CRT's in them when I worked in the service shop and I was probably only 3 or 4 Y.O. when they were being sold. Since I collect and restore pre 1950's sets with round CRT's only I have seen a few, but have passed on them as too may have lost vaccum over the years due to their large glass to metal seal. They also cannot be rebuilt by anyone anymore. But its another story for all glass old CRT's...you can still get a 10BP4 rebuilt and occasionally find them brand new. The large glass to metal seals is also one of the main problems in restoring the original RCA Color set (CTC-1?) that had the 15" round tubes in them. Most have lost vacuum. There are only 3 or 4 in this country that can still produce a picture.
One place I did work VERY CAREFULLY was at the transmitter back when I worked in television. The TTU-110 that we ran had 6 huge air cooled High Voltage cubicles that you literally had to crawl into and vacuum out every couple of months. Too much dust caused failures and sometimes a small fire so we kept them spotless. All six operated at around 20KV and in parallel to produce a whopping 18 amps continous to the Klystrons. You could smell the HV in the main transmitter room when it was operating normally. Most of the problems were water leaks as the human sized Klystrons shook a tiny bit under operation due to the boiling water they produced! Too much copper plumbing in those things! Lotsa fun.
Mark @ GTS

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Jerry Chase
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1068
From: Margate, FL, USA
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 09-26-2001 09:39 AM

Paul G. Thompson wrote:

"After urinating and crapping in his britches, we called an ambulance. "

Geese, you Navy guys were mean, weren't you!?!

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