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Respirene C - Question
- Thread starter Sundsvall
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Eric Isaacson
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I sure wouldn't try that.
Resiprene C is a great insulator but the rear talon hole is metal and in contact with the tang so the handle is not completely insulated.
I hope that answers your question
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Looking at my Tramp it looks like you could wrap it in a few layers of electrical tape and make an effective insulator. It looks like the tube is recessed enough but could still arc across to the hand if left unwrapped, and the resiprene is a fine insulator because of the rubber content.
Heh, reminds me of the time a buddy and I were painting a barn and came across a wire hanging from the rafters.......long story short he was standing on a 55 gal steel drum and grabbed that sucker, he didnt stay on that drum long!!
Heh, reminds me of the time a buddy and I were painting a barn and came across a wire hanging from the rafters.......long story short he was standing on a 55 gal steel drum and grabbed that sucker, he didnt stay on that drum long!!
Cliff Stamp
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What you are looking for is the dielectric strength, which is the maximum electric field intensity that can exist in the material before it starts to conduct. For reference this is three million V/m for air. This means two wires a meter part which induce a voltage of 3 million V will cause the air to conduct (sparking). As the distance decreases so does the required Voltage. If the wires are only one millimeter part, the voltage required drops to just three thousand volts.
Normal household voltage is much less, ~100 V and since the handle is about a cm thick, and the dielectic strength of rubbers is much greater than air they won't become conductive. For example Neoprenes tolerance level is four times that of air, which means it takes four times the level of voltage for it to become conductive. The extreme dielectric strength of rubber is why insulative handles on wire cutters can be very thin and still be effective.
Of course your knife edge isn't going to respond well to cutting live wires. As well if you are really sweaty the current can conduct along the surface of the handle which is why it is a good idea to wear appropiate gloves in such situations.
-Cliff
Normal household voltage is much less, ~100 V and since the handle is about a cm thick, and the dielectic strength of rubbers is much greater than air they won't become conductive. For example Neoprenes tolerance level is four times that of air, which means it takes four times the level of voltage for it to become conductive. The extreme dielectric strength of rubber is why insulative handles on wire cutters can be very thin and still be effective.
Of course your knife edge isn't going to respond well to cutting live wires. As well if you are really sweaty the current can conduct along the surface of the handle which is why it is a good idea to wear appropiate gloves in such situations.
-Cliff
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Uh, yea! What he said!!
Eric Isaacson
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I'm sure someone does but I do not. I'll try and find out.
Thanks Cliff.
Eric Isaacson
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BTW, Cliff gave the exact same answer I was going to give. I only wish I was a little faster at posting, I might have beat him 
As a electric utility engineer and manager for 32 years, there is no way that I would routinely rely on any compound for safety insulation which was not specifically formulated and tested for the application. Contamination in the manufacturing of dielectric compounds must be carefully controlled, and there is no such pressing need in the manufacture of Respirine C for non-dielectric applications.
If there were doping of the mixture for, say, increased toughness or abrasion resistance, it could very well lead to dielectric treeing
and breakdown.
As I once had an old line crew foreman tell me, "Hell, boy, after 30 years in this business I don't even change out my flashlight batteries without using my rubber gloves." He was stretching it to make a point, of course, that point being not to fool around with electrical safety.
If there were doping of the mixture for, say, increased toughness or abrasion resistance, it could very well lead to dielectric treeing
and breakdown.
As I once had an old line crew foreman tell me, "Hell, boy, after 30 years in this business I don't even change out my flashlight batteries without using my rubber gloves." He was stretching it to make a point, of course, that point being not to fool around with electrical safety.
Cliff Stamp
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Regarding insulators, there is a large difference between a commercial use and something which can stop conduction of ~100V. For fooling with powerlines (huge voltages), you want to be very careful. I have been around downed powerlines before, saw someone ground off on one, and would want pretty decent equipment to handle that level of power and even then would not try it unless it was an emergency. However patches on household extension cords are commonly done with cheap electric tape.
It doesn't take much to stop conduction at that level of voltage, even air is enough at the thickness of the knife handle. You can test out the kind of forceable conduction this carries with a few 9V batteries and a lightbulb. See how much tape you need to apply before the blub will no longer light and how close you need to get with no tape. Try and see if you can get conduction through the handle of the knife, just slice a small sliver off the butt. As always, take care not to blast yourself with a bunch of batteries hooked up in chain.
The biggest problem with this kind of work, or anything dangerous in general is that in the beginning you can get careless after awhile if you don't see any problems. It usually takes a decent shock to set you back on your feet, hopefully that isn't going to be a bad one. A friend of mine awhile back ground out on 220 and burnt a hole through the middle of his hand, not pleasant.
I have taken ~100V shocks before, last time was when I was helping my brother with some revovations to a basement where some nobs thought it was funny to break off all the lightbulbs. My brother thought it was really funny to tell me the power was off when it wasn't. Don't try that at home. Karma got him a few days later when he moved a fridge that had an improper ground due to degraded wiring and the jarring during the movement gave him a decent blast.
-Cliff
It doesn't take much to stop conduction at that level of voltage, even air is enough at the thickness of the knife handle. You can test out the kind of forceable conduction this carries with a few 9V batteries and a lightbulb. See how much tape you need to apply before the blub will no longer light and how close you need to get with no tape. Try and see if you can get conduction through the handle of the knife, just slice a small sliver off the butt. As always, take care not to blast yourself with a bunch of batteries hooked up in chain.
The biggest problem with this kind of work, or anything dangerous in general is that in the beginning you can get careless after awhile if you don't see any problems. It usually takes a decent shock to set you back on your feet, hopefully that isn't going to be a bad one. A friend of mine awhile back ground out on 220 and burnt a hole through the middle of his hand, not pleasant.
I have taken ~100V shocks before, last time was when I was helping my brother with some revovations to a basement where some nobs thought it was funny to break off all the lightbulbs. My brother thought it was really funny to tell me the power was off when it wasn't. Don't try that at home. Karma got him a few days later when he moved a fridge that had an improper ground due to degraded wiring and the jarring during the movement gave him a decent blast.
-Cliff