Hey friends! I recently learned of how extremely dangerous DIY fractal wood-burning is, and wanted to share with y’all in this community.
If you’re like me, you may have seen some videos of people burning neat fractal patterns in boards and tables with some kind of homemade electric rig; what you may not know is that those folks are exposing themselves to brushing up against something with 2000v of electricity running through it. Over thirty people have died, some even killing their partners who tried to help before shutting the power off, and homes have burned down.
I saw somebody use this technique on Flea Market Flip, and thought it would be cool to try. Good thing I never got around to it, saw AR’s warning the other day. I had no idea that the microwave transformer upped the voltage so much.
My son sent me the link to this video; I guess he thinks I’m just crazy enough to try it. But I steer clear of any craft tutorial that has instructions like, “remove the transformer from your microwave, plug it in and attach jumper cables to it…”
I also love Ann Reardon.
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AIMR
(Linda -2024 Choose Projects that You Want to Do :us:)
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I got shocked taking apart a toaster when I was in college and NEVER want to experience that again! I am very careful around anything electrical…wow…dying for a craft…NOPE!
Geeze.
YouTube banned Anne Reardon’s video about the dangers of fractal wood burning because it violates policy about dangerous activities.
Yes, the warning video got banned, the dangerous video is still up.
Great news—that issue got resolved! The Discord community mobilized and YouTube reinstated her vid. I re-watched it to help her move back up in the algorithm. After she got banned, the video dropped off and wasn’t showing up in the top slot any more when you searched on “fractal wood burning.”
I’ve never even heard of this, but Asa person who has been shocked multiple times by leftover flash battery in disposable cameras plus an electric fence to the wrist… Yeah, I probably wouldn’t have tried it.
Yeah, that was irritating. I went through and flagged a bunch of the fractal wood burning diy videos as having dangerous content, so maybe YouTube will get a clue (though as endymion said, the original is back up).
I saw her original warning video has 1.74million views and shows as being uploaded a couple of weeks ago, so I think they reinstated her stats as well. She was listed 3rd in a search for Fractal Wood Burning.
Hey, I agress it’s dangerous to fractal wood burn but majority of accidents happen due to not having right safety equipments or in DIY kits (Fractal kits made via microwave parts and other high voltage equipments). There are a lot of safe fractal kits out there in market like: Coolneon Fractal kit is one of the best and safest options for any beginner. I found this article, I think none of the options mentioned are dangerous
"Additionally, the Lichtenberg wood burning machine used to build or assemble fractal burning apparatus are potentially hazardous. Without a specially created enclosed apparatus, it is impossible to make the device or its usage safe.
Electrocution occurs when high-voltage electricity contacts the body, travels through the heart and leaves the body.
If you held one electrode in each hand while the voltage was still on, the electricity might go from one hand through your heart and out the other. Your heart could stop, which might result in demise.
Electrocution can happen as a consequence of unintentional contact with an active electrode, electrolyte, a snag in a cable, or even just by stepping on a conductor of electricity."
