OK I've got the Action in place but it won't work.
I am trying to do it on a duplicate layer following these instructions from the Action Central website but I get no result?

How to run an action and interact with it.
In the Actions Palette (or "Panel", as it's known in CS4), click on the action set you wish to run. Click on the arrow next to the set and you'll see one or more actions within the set. Click on the action you wish to run, and the steps in the action will be performed. Often you'll see a screen that offers you the option to continue or stop. If you press stop, you'll be dropped out of the action and nothing further will happen. If you press continue, you'll be offered an instruction and some sort of interaction to perform on your image, after which the action will resume or end. Finally, many actions operate on layers. This means that you can adjust the effect after the action is completed by changing the opacity or even the blend mode. This makes actions very powerful interactive tools.