My office has decided to have a Halloween office party theme of Rome
this year. I quipped about coming as "The Electric Gladiator." I was
taken by surprise at how strongly my comment grabbed everyone's
imagination. So, now I need to figure out a way to make a respectable
presentation as an electrified Roman gladiator.
I am asking for help getting it put together. Keep in mind that I work
in a computer center. Although everyone in the office denies this is a
concern, I don't believe that a lot of open sparks are a good idea in
the office. So, I am leaning more towards using lights (light bulbs,
black lights, LEDs, EL displays, whatever I can find), with very
limited (if any) use of electrostatics. Even so, if I could deliver a
strong spark to my office manager, I will count it as a win for the day
(he probably would, too). He is coming armed with a pair of
spike-studded balls on chains, and he intends to challenge gladiators
(especially me) to combat.
Two other limiting factors: I don't want to spend very much money and I
don't want to do a lot of construction. I would prefer not to spend
anything, but I might be able to justify spending $50 for a really good
idea (especially if I win the costume contest of $100). Several years
ago, I built a high voltage power supply that operated off a 6 Volt
battery, but I had to return the main component to the man who loaned
it to me; I am able to design and build simple high voltage power
supplies. I am simply trying to avoid doing so.
Maybe something operating off a 9V battery? Does anyone know of a
solid-state converter that will convert 9 Volt DC to (say) 3kV A.C.? I
was thinking of maybe using a Class C amplifier to get the brief
voltage spike I want.
I would appreciate your assistance on this project.
Thank you.
this year. I quipped about coming as "The Electric Gladiator." I was
taken by surprise at how strongly my comment grabbed everyone's
imagination. So, now I need to figure out a way to make a respectable
presentation as an electrified Roman gladiator.
I am asking for help getting it put together. Keep in mind that I work
in a computer center. Although everyone in the office denies this is a
concern, I don't believe that a lot of open sparks are a good idea in
the office. So, I am leaning more towards using lights (light bulbs,
black lights, LEDs, EL displays, whatever I can find), with very
limited (if any) use of electrostatics. Even so, if I could deliver a
strong spark to my office manager, I will count it as a win for the day
(he probably would, too). He is coming armed with a pair of
spike-studded balls on chains, and he intends to challenge gladiators
(especially me) to combat.
Two other limiting factors: I don't want to spend very much money and I
don't want to do a lot of construction. I would prefer not to spend
anything, but I might be able to justify spending $50 for a really good
idea (especially if I win the costume contest of $100). Several years
ago, I built a high voltage power supply that operated off a 6 Volt
battery, but I had to return the main component to the man who loaned
it to me; I am able to design and build simple high voltage power
supplies. I am simply trying to avoid doing so.
Maybe something operating off a 9V battery? Does anyone know of a
solid-state converter that will convert 9 Volt DC to (say) 3kV A.C.? I
was thinking of maybe using a Class C amplifier to get the brief
voltage spike I want.
I would appreciate your assistance on this project.
Thank you.
