Another needless death

[hockenbery]

this was posted on WOW
https://www.nbc15.com/2020/07/03/widow-of-milton-man-warns-of-wood-fracking-dangers/

For those not familiar with fractburning. Two electrodes are place on wood(often wet) so that the electricity can arc between the electrodes leaving a burnt pattern on the wood.
Fractal woodturning is dangerous and people electrocute themselves doing it.

Here is the AAW statement on it.
https://www.woodturner.org/Woodturn...spx?hkey=02ac1815-a0e5-4673-a646-741574ab3a76

 

[John Torchick]

Have worked with NG, LPG and electricity up to 220/240 volts. I respect all three.

 

[Mark Jundanian]

Al, you might want to correct the title.

 

[Roger Wiegand]

There is a dearth of common sense.

 

[Russell Nugent]

I will never understand people doing things without knowing the risks.

 

[Robert D Evans]

If someone does enough research on how to build one of those devices, then surely they would have seen the warnings.

 

[Emiliano Achaval]

Sad news...

 

[Lamar Wright]

Very sad indeed.

 

[Karl Loeblein]

Seems to be consistent pattern with most of these fractal burning deaths. Not using a deadman switch, not using high voltage gloves, hands near electrodes, and using a very dangerous modified microwave transformer. If these warnings don't stop men from trying this technique then maybe another tactic is needed. Like someone with the proper training showing what's actually required to do this safely. Just seeing the cost of good certified high voltage gloves should keep many from trying this.

 

[Robert Archer]

There is a recent Youtube by Carl Jacobson (22 May) with the title, OSHA inspected.

 

[Ric Williams]

Just yesterday I heard about another incident here in Michigan on July 4th. This time 3 people were injured, 1 may not survive. Apparently a young man and his father put together a "system" and were using it. Somehow the young man was by the wood as it was being burned, he lost his balance, fell simultaneously on the live transformer and his girlfriend who was also too close. As they were being electrocuted, the girl's grandmother tried to help and was also electrocuted. All 3 were hospitalized. The girlfriend and grandmother are expected to recover, but the man has severe electrical burns to his lungs (!!!) and last I heard was still in critical condition with an unknown prognosis. If I didn't already know enough about high voltage electricity to dissuade me from ever trying it, that story alone would have convinced me.

 

[Mike Johnson]

When you read about these types of incidents you realize that there is a large percentage of the population that should leave well enough alone. Based on the number of incidents that occur around the world each day the human species is surely disproving Darwin's theory of evolution. Sadly most people these days are not exposed or educated in the finality of life and death situations growing up in todays society. Too many children are growing up in a virtual digital reality where they can push a button and restart the game anytime, compare that to a child growing up on a farm or ranch that gets exposed to the life and death cycle at a young age. The other leading factor is the average age of mental maturity "common sense" in the human species starts at around 30 years of age. A large percentage of kids growing up have no natural fear of injury or death growing up and participate in risky sports activities like skateboarding, mountain biking, rock climbing, down hill racing, any activity with the word "extreme" preceding the activity. Recent studies of the brain have shown a non-linear path of natural fear of harm starts at a high level in your preteen years, lapsing during the adolescent and teen years and coming back strongly during your adult years. I would assume the levels of testosterone play a large role in this reality.

 

[John Hicks]

There are so many YouTube videos of famous turners doing this dangerous thing; that many amateurs get the idea that it is safe and easy, then go buy a battery or something and yet another injury or death results. Stay away from open electric currents!

 

[Perry Hilbert]

There is a dearth of common sense.

Yes indeed. The little bit of arc welding I have done was like a white knuckle ride from hell. I was so obsessed with not electrocuting myself, not causing a fire, etc, that I barely got through the task. I go through the same for simply changing a light switch in my home. Read the instructions, turn off the power, check the lines with a meter to make sure the power is off and then take things apart. I recently had lights added in my living room and I noticed the electrician never even tuned the power off.to hook up the lines and install the switches. Even that caused my mind to race. My ex wife drove me nuts having a radio near the tub when she took a bath. I was constantly afraid of finding her fried in the tub. There are ways to wire things safely, and all these accidents come from jury rigging things and skipping the common sense accommodations for safety. A friend made a cabinet for fractal burning with the help of an electrician. Safety switch keeps it from operating if the door is open. Leads are double insulated and operated from outside the cabinet. There is a red light that goes on inside when the leads are "live" It takes an extra day of design/building to do it safely. An old farm house I lived in still had live knob and tube bare copper wires when I bought the place in 1992. . It is hard to believe that people lived with such dangerous wiring in their house.

It is a shame that the power involved is so unforgiving. But also a shame that people don't consider safety when they concoct their apparatus. . ..

 

[Mike Johnson]

The critical part is not providing a path to earth and putting yourself in between. Standing on a insulated floor or rubber mat and wearing insulated gloves will protect you from a shock. potential. Standing bare foot on concrete and touching a metal surface runs the risk of shock from stray voltage leaking from an underground utility source trying to find its way back to the transformer source. Many electricians and engineers still believe if you install a ground rod on everything the voltage magically goes away. A metal fence with metal poles driven into the ground is what you would call grounded, however people die every year from touching a metal fence or metal pole that has stray voltage energizing the earth in that area. If the fence is energized at the far end, and you are on the other end of the fence there is a step potential putting you at a different potential increasing the potential voltage level. If I am standing on a rubber mat and bring my body into the same potential as the voltage I am working on I can touch the bare energized circuit and not get shocked, If I step off of the rubber mat or touch a grounded metal surface I will be electrocuted instantly. This principle is how utility lineman can work on high voltage systems without getting shocked, they have to be insulated or isolated from earth/ground and be at the same voltage potential as the system they are working on. Going from earth/ground zero potential to 12,000 volts, very few people survive. If a high voltage line is on the ground, there is a "step potential" radiating away from the high voltage line, if you were standing on the energized ground and took a large step away from the high voltage line there is enough "step potential" to electrocute you, in this instance the safe practice is to shuffle your feet moving away on the ground slowly lowering your step potential. If you take large steps away from a downed energized high voltage line, one foot is at one potential and when the other foot touches earth it is at a different potential.

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

The critical part is not providing a path to earth and putting yourself in between. Standing on a insulated floor or rubber mat and wearing insulated gloves will protect you from a shock. potential. Standing bare foot on concrete and touching a metal surface runs the risk of shock from stray voltage leaking from an underground utility source trying to find its way back to the transformer source. Many electricians and engineers still believe if you install a ground rod on everything the voltage magically goes away. A metal fence with metal poles driven into the ground is what you would call grounded, however people die every year from touching a metal fence or metal pole that has stray voltage energizing the earth in that area. If the fence is energized at the far end, and you are on the other end of the fence there is a step potential putting you at a different potential increasing the potential voltage level. If I am standing on a rubber mat and bring my body into the same potential as the voltage I am working on I can touch the bare energized circuit and not get shocked, If I step off of the rubber mat or touch a grounded metal surface I will be electrocuted instantly. This principle is how utility lineman can work on high voltage systems without getting shocked, they have to be insulated or isolated from earth/ground and be at the same voltage potential as the system they are working on. Going from earth/ground zero potential to 12,000 volts, very few people survive. If a high voltage line is on the ground, there is a "step potential" radiating away from the high voltage line, if you were standing on the energized ground and took a large step away from the high voltage line there is enough "step potential" to electrocute you, in this instance the safe practice is to shuffle your feet moving away on the ground slowly lowering your step potential. If you take large steps away from a downed energized high voltage line, one foot is at one potential and when the other foot touches earth it is at a different potential.

Even better JUST DON"T

 

[John Torchick]

I second Gerald's motion. Never had the desire to electrocute wood...or me.