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Aaron Cake
Administrator
Canada
6718 Posts |
 Posted - Aug 04 2005 : 09:17:55 AM
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Often when working on cars, I use an incandescent "trouble light". Everyone's see them, basically a light bulb on a long cord with a hook. No problem...the issues is when it gets wet. If you are spraying penetrating lube, water, or other cold fluid and it gets onto the bulb, a hole will form in the glass. The drop hits the hot glass instantly cooling it, and it blows a small hole (about 1/4 inch) through it. You don't notice until smoke starts to rise through the hole and the filiment burns out...And then you have a lightbulb with a perfectly formed round hole in it.
Not really an explosion, but cool.
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cirvin
Nobel Prize Winner
USA
1542 Posts |
Posted - Aug 04 2005 : 3:27:21 PM
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And now watch as 3 other people who see that post go home and try it, only to get hurt. :p
http://daxter12.topcities.com <Updated 5/27/05
Edited by - cirvin on Aug 04 2005 3:28:05 PM |
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sergiosparks
Apprentice
Philippines
132 Posts |
Posted - Aug 06 2005 : 09:46:45 AM
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I was happilly repairing my T.V.and finished it
and was horrified too late that it was plugged
all the time..that good time to go to say thank's God even if is not Fryday.
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kevinloh
Apprentice
Brunei
121 Posts |
Posted - Nov 14 2005 : 02:43:35 AM
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About a week ago the thick wires connecting a lead acid battery to an emergency lamp shorted due to detereoating insulation, I was in the room when it happened and lots of thick arcrid smoke came out, smoking the whole house. Panicked and without second thoughts I pulled the wire out of the battery terminal and I got a line of blister on my palm due to the superheated copper wire. Luckily I was near the battery and less than two seconds managed to disconnect the power leads but the room was full of thick choking smoke. The battery is a small 6V 7AH SLA.
I wonder what would happen if banks of battery used as UPS e.g. telephone utility company short circuit by those large copper buss bars. Easily delivering over 1000Amperes instantly. An experience of you guys here on this ?
Another accident which happen to me and involved an explosion is when a 100W incandescent bulb which is glowing for long periods comes in contact my sweat and it implodes sending bits of glass shrapnel everywhere. Amazingly, none comes in contact with me.
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Alessandro
Apprentece
Australia
18 Posts |
Posted - Nov 14 2005 : 04:21:22 AM
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Hey MC BOB, I live in townsville aswell, which part are you in? and yea it sure gets hot here, luickly I have 3 air-conditioners in my place
"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work. -Thomas Edison.
www.freewebs.com/sci-stuff |
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Kale
Nobel Prize Winner
Canada
795 Posts |
Posted - Nov 16 2005 : 2:45:08 PM
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quote:
About a week ago the thick wires connecting a lead acid battery to an emergency lamp shorted due to detereoating insulation, I was in the room when it happened and lots of thick arcrid smoke came out, smoking the whole house. Panicked and without second thoughts I pulled the wire out of the battery terminal and I got a line of blister on my palm due to the superheated copper wire. Luckily I was near the battery and less than two seconds managed to disconnect the power leads but the room was full of thick choking smoke. The battery is a small 6V 7AH SLA.
Yikes! Use fuses! They are your friends!
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MC BOB
Apprentice
Australia
95 Posts |
Posted - Mar 09 2006 : 03:25:31 AM
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Alessandro, I live in Fairfield Waters, and thank god for Air-Con. If you live in Townsville with no Air-Con, you deserve to die of heat exhaustion. Where do you live Alessandro?
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cyclopsitis
Nobel Prize Winner
Canada
732 Posts |
Posted - Dec 25 2006 : 5:29:02 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by sergiosparks
I was happilly repairing my T.V.and finished it
and was horrified too late that it was plugged
all the time..that good time to go to say thank's God even if is not Fryday.
Kind of similar story. It has nothing to do with exploding things but one time i was working on a fender tube amp. The problem was that the speaker jack had become loose and shorted out the output stage of the amp. Destroyed everything from the preamp onward. The guy had deep pockets and just wanted it fixed so I removed the burnt circuit board and wired it point to point by hand. I tested it and it had a hum problem. I narrowed it down to one of the out put tube grids. I took to tubes out again to fix it and while talking to a friend I fixed my problems and tried to test the amp again. I forgot to put the tubes back in and I was wondering why there was no sound. I accidentally touched a part of the output section and had 300 and some volts DC go through my hand and out of my foot. The funny part is that I was holding the stupid tubes in my hands and when I flew back they flew with me and broke. It was $200 in tubes, tools, and of course my pride LOL. I think that is my worst ever stupid moment! I only wish it was in front of no one! |
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MC BOB
Apprentice
Australia
95 Posts |
Posted - Dec 26 2006 : 03:07:20 AM
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HAHA! Ah, electric shocks are fun, aren't they.......sarcasm....
I was repairing a smoke machine for a friend. It turned out to be a clogged heating block, which is frustrating to fix. So there I was, using some wire to bypass the little thermal switch to get the thing to pump at low temperature. I happened to get hungry, so off came the rubber soled boots so I can go into the house. Whilst eating, I had a brainwave of how to fix the blasted thing, so out I ran to try it out. Plugged it in, switched it on and ZAP!!! The full 240V Aussie power went zapping through my body. Lying back in the chair wondering what the hell just happened, I came to realise that in my rush to try my new idea, I forgot my rubber boots......
Cheers,
Mick |
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cyclopsitis
Nobel Prize Winner
Canada
732 Posts |
Posted - Dec 26 2006 : 2:52:54 PM
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Nice!! haha ever electronics person I know has stories like this.. Its amazing we are not all dead. I didnt know aussie power was 240 either... cool!
K |
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MC BOB
Apprentice
Australia
95 Posts |
Posted - Dec 30 2006 : 5:23:25 PM
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Yeah, us Aussie's pack a punch...............Though, if you look at it, our power hurts more because of high voltage, but our standard current is only 10 amps. Your power kills more, 'cause don't you guys push 15 or 20 amps through normal power circuits? Wouldn't get me sticking a fork in the toaster in the USA.....
Cheers,
Mick |
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SpaceBison
Apprentece
23 Posts |
Posted - Dec 31 2006 : 07:44:00 AM
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Two words: tantalum capacitors
Fun times. |
Don't like my signature? Click on it to make your own! |
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MC BOB
Apprentice
Australia
95 Posts |
Posted - Dec 31 2006 : 8:47:48 PM
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Tantalum Capacitors? I'm guessing they are big, but what are they?
Cheers,
Mick |
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Aaron Cake
Administrator
Canada
6718 Posts |
Posted - Jan 01 2007 : 12:07:57 PM
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Tantalums have a habit of exploding much easier then regular electrolytics...
Here's an explosion of a different kind...well, an explosion that could have happened.
On Saturday a friend and I disassembled the 13B turbo rotary engine from his '88 RX-7. It was not actually blown up but several....mishaps....had caused a crack in the rear at the point the oil pressure sender screws in. This meant an enormous oil leak which he and I, as well as a professional welder, had tried to weld up several times. Unfortunately due to the difficulty in accessing the location as well as the challenge of welding on oil soaked cast iron, it didn't work. The only choice was to rebuild the engine.
Disassembly went fine until I took a look at the bearings. I was shocked to find out that they looked like the attached image. Now to everyone who is not familiar with the rotary, those bearings are in the stationary gears that support the entire rotating assembly. The bearings should be perfectly smooth as one would normally expect from a bearing. These however have clearly been eaten away. It looks like due to all the welding and messing about the oil passages, a significant amount of grit got into the engine and the oil passage was restricted at some point (it was continually being welded, ground down, welded again, etc.). This caused oil starvation and ate away at the bearings. The eccentric shaft (which passes through those bearings) is also deeply scored and must be replaced.
Download Attachment:  Front Stationary Bearing Damage 1.jpg
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Download Attachment: Front Stationary Bearing Damage 2.jpg
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Download Attachment: Rear Stationary Bearing Damage 1.jpg
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Download Attachment: Rotor Bearing and Eccentric Damage.jpg
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It could have been much worse if the car was being driven in it's current condition. The engine would have soon seized solid basically destroying the rotating assembly. The last engine I dealt with that had oiling problems required three of us with pry bars and a torch to disassemble, and replacement of every part of the rotating assembly. |
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cirvin
Nobel Prize Winner
USA
1542 Posts |
Posted - Jan 01 2007 : 1:39:00 PM
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Egads!
It seems to me that these engines can be damaged rather easily, though they never seem to completely die... |
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Largest explosion
