Electric generator.

Geo-TH,In

Well-known Member
Worked on a wood project with all corded tools. Some may notice not all my tools are Dewalt. Hitachi trim and table is ryobi. ,

The planner has a blower. I use a four inch aluminium flex duct to blow chips in my plastic dust collector. If I didn't ground the alum flex duct, the static electricity would shock the crap out of you.

Someone want to tell me why?
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I can't explain the ionexchangepositivenegativebuildupdischarge theory, but I know it happens!

I used to work at a pasta factory. We would blow the wet product from the press to the dryer through a piece of 6" PVC. Learned real quick not to get within striking distance of that thing! Seen it arc out a good 2 inches! POP!!!

We would also have to vacuum out the dry flour tanks when they were cleaned. Static would jump from the reinforcing wire in the vacuum hose to your hands or what ever was nearest! Very annoying!
 
I don't have the scientific explanation but any time you move a dry material through a plastic tube, (your dust collector) you create static electricity. One time during a large power boiler shutdown we had to vacuum dry fly ash out of some pockets, we learned real quick to put ground wires on everything, it was like being struck by lightning!
 
The particles of wood dust impact and slide on the material of the tube transfer electrons to the tube. This produces a "triboelectric effect, wherein simple contact of dissimilar materials causes the transfer of some electrons from one material to the other) from Wiki. The charge is static electricity, and can charge 10s of thousands of volts of low amperage capacity in insulators. If these are connected to metal objects, the charge builds in these collectors as well. See Van de Graff generator. Charges can discharge radically into conductors that are neutral or appositely charged, read doorknob at the end of a hall with a wool carpeting on a dry day. Jim
 

Oh you should come to one of the factories I do control work in, they have a big vacuum truck come in a couple times a year to suck dirt out of some drainage stuff 20 feet under the floor, the little lightning bolts jump at least twenty inches, fun to watch.
 
The others have explained what happens better than I. If you want to stop most if it, run a bare copper wire down the inside of the tube and ground it-Either to the house wiring or to a ground rod will work. That will give the stray charge somewhere to go.
 
This happened in a regional city here in Australia , it is true even though it sounds like an April Fool's Day trick .



http://www.abc.net.au/news/2005-09-16/man-builds-up-30000-volts-of-static-electricity/2104828
 

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