mixing water with electricity is
typically discouraged and for good
reason but in this project we’re pumping
electricity into water with a bit of
drain cleaner to create a poor man’s
power controller you might have heard of
a very AK this is the scary AK
[Music]
in a couple of other projects we
fashioned a homemade stick welder using
parts we salvaged from old appliances I
powered the device with 240 volts AC and
that was plenty of power but we still
needed a way to adjust the current I
built this device to control alternating
current so we have the ability to play
with adjustable power settings on a
budget now this concept is about as
dangerous as sticking to live wires in a
bucket of water it can be deadly so it’s
important to know and understand the
risks to build this scary act
we’ll need a four gallon container to
hold our electrolyte and I like this one
because it’s got a lid that snaps on
tight I cut a piece of board so that it
measures at 16 inches by 14 inches
because that fits on top leaving a three
inch overhang on the side I made this
plastic template for marking holes for
where the switch and outlet will go and
a few other markings based on these
measurements to cut the holes out let’s
drill the corners first and use a jigsaw
to cut the sides we can use the light
switch as a template for marking where
the two holes will need to be drilled
this part is optional but let’s go ahead
and finish the edges with a half-inch
rounding bit on the router table by
profiling the tops and bottoms of all
the edges were left with a nice smooth
finish next we’ll need two pieces of 2×2
and I had these ones leftover from one
we made our mousetrap handguns which you
can see in a different project I drilled
a hole through the sides of the blocks
half an inch from the top and cut them
down to one and a quarter inches so they
look like this these blocks will need to
be secured flush with the top of the
center hole so let’s trace the edges and
drill four pilot holes on diagonals
they’ll eventually be held in place with
screws from the bottom side I gave these
parts of paint job and now the panel
board is complete and we can move on to
constructing the power lever all the
parts for the power lever are laid out
here and you can see they’re mainly 1/2
inch PVC parts as well as these other
miscellaneous bits of hardware now we
can get to work priming and cementing
the PVC together so that we end up with
two sections that look like this they’ll
be fit together later on but here you
can get a basic idea of how it’s gonna
work we’ll need to mark and drill a hole
right through the
part of the tea then make the hole
bigger on the inner sides the hole has
to be just big enough to allow the head
of a two and a half inch bolt to pass
through here you can see I added a metal
washer and a beveled rubber washer on
the inside at this point the two parts
of the handle can be cemented together
and the excess glue wiped away I decided
to paint the handle red to give it a
nice contrast against the black we can
add a rubber washer to the bolt first
and the block gets pushed on next until
you see about a quarter inch of the bolt
poking out on the ends I added a washer
and a wing nut to hold it in place and
now we have the ability to adjust the
tension on the power lever now that our
blocks are attached let’s push the
bottom part of the handle through the
hole and secure the blocks to the board
using the screws aligned up earlier at
this point we’re ready to wire up the
electrical and this is how it’s gonna
look when it’s finished I started with
two 17-inch pieces of half-inch copper
tubing let’s make four markings at three
four and a half and twelve and a half
and fourteen inches that should leave us
with an eight inch gap between the
middle markings now we can use a hammer
or bench vise to compress the copper
allowing us to bend it over easily when
all the markings have been compressed
including the tips the electrode can be
formed into a rectangle and should look
like this I’ve drilled a hole through
the center of the tips continuing into
the tube itself but only through one
side of it for this electrode let’s add
a four-inch plastic PVC riser so that it
lines up flush with one of the edges
then we can put a screw right through it
so it’s held between the two pieces of
copper if the other end of this riser
can screw into the bottom of our power
lever and making sure the copper bar is
facing forward the other four inch riser
gets added it into the power lever and
can be secured to the copper as well to
form the second electrode holder I added
a PVC cap to a six inch PVC riser and
used a belt sander to cryed away at the
top until it was completely flat with
the power lever in the full upright
position we can get a feel for where the
longer risers will need to be attached
using two screws for each riser we can
fight down into the riser caps
in position now the second electrode can
be added adjusting it so it’s the same
height as the first and of course two
more screws will fix the copper in place
now it’s time to rig up the wiring for
this contraption I’ve got some 12 gauge
cable and a 2 prong plug the plug opens
up allowing us to connect our two wires
and screws back together completing this
end of the cable the black wire from the
cable runs to the light switch first and
connects to the screw on the far side
the wire is cut and connected to the
other screw on the switch then continues
to this hole drilled through the board
on the top side you can see the wire is
bent over in an arch and goes back
through the board where it continues to
the electrode on the power lever the
electrode wire can simply be connected
by looping it behind the existing screw
and fastening tight let’s use another
piece of the black wire and connect it
to the other electrode in the same way
you can see this wire connects to the
outlet and gets held on with one of the
gold screws this silver screw is
connected to the white wire running from
the cable and this completes our
electrical work at this point we can
fasten the light switch and the outlet
onto the control board and add the
faceplates for a finishing touch this
control panel is fully functional but if
you wanted to add a little more safety
you could add a replaceable fuse or even
wire up a circuit breaker to finish up
the system
we’ll just need to modify this lid we
can use a rotary tool with a cutting
wheel to cut along the inner edges
leaving just the rim intact the inside
hole has to be large enough to allow
both electrodes to fit in freely and
when it’s centered on the top we can
screw together the four corners so it’s
all attached this way it clamps into
position perfectly every time I wanted
to add a piece of trim around the power
leaver so I stopped at the grocery store
and picked up a container of bean dip
the empty container is exactly the right
size and with just a little cutting and
two pieces of double-sided sticky tape
and now it’s right behind the power
later our last step is to mix the
electrolyte I’m using about two gallons
of tap water and that fills the
container up halfway to make the water
more conductive we’ll be using this
crystal drain cleaner because it’s a
hundred percent why
this stuff is so dangerous and so potent
that we’ll only need a quarter of a
teaspoon and extent to the entire
solution now we can secure the control
board in place connect the plug to a
power source and test it out let’s make
sure the power lever is pushed fully
forward before the switch is turned on
now the system is powered and you can
see that if we gently pull the lever
back the light begins to glow dimly and
if we pull it all the way back it
increases to full intensity the switch
is a kill switch and will cut the power
to the system in an instant the main
purpose of this contraption is to
regulate current to our electrical
devices adding just a little power to an
angle grinder will cause the device to
spin very slowly but pulling back on the
lever will increase the power until it
reaches full speed the control panel has
this loop of black wire that allows us
to monitor the amperage in high power
applications like the arc welding
project you can see that if we pull back
on the lever the current climbs higher
an interesting observation is that the
voltage is pretty much constant through
the entire cycle the system can handle
extremely high electrical loads and in
contrast it can also make a table saw
turn at a snail’s pace pushing forward
on the lever increases the electrolytic
resistance and as a result the equipment
slows down or comes to a full stop well
now you know you can control electricity
with water and a bit of drain cleaner
remember that this has the power to kill
you and that’s why it’s called the scary
AK if you liked this project perhaps
you’ll like some of my others check them
out at the king of random calm
[Music]
you
typically discouraged and for good
reason but in this project we’re pumping
electricity into water with a bit of
drain cleaner to create a poor man’s
power controller you might have heard of
a very AK this is the scary AK
[Music]
in a couple of other projects we
fashioned a homemade stick welder using
parts we salvaged from old appliances I
powered the device with 240 volts AC and
that was plenty of power but we still
needed a way to adjust the current I
built this device to control alternating
current so we have the ability to play
with adjustable power settings on a
budget now this concept is about as
dangerous as sticking to live wires in a
bucket of water it can be deadly so it’s
important to know and understand the
risks to build this scary act
we’ll need a four gallon container to
hold our electrolyte and I like this one
because it’s got a lid that snaps on
tight I cut a piece of board so that it
measures at 16 inches by 14 inches
because that fits on top leaving a three
inch overhang on the side I made this
plastic template for marking holes for
where the switch and outlet will go and
a few other markings based on these
measurements to cut the holes out let’s
drill the corners first and use a jigsaw
to cut the sides we can use the light
switch as a template for marking where
the two holes will need to be drilled
this part is optional but let’s go ahead
and finish the edges with a half-inch
rounding bit on the router table by
profiling the tops and bottoms of all
the edges were left with a nice smooth
finish next we’ll need two pieces of 2×2
and I had these ones leftover from one
we made our mousetrap handguns which you
can see in a different project I drilled
a hole through the sides of the blocks
half an inch from the top and cut them
down to one and a quarter inches so they
look like this these blocks will need to
be secured flush with the top of the
center hole so let’s trace the edges and
drill four pilot holes on diagonals
they’ll eventually be held in place with
screws from the bottom side I gave these
parts of paint job and now the panel
board is complete and we can move on to
constructing the power lever all the
parts for the power lever are laid out
here and you can see they’re mainly 1/2
inch PVC parts as well as these other
miscellaneous bits of hardware now we
can get to work priming and cementing
the PVC together so that we end up with
two sections that look like this they’ll
be fit together later on but here you
can get a basic idea of how it’s gonna
work we’ll need to mark and drill a hole
right through the
part of the tea then make the hole
bigger on the inner sides the hole has
to be just big enough to allow the head
of a two and a half inch bolt to pass
through here you can see I added a metal
washer and a beveled rubber washer on
the inside at this point the two parts
of the handle can be cemented together
and the excess glue wiped away I decided
to paint the handle red to give it a
nice contrast against the black we can
add a rubber washer to the bolt first
and the block gets pushed on next until
you see about a quarter inch of the bolt
poking out on the ends I added a washer
and a wing nut to hold it in place and
now we have the ability to adjust the
tension on the power lever now that our
blocks are attached let’s push the
bottom part of the handle through the
hole and secure the blocks to the board
using the screws aligned up earlier at
this point we’re ready to wire up the
electrical and this is how it’s gonna
look when it’s finished I started with
two 17-inch pieces of half-inch copper
tubing let’s make four markings at three
four and a half and twelve and a half
and fourteen inches that should leave us
with an eight inch gap between the
middle markings now we can use a hammer
or bench vise to compress the copper
allowing us to bend it over easily when
all the markings have been compressed
including the tips the electrode can be
formed into a rectangle and should look
like this I’ve drilled a hole through
the center of the tips continuing into
the tube itself but only through one
side of it for this electrode let’s add
a four-inch plastic PVC riser so that it
lines up flush with one of the edges
then we can put a screw right through it
so it’s held between the two pieces of
copper if the other end of this riser
can screw into the bottom of our power
lever and making sure the copper bar is
facing forward the other four inch riser
gets added it into the power lever and
can be secured to the copper as well to
form the second electrode holder I added
a PVC cap to a six inch PVC riser and
used a belt sander to cryed away at the
top until it was completely flat with
the power lever in the full upright
position we can get a feel for where the
longer risers will need to be attached
using two screws for each riser we can
fight down into the riser caps
in position now the second electrode can
be added adjusting it so it’s the same
height as the first and of course two
more screws will fix the copper in place
now it’s time to rig up the wiring for
this contraption I’ve got some 12 gauge
cable and a 2 prong plug the plug opens
up allowing us to connect our two wires
and screws back together completing this
end of the cable the black wire from the
cable runs to the light switch first and
connects to the screw on the far side
the wire is cut and connected to the
other screw on the switch then continues
to this hole drilled through the board
on the top side you can see the wire is
bent over in an arch and goes back
through the board where it continues to
the electrode on the power lever the
electrode wire can simply be connected
by looping it behind the existing screw
and fastening tight let’s use another
piece of the black wire and connect it
to the other electrode in the same way
you can see this wire connects to the
outlet and gets held on with one of the
gold screws this silver screw is
connected to the white wire running from
the cable and this completes our
electrical work at this point we can
fasten the light switch and the outlet
onto the control board and add the
faceplates for a finishing touch this
control panel is fully functional but if
you wanted to add a little more safety
you could add a replaceable fuse or even
wire up a circuit breaker to finish up
the system
we’ll just need to modify this lid we
can use a rotary tool with a cutting
wheel to cut along the inner edges
leaving just the rim intact the inside
hole has to be large enough to allow
both electrodes to fit in freely and
when it’s centered on the top we can
screw together the four corners so it’s
all attached this way it clamps into
position perfectly every time I wanted
to add a piece of trim around the power
leaver so I stopped at the grocery store
and picked up a container of bean dip
the empty container is exactly the right
size and with just a little cutting and
two pieces of double-sided sticky tape
and now it’s right behind the power
later our last step is to mix the
electrolyte I’m using about two gallons
of tap water and that fills the
container up halfway to make the water
more conductive we’ll be using this
crystal drain cleaner because it’s a
hundred percent why
this stuff is so dangerous and so potent
that we’ll only need a quarter of a
teaspoon and extent to the entire
solution now we can secure the control
board in place connect the plug to a
power source and test it out let’s make
sure the power lever is pushed fully
forward before the switch is turned on
now the system is powered and you can
see that if we gently pull the lever
back the light begins to glow dimly and
if we pull it all the way back it
increases to full intensity the switch
is a kill switch and will cut the power
to the system in an instant the main
purpose of this contraption is to
regulate current to our electrical
devices adding just a little power to an
angle grinder will cause the device to
spin very slowly but pulling back on the
lever will increase the power until it
reaches full speed the control panel has
this loop of black wire that allows us
to monitor the amperage in high power
applications like the arc welding
project you can see that if we pull back
on the lever the current climbs higher
an interesting observation is that the
voltage is pretty much constant through
the entire cycle the system can handle
extremely high electrical loads and in
contrast it can also make a table saw
turn at a snail’s pace pushing forward
on the lever increases the electrolytic
resistance and as a result the equipment
slows down or comes to a full stop well
now you know you can control electricity
with water and a bit of drain cleaner
remember that this has the power to kill
you and that’s why it’s called the scary
AK if you liked this project perhaps
you’ll like some of my others check them
out at the king of random calm
[Music]
you
Please follow and like us:
Be First to Comment