Large Jacob's Ladder

High voltage plasma arc!

Thanks to ewilhelm for the original instructable and Prometheus for the tips. This is my version of the Five foot tall jacob's ladder. I changed/replaced some of the parts for better insulation and ease of building.

Step 1 Parts

The main component of a jacob's ladder is some source of high voltage. For this you need to find a neon sign transformer (NST) that has a 8 - 15 kV 30mA output. I got a Franceformer 15 kv 30 mA NST on eBay for $50.

Other things you will need:

• 2" ABS pipe (30")
• 2" ABS female T-joint (x2)
• 2" ABS male adapter (x2)
• 14 gauge copper wire
• .5" acrylic rod (x4 in 6" lengths)
• can of expansion foam
• hot glue
• small rubber bands (x2)

Comments

[TimmyMiller]

i want to add a tube over it to give it a little more mad scientist look to it,

any suggestions?

[TimmyMiller]

i found one i like at partsforsigns.com
they have a lot of brands there so it might prove useful to go there
sincerely
timmymiller
p.s. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[thatinventor1]

would spreading the leads apart make the arc move up faster?

[inkjacket]

LOL this is hilarious.

[inkjacket]

THIS IS INSANE! so awesome and so beyond my comprehension lol. may one day get up the guts to try my hand with voltage i'll most likely kill myself with HAha. Hot stuff- love it:)

[neardood]

lol like the photo

[thermoelectric]

Can I use a flyback transformer out of a 15" colour crt monitor with a appropiate driver as the power supply?

[Zorink]

You could make a smaller one with some thick wire, but you need some serious voltage to get a big one to work. My NST (neon sign transformer) only cost $40 on ebay.

[thermoelectric]

Your franceformer is $99 when i looked today here's the link

[Zorink]

ewilhelm got his for $35. Check ebay every few days - you'll find one.

[tech-king]

nice. though in the video, the arc seems to snuff prematurely a lot. also, near the top, the arc seems to wobble; one side rises, then the other side rises past the first side and stops, then the first side rises again. i beleive this problem can easily be solved with a higher amperage transformer.

[Zorink]

I've been experimenting more and found that rubbing the copper with steel wool to get rid of the oxidation layer helps the arc run more consistently. You have to do it every once in a while because the copper oxidizes extra fast with the high voltage.

[duckythescientist]

And you can put the copper in a clear tube or in a closed room with no ac/fans to keep drafts down. Drafts kill more arcs than arcs kill humans.

[realcelestialphoenix]

(removed by author or community request)

[Zorink]

See: pic on step 8

[Radioactive_Legos]

Probably something like this:
<http://youtube.com/watch?v=4RCI8D8avGI>

[EnigmaMax]

do you think if you got the arc moving fast enough and you placed something like a metal bb in the arc, the arc will act like a electro-magnet and launch the bb? in short, a jacob's ladder gun?

[Goedjn]

No. What's happening here is that, down at the base of the ladder, where the two rails are closest together, the voltage gets high enough to jump from one rail to the other. When this happens, ionizes the air along that path. The ionized air is light (partly because it's hot, and starts rising, but since ionized air is a better conductor, the arc follows it up. When it runs off the top, the arc eventually gets long enough so that the short air gap at the bottom is again the path of least resistance. You should be able to trap the arc and collect the ozone by sticking a glass jar over the top of the ladder. --Goedjn

[Zorink]

I highly doubt it. You're thinking more along the lines of a railgun.

[EnigmaMax]

well, yeah, but still, it could work.

[ccolasont]

NICE!!!

[skimboarder33]

Is there a way to have more than one arc going at once? you may be able to make it do tricks by positioning plastic on only one side about halfway up so that it will leap back and fourth?

[Zorink]

Not that I'm aware of. The closest thing to a 'trick' I've heard of is bending the copper rods into a tornado shape (conical double helix?) so the arc would spin with the pipes on the way up. I've also seen someone make two small ones and bend the rods into the two sides of a heart.
heart shaped jacob's ladder

[GorillazMiko]

Aw, man, sweet! When I was at the Instructables' previous HQ in Alameda (the old naval base), Eric showed me this. He has 2 or 3 of them, but they're awesome. I kind of wanted to make them, but now, wow, awesome Instructable, I feel like doing this now. :P +5/5 stars.

[tech-king]

heres another interesting idea: turn off the arc, saturate water with salt, dampen a rag with the mix, rub it on the ladder, let it dry and try the ladder. if it works, the arc should change color.

[Zorink]

I'll have to try that. I put a stick between the arc to see what would happen and it made a deep blue-green flame/arc around it. Any idea what made the arc that color?

[Bran]

Flames are blue/green colors due to burning copper sulfate and copper chloride.

[tech-king]

oxidation. as the deposits burn off, some give off color.

[Norwat]

How many watts ?

[Zorink]

15000 V * .03 A = 450 watts

[ewilhelm]

Nice work! I like your adjustable gap built with acrylic rods.

[Zorink]

Thanks for the featured!

[mspark400]

pretty sweet and nice job i like the improvements in the name of ease its on my to do list +1

[mspark400]

sorry i meant five stars not plus one ...whatever it is now lol