Shock hazards we lived with

[John Kogel]

My daughter moves around a lot, working with the Canadian Red Cross. She recently put in a request for a cool radio to personalize her new digs. I am super busy but have managed to make time for a fun project.

The 1950 Westinghouse Risemaster clock radio is a good looking table radio and the Telechron clock is fairly accurate, not sluggish or noisy, which means I don't have to give it an oil change. I replaced all the waxed paper and foil capacitors, swapped out a weak tube and gave it an alignment. So it plays good now but who wants to hear AM radio? She will catch the CBC news with it and that's about it. These radios can be quite safe but can carry 120 volts on the chassis if something goes wrong.

So I have installed this innovation. A 12 volt wall wart power supply has a step-down transformer in it to get 12 volts from 120. I cut open the case, remove the prongs, solder a stereo headphones jack to the secondary side and a shielded cord to the primary side, and tape the case back up. It is sitting there attached with a zap strap with som foam bumpers to hold it. The little transformer isolates the jack from the radio, which is important. We don't want the radio to bite the iPod, do we? The 1 to 10 boost is a bonus, because the iPod volume can be set low for low distortion. The radio provides the volume and decent tone, better than those tinny headphones, no doubt.

Because she will leave the radio tuned to one station, I have installed a mute switch on a folded length of plumber's strap. It just cuts the signal from the front end of the radio at the volume control. I never drill or modify in any way that can't be undone, but this little mod makes the radio so much more enjoyable.

Yes there is still a bit of a shock hazard from the radio if something malfunctions, but I have installed a polarized cord, new capacitors and the knobs are good.

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Here we are listening to Keith Relf, who died of electrocution in his basement in 1976. Sounds way better on the radio than he did on the laptop. []

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[Marc]

I'm amazed it works, given that you used a 60 cycle power transformer instead of an audio transformer and on top of that, threw impedance matching to the wind.

But hey, if it works....

Marc

[Jim Baird]

My grandfather had a radio, in all its exhumed glory, out of a 1940-50's Oldsmobile on his bedside table. I never knew how he wired it. He might have had a car battery under the bed!

[kurt]

My favorite was the Sears electric drill we had in about 1962. No grounding plug and a steel casing. We were always getting shocked while using it.

[Inspectorjoe]

Kids that grow up on farms seem to learn at an early age to not do stupid stuff. If they don't the consequences can be pretty drastic.

A few years back, at a folk life festival, I was surprised to see this steam tractor powering a baler (albeit slowly) with an open belt. It was totally unattended, with no barrier around it.

[Inspectorjoe]

And at a nearby antique gas and steam engine association show, they drive a steam roller around the grounds, among the attendees. What could go wrong?

[Jim Katen]

Kids that grow up on farms seem to learn at an early age to not do stupid stuff. If they don't the consequences can be pretty drastic. . . .

The ones that survive learn. Those who don't learn get culled out.

My wife's family has been farming in southern Illinois for generations. At get togethers, the conversation eventually turns to Gruesome Farming Accidents.

[John Kogel]

I'm amazed it works, given that you used a 60 cycle power transformer instead of an audio transformer and on top of that, threw impedance matching to the wind.

But hey, if it works....

Marc

Audio schmodio. Audio frequencies in, audio frequencies out. Anyway 60 cycles is in the audible range, that's the bass, so maybe that's why it works.

Impedance matching is 2 10K resistors to simulate the earbuds. But it works without them just as well, so who knows? Then left and right channels are just twisted together and soldered at the transformer.

Here's another thing, Marc. The audio is digital, little stair step sound waves, but the grid of the tube converts it to analog. The little tubes just don't know any other way. []

[John Kogel]

Kids that grow up on farms seem to learn at an early age to not do stupid stuff. If they don't the consequences can be pretty drastic. . . .

The ones that survive learn. Those who don't learn get culled out.

My wife's family has been farming in southern Illinois for generations. At get togethers, the conversation eventually turns to Gruesome Farming Accidents.

The sh!t will happen when the farm changes hands and somebody tries to operate valves with vise grips and generators with extension cords and no transfer switches.

[Scottpat]

Yep, farm/ranch life is a great teacher. Growing up as a city boy, I learned real quick after marrying into a family that owned a cattle ranch. One of my many life changing experience was when I leaned on a Hotshot and one of the hired hands decided to push the On button!

[Marc]

Yep, farm/ranch life is a great teacher. Growing up as a city boy, I learned real quick after marrying into a family that owned a cattle ranch. One of my many life changing experience was when I leaned on a Hotshot and one of the hired hands decided to push the On button!

What's a Hotshot?

Marc

[kurt]

Prod. They may make fence products also.

I'm the other way around. Grew up way rural, now deep in the city. Both have their lessons to teach. Both can wipe you out or make you strong.

[Leighton Jantz]

Ha ha, I like this thread! We had a 100 gallon compressor in the shop on our farm. It was missing the shield over the pulleys, now my uncle has only 1 thumb! Best friend growing up misjudged a corner with my CR 250 dirt bike and went though a barbed wire fence, took over 50 stitches to close him up. Got tons of stories, the good ol' days.