CD-ROM Emissions & Plasma balls

[Rondog]

OK, thinking about modding a CD-ROM drive. Now, if I cut a 120mm hole in the top and glue a 120mm square piece of perspex 1/8" on the inside (so I can see the disk spinning). Will there be any dangerous emissions.

NOTE: For the record, my father has a heart condition. And my older brother who comes home on weekends has a pace-maker. Umm, yeah. Health issues? Not to mention me sitting in front of it.

Plasma balls, provided they are insulated from the case with rubber, interference with computer hard-ware?

[GrahamGarside]

Well you can get CD/DVD devices that are see through above the disc like BO gear so I wouldn't think there would be any danger.
And the PS1 only had a plastic lid so I don't believe they would need metal insulating, plus a lot of people ran these with the lid open doing disc swaps.

[Rondog]

OK cool, thanks for the info.

What about plasma balls' damaging my goodies?

[GrahamGarside]

I hope this isn't a dumb question. What are plasma balls?

[tottyspotter]

It's not a dumb question, as it's the last thing you'd expect someone to be putting into a PC case! Have a look here http://van.hep.uiuc.edu/van/demos/Pl...sma%20Ball.htm

Not sure, given the way that it works, that it would be too healthy to be in a case.

[calgar]

well, they work on static electricity, although, i have seen and heard of some people putting them in (mainly cuz they work off 12vdc from a transformer) without problems.

as for a cd drive with a clear peice of plastic, as long as you dont look directly into the drive, i hope not, cuz i have one on my cd drive!, although, they do have stickers all over them saying things like DANGER LASER RADIATION DO NOT OPEN and WARNING CLASS I LASER PRODUCT lol

[Staz]

I once read a post where a guy put a window in his case with a dremel and plexiglass from home depot. Then his garage door opener stopped working. Cover up the window with aluminium foil and the garage door opener worked again.

kind of strange.

[danrok]

You can get plasma type lighting for PC's:
http://www.overclock.co.uk/customer/...roductid=16332

Although, those plasma balls may be different in some ways.

That light has an outer glass tube, perhaps to shield static?

[Aedan]

Plasma balls use a HT supply internally, but the current is seriously limited. Whereabouts were you intending to put the plasma ball?

[Rondog]

Go here: http://www.blingmethod.com/
Go to version 5, then page 13.

Or

Go here: http://case-mods.linear1.org/plasma-globe-mod/3/

The first one is more likely though.

[Aedan]

If you shield the inside with something like a wire mesh (not against the globe though, you'd need some spacing I suspect), then you should be fine, even if you were using static sensitive components. The only issue that you'd really be worrying about would be the possibility of an insulated component building up a static charge you see.

[Rondog]

As in: isolate the plasma ball from the rest of the case with mesh shielding?

[Aedan]

Something along those lines. It's just to ensure that should something not be well connected nearby, the something won't build up any static charge.

[calgar]

actually, thats probabally the worst idea, if its connected to the case then any static build up will just discharge to the earth wire in the PSU

[Rondog]

So just let the mesh shielding touch the case so it will just discharge to the earth wire in the PSU?

[Aedan]

The mesh shielding just needs to be in contact with either the case or a ground wire. The idea is that the mesh attracts the static rather than the components in the system. However, you might want or might not want the mesh to come in contact with the ball, depending on the effect you want!

[MONKEYMAN]

it should be noted that plasma balls come with warnings saying that they could interfere with pacemakers and people who use them should stay away from the plasma ball.
dunno exactly how far away

[Rondog]

I only know one person with a pace-maker. I'll include an on/off switch, so when he comes I can turn it off.

Now theres just this issue of the availability of dosh (dosh = money, for those of you who arent up on our odd Aussie lingo)

[tottyspotter]

If it can interfere with a pace maker would that be a strong indicator that it could do damage to components in your case?

[calgar]

no, not really, my guess is that its incredibly unlikly to interfere with a pacemaker but the company that made it just stuck that onto it to make sure they dont get sued if it does