# How to Make a Homemade Taser? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [January 30, 2013, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-make-a-homemade-taser/648773 "2013-01-30T03:20:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-make-a-homemade-taser/648773/21 "2013-01-30T19:22:47Z")
> [@John\_W.Kennedy](#): > > Am I the only one here old enough to remember when taser-equivalent devices were a common schoolboy science project? I’m old enough as well. In my case, high school electronics shop class. This particular kind of project was very popular with the lads who majored in shop and minored in criminality. Their electronics project would be a stun gun. Their metals shop class project would be a spring steel crossbow prod. Their woods class project would be the crossbow stock. Their auto shop project would be muscling up their early-70s Detroit-built V8 rustbucket to turn 400 hp and a sub-15-second quarter miles. Maybe that colors my perception of the original post. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-make-a-homemade-taser/648773/22 "2013-01-31T04:05:54Z")
> [@ZenBeam](#): > > I apologize for asking a serious question in this thread, but… > > Is it in fact illegal to build and/or possess a home-made taser? Assume no projectiles, or at least propelled by something legal, like a modified Nerf gun. > > I imagine this could vary by State, but does anyone know the answer for most states? Or any state? I don’t even know about Pennsylvania law. I do know that Philadelphia law bans tasers except for use by LEOs. If you succeeded in making one, you’d be breaking the law by possessing it. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-make-a-homemade-taser/648773/23 "2013-01-31T04:26:02Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > I don’t even know about Pennsylvania law. I do know that Philadelphia law bans tasers except for use by LEOs. If you succeeded in making one, you’d be breaking the law by possessing it. According to [this website Pennsylvania law](http://www.ehow.com/list_6525494_pennsylvania-stun-gun-laws.html) allows ownership of tasers except in Philadelphia, so you just can’t carry one across the Schuylkill (or other city borders). ---
**Author:** ![Michael63129](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-make-a-homemade-taser/648773/24 "2013-01-31T05:05:13Z")
If you have electronic know-how, it is very easy to make a Taser, or more properly, a stun gun (Tasers shoot the wires out, stun guns have two probes you press against the person); I can easily make a HV transformer, which together with a HV diode and capacitor can deliver a pretty nasty shock. A lot of the stuff **TriPolar** mentions isn’t really needed either (and I don’t even have a lot of that stuff (mostly the tools, like dremels, angle grinders, drills, etc), despite being a really hard-core electronic hobbyist; and where’s the hot melt glue?); for example, to make a transformer (high frequency ferrite core type), I first find a suitable core, of which I have lots and lots (hundreds?) scavenged from broken electronics, then a bobbin of magnet wire, also scavenged from the same (e.g. degaussing coils, relays, solenoids, AC transformers, etc), then determine how many turns should be used (wind a test primary, then test it to make sure there are enough turns, if there are, wrap tape (ordinary Scotch tape or equivalent in appropriate width, use 2-3 layers of tape) around it and proceed), then make the HV secondary, made in multiple layers with tape between each layer. Note that in a flyback circuit, the turns ratio can be much lower than you’d expect; for example, to get 1 kV from a 9 volt battery, you could use a 1:20 transformer (e.g. 20 turns:400 turns, with the secondary in 4 layers with 100 turns/layer), which will give 50 volt pulses on the primary during flyback (you have to make sure the secondary is properly phased since the output will be 1 kV in one direction and only 180 v in the other). ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-make-a-homemade-taser/648773/25 "2013-01-31T05:14:51Z")
> [@Michael63129](#): > > … and where’s the hot melt glue? I also forgot the chainsaw, jackhammer, and dynamic tire balancing machine. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-make-a-homemade-taser/648773.md?page=1)