Thread: OK so how dangerous is this chainsaw prop....???

Tweet

Saw this Chainsaw halloween prop video and it looks like it could be pretty dangerous to me. I don't know much about car batteries but think they would pack quite a wallop if something went wrong. I see safety issues all up and down the wazoo on this. Am I wrong? Neat effect though and sure you will enjoy watching. Love the house and how they do it up for halloween. I also love the look of the ruffle shirt with jacket and hair pulled back.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSl8PUzgIyk&feature=related]YouTube - Halloween - How to make a Haunted House[/ame]

I wouldnt use a battery because you could cause it to swell up and possable explode on you but a car charger is fine to use because it has a breaker on it. The main thing you would want to watch out for are the sparks. Make sure there is nothing around that could catch on fire from the sparks or that they wont fall on anyone. Just dont try this with AC voltage or you will be hateing life.....

We used a charger for our spark fence every year. You could even have your hand on the fence while it was sparking and never felt a thing. I also stood against the fence when we were testing it out and let the sparks hit my skin and never had a problem but I still wouldn't want a guest to do either of these things just in case something goes wrong.. The sparks die out really fast. You just have to be careful to not to go above stomach level if your guest is closer than about 3 feet of the fence. You don't want to risk getting sparks in someones eyes or hair.

As far as the battery being dangerous, car batteries are 12V so no issues with just touching the gate. Car batteries are capable of high current (ie lots of sparks). This current is capable of generating lots of HEAT if you short say your wedding ring across the terminals. This is the big danger with devices that can generate lots of current. To the patrons there is little risk of this happening as the chainsaw is one polarity and the gate is the other. I don't think there is much risk of exploding a battery but there is more of a risk of ruining the battery if you let it run down to nothing every night. Batteries can explode (it happened to me once when I was jumping one in my car and not due to sparks igniting the hydrogen gas let off by the battery either). You cant get electrocuted by 12V but you can get burned by metal objects that get between the terminals and get hot quickly.

I have the whole video from that clip. It is just fun to watch because the "instructors" are so amusing (not intentionally). It is available from Netflix.

Hi,

We have used this idea in the past. I use a car battery charger instead. Yes, a battery by itself could have the tendency to explode, since there is a gas present with the acid inside the battery. With the charger, there is not gas present, and the arc is weak when the metal is drawn across. You wouldn't want to have the saw resting on the fence. Dragging it across, is the effect you are going for.

Don't use a battery, go for the charger setup. I noticed there are pro haunts that use the charger setup. Insurance companys wouldn't allow anything unsafe to be done.

I do like the concept. This has worked out perfectly in the past.

Originally Posted by operatingnurse

I have the whole video from that clip. It is just fun to watch because the "instructors" are so amusing (not intentionally). It is available from Netflix.

I have the DVD also. I picked it up at a local novelty shop a couple of years ago. I agree that the "instructors" are pretty corny. lol But it's worth watching.

it seems dangerous.

I like this idea, but I don't really have any way to incorporate it into my haunt anytime soon. *Sigh* someday maybe.

maybe a stupid question, if so just ignore me LOL, but as i do not have a chain saw and they are relatively expensive, especially if i want to start taking parts off off of it, is there anything else i can use that would be a cheaper option but give the realistic chain saw like noise?

Thanks in advance