Should I or shouldn’t I?

[bombastinator2]

I do have most of the parts for a hookah style plug-it-in-the-wall variable voltage mech (the transformer is one of those huge copper and brass things from a previous century that does it with sheer metal weight. Thing must weigh 40lb. Anyway it’s variable voltage, but still fundamentally a mech. No batteries so no boom though. Would this thing be fundamentally safe even though it’s a mech or am I missing something

 

[smacuser]

I’d leave that on the table for a while.

 

[bombastinator2]

Fair enough. I’ll have to make a decision when I sell the house though. I may have gotten that transformer for nothing and they do still make ‘em for use in power plants, but replacing it would cost thousands. It’s not gonna happen. Plus it’s big and heavy. It might be worth $50 just in recycled metal weight. I’ve got tons of storage right now but I very well may not where I move to so I’ve got to make a decision in the next few months or so. It’s use it or recycle it. The thing looks terribly steampunk like a lot of industrial electrical equipment. The leads a 3/8” thick. It’ll likely do 480amp without batting an eye. The thing will do fractions of an amp too though. So way waaay overbuilt for my use case but it will work. Watts are more of an issue. The thing is only accurate to maybe 1 watt. None of this 1/10th of a watt increment stuff. It’s maybe 4 or 5 times the size of an automobile starter motor. Would look great on a coffee table if I polish it up. It’s all copper and brass except for the screws.

 

[smacuser]

Well, why not give it a shot?

 

[bombastinator2]

Time. That means transport it and do it later. Those are my two options

 

[smacuser]

Do both.

 

[bombastinator2]

Sorry that one could have been worded better: transport it and do it later or recycle it. You seem to be in the keep it around camp

 

[Kprthevapr]

Sounds like a good....hold my beer and watch this kinda project to me. Just make sure to video the whole process

 

[bombastinator2]

Really?! People wanna see that?! Well another point for “move it, don’t recycle it”. May come up in a year or two. I need to sell my house, move, then get and heal from prostate surgery before I can mess with it. The final result will be weird and possibly cool, but the part is more or less unobtanium at least for the purpose, though they used to be somewhat common. Used to be the only way to do a ac->dc conversion with variable voltage. Various places might have one in a basement or something. They’re worth more as scrap to most people though. A 1900’s-1990’s science teacher might have used one. (At which point it got cheaper to do it with electronics). If I could get $200 for the recycled metal I’d do that and buy a variable voltage DC power supply off aliexpress. It would be more accurate. Ok. Some pics or maybe a video when I get to it.

 

[somdcomputerguy]

The thing looks terribly steampunk like a lot of industrial electrical equipment.

Would look great on a coffee table if I polish it up. It’s all copper and brass except for the screws.

It would probably make for one hell of a conversation starter..

 

[bombastinator2]

It would probably make for one hell of a conversation starter..

Heh. Yeah. If anyone ever came to my house that didn’t have to. I’ll leave it at least for now, and move it if I can.