Menticol
Active Member
Hello again!!
A friend of mine came with a basic yet interesting project. He makes ultra-low-budget B movies, and he wants to impress his university collegaes with cheap FX.
He is planning to film a secuence where electrical equipment (i.e. mad scientist base) is destroyed by the main character. So, he got a bunch of old computer carcasses and similar junk, and planned to blow em' making a short circuit inside
I stopped him on time! What could be a better way to generate short-circuit type sparks?
1) No pyrotechnics, powder or explosives are available *legally* here
2) A small piece of copper between two electrodes blows nicely at 120VAC, and is our prefered method by now. Do you know any decent method instead?
3) I guess repeated intentional tripping of the circuit breakers may reduce its life. Am I right?
3) To prevent a catastrophic failure (breaker stays ON), I suggested to buy this array
Electrodes ----- 15 amp breaker ------- 40 amp breaker ----- 115VAC
I think the 15 amp will trip first, and if it fails, the 40 will take its place. Is that correct?
4) I guess a metallic sponge would perform better, due higher resistance and multiple paths to blow during the short (result= more beautiful hot metal flying). The problem: circuit breaker act too soon, and the short is not powered during enough time to burn all the material. Any suggestion?
Thank you so much! He's going to put us on the credits, if the work suceed.
A friend of mine came with a basic yet interesting project. He makes ultra-low-budget B movies, and he wants to impress his university collegaes with cheap FX.
He is planning to film a secuence where electrical equipment (i.e. mad scientist base) is destroyed by the main character. So, he got a bunch of old computer carcasses and similar junk, and planned to blow em' making a short circuit inside
I stopped him on time! What could be a better way to generate short-circuit type sparks?
1) No pyrotechnics, powder or explosives are available *legally* here
2) A small piece of copper between two electrodes blows nicely at 120VAC, and is our prefered method by now. Do you know any decent method instead?
3) I guess repeated intentional tripping of the circuit breakers may reduce its life. Am I right?
3) To prevent a catastrophic failure (breaker stays ON), I suggested to buy this array
Electrodes ----- 15 amp breaker ------- 40 amp breaker ----- 115VAC
I think the 15 amp will trip first, and if it fails, the 40 will take its place. Is that correct?
4) I guess a metallic sponge would perform better, due higher resistance and multiple paths to blow during the short (result= more beautiful hot metal flying). The problem: circuit breaker act too soon, and the short is not powered during enough time to burn all the material. Any suggestion?
Thank you so much! He's going to put us on the credits, if the work suceed.
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