Dust-Based High Voltage Generator

I discovered this high voltage generator quite by accident. I was vacuuming powder coating dust in the exhaust plenum of a powder coating booth. I was standing on a fiberglass ladder, when all the sudden, about an 18" lightning bolt jumped out and struck me in my right buttock!

This was an air powered, 55 gallon industrial vacuum (no moving parts) with a long, heavy, plastic industrial hose (kind of like a pool hose). Now I knew what the terminal with the wing nut was for (I inherited a maintenance department in disrepair). So, I sucked a wire down the inside of the hose and out the business end, wrapped around so as to contace my hand. The other end went to the terminal, which had another jumper going to ground. Even then, when I got into some heavy dust, I could still feel the high voltage pulsing on my hand.

Although that involved static-charged powder coating powder (same as copier toner), the same thing happens at home with sawdust and other kinds of dust. If isolated from ground, anyone holding the hose becomes a "collector"; it can pack a kick! Just about any kind of dust will work, but plastic-based dust like powder coating powder has the problem of "impinging" on the leading edge of any fan it passes through, eventually building up enough to flake off and throw it out of balance.

Even though that hose was about 50' long, it does the same on shorter (plastic) hoses. I think the effect would be greater with a longer hose, but it needs to be kept off the ground, or the static charge will bleed off to ground. When vacuuming saw dust, you can feel the hair on your arm rise and see some sawdust accumulation on the outside of the hose, so you know it's kicking out some volts.

Now, what would happen if you made something like this, but BIG? A closed loop of 12" PVC pipe, a powerful fan, a 55 gallon drum for a collector on top of a 16' ladder maybe... hmmmm..... *SNAP*

Gary S.

Quote from Gary S. on January 8th, 2013, 11:19 AM

Dust-Based High Voltage Generator

I discovered this high voltage generator quite by accident. I was vacuuming powder coating dust in the exhaust plenum of a powder coating booth. I was standing on a fiberglass ladder, when all the sudden, about an 18" lightning bolt jumped out and struck me in my right buttock!

This was an air powered, 55 gallon industrial vacuum (no moving parts) with a long, heavy, plastic industrial hose (kind of like a pool hose). Now I knew what the terminal with the wing nut was for (I inherited a maintenance department in disrepair). So, I sucked a wire down the inside of the hose and out the business end, wrapped around so as to contace my hand. The other end went to the terminal, which had another jumper going to ground. Even then, when I got into some heavy dust, I could still feel the high voltage pulsing on my hand.

Although that involved static-charged powder coating powder (same as copier toner), the same thing happens at home with sawdust and other kinds of dust. If isolated from ground, anyone holding the hose becomes a "collector"; it can pack a kick! Just about any kind of dust will work, but plastic-based dust like powder coating powder has the problem of "impinging" on the leading edge of any fan it passes through, eventually building up enough to flake off and throw it out of balance.

Even though that hose was about 50' long, it does the same on shorter (plastic) hoses. I think the effect would be greater with a longer hose, but it needs to be kept off the ground, or the static charge will bleed off to ground. When vacuuming saw dust, you can feel the hair on your arm rise and see some sawdust accumulation on the outside of the hose, so you know it's kicking out some volts.

Now, what would happen if you made something like this, but BIG? A closed loop of 12" PVC pipe, a powerful fan, a 55 gallon drum for a collector on top of a 16' ladder maybe... hmmmm..... *SNAP*

Gary S.

i'm looking forward to when you build it? :)

cool stuff! thanks for posting! we enjoy electrifying posts :)

~Russ

Quote from Gary S. on January 8th, 2013, 11:19 AM

Dust-Based High Voltage Generator

I discovered this high voltage generator quite by accident. I was vacuuming powder coating dust in the exhaust plenum of a powder coating booth. I was standing on a fiberglass ladder, when all the sudden, about an 18" lightning bolt jumped out and struck me in my right buttock!

This was an air powered, 55 gallon industrial vacuum (no moving parts) with a long, heavy, plastic industrial hose (kind of like a pool hose). Now I knew what the terminal with the wing nut was for (I inherited a maintenance department in disrepair). So, I sucked a wire down the inside of the hose and out the business end, wrapped around so as to contace my hand. The other end went to the terminal, which had another jumper going to ground. Even then, when I got into some heavy dust, I could still feel the high voltage pulsing on my hand.

Although that involved static-charged powder coating powder (same as copier toner), the same thing happens at home with sawdust and other kinds of dust. If isolated from ground, anyone holding the hose becomes a "collector"; it can pack a kick! Just about any kind of dust will work, but plastic-based dust like powder coating powder has the problem of "impinging" on the leading edge of any fan it passes through, eventually building up enough to flake off and throw it out of balance.

Even though that hose was about 50' long, it does the same on shorter (plastic) hoses. I think the effect would be greater with a longer hose, but it needs to be kept off the ground, or the static charge will bleed off to ground. When vacuuming saw dust, you can feel the hair on your arm rise and see some sawdust accumulation on the outside of the hose, so you know it's kicking out some volts.

Now, what would happen if you made something like this, but BIG? A closed loop of 12" PVC pipe, a powerful fan, a 55 gallon drum for a collector on top of a 16' ladder maybe... hmmmm..... *SNAP*

Gary S.

Could you provide a video of when the lightning bolt hits you?











Just kidding
Good luck building this, looking forward to see what it looks like  

Sounds like a good project, just be careful around those lightening bolts. Wonder if that happened to Tesla.:D:D:D:P:P

Hehehe, yeah, right! I'll never do the 'becoming the collector on a ladder' trick again. That hurt! Besides, sparks in a paint/powder coating shop are not recommended.

I'd love to do more creating stuff, but I don't have the material for much, and I can't use my right arm much. I went through a whole year of worker's comp once, doing nothing till they said I could work, only to break a titanium screw and have to start all over again. No way am I chancing messing anything else up again. I'm not trusting this arm again for at least a year and a half.

I'm thinking of magnetic therapy, but I don't know how to polarize it. I know it has been used on hard-to-heal breaks. Hmmm... maybe John could help. No telling what the plates in there would do to magnetism.

In a couple of months (just had the operation in November), if I can find the right junk, I could experiment with something. I would need one of those metal, older carpet vacs - the motor in those has some real torque. Since that would represent the "ground" of the system, metal would work better.

Gary S.

Quote from Jeff Nading on January 9th, 2013, 07:16 AM

Sounds like a good project, just be careful around those lightening bolts. Wonder if that happened to Tesla.:D:D:D:P:P

I think he was immune

Quote from Lynx on January 9th, 2013, 07:28 AM

Quote from Jeff Nading on January 9th, 2013, 07:16 AM

Sounds like a good project, just be careful around those lightening bolts. Wonder if that happened to Tesla.:D:D:D:P:P

I think he was immune

Thanks for the reply Gary, hope your arm gets better soon, just try to keep a good attitude, I know it's hard going through something like that, as I have been through several things to.

Lynx, he he he, :P maybe we can learn Tesla's secret.

I have been looking at pulsed electromagnetic therapy for broken bones. It's easy. I'm going to make a coil and simple circuit to pulse it. There doesn't seem to be any need for fancy waves, just magnetic pulses.

Gary S.