Hello All, I have a question about Static Electricity in rod blanks during the build. I have noticed during my builds that the blanks seem to be static and attract and hold any dust or particles.
Question: How would you get rid of this so it does not have the static properties?

Thanks for your input!!!

Mike Morrison
SaltGrass Fishin Stiks

You need effective grounding.

When I worked on electronics for government we had the same problem.

So to prevent this sort of thing our soldering equipment to the tip had to be properly grounded. The surface the electronics laid on for repairs had to be properly ground so there was no differences of potential. Even the humans had to be grounded to prevent a buildup of static charge that could be discharged through sensitive electronics to ground.

Graphite is a conductor, but I am not so sure it can be accessed in a rod blank if it is buried inside of an epoxy binder. Some alligator clips attached to the butt end and possibly the tip might make enough of a connection to discharge any buildup to ground, but you also have to consider the surfaces it is laid on or supported on need to be grounded and even yourself with the grounding kits that are available.

Everything around that blank has to be at the same potential is my point and it takes some effort to reduce this type of problem in all of the physical objects around the blank that could hold static charges, even yourself.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

Try increasing the humidity in your shop area a little bit. That'll take care of it.

.........

Tom Kirkman Wrote:
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> Try increasing the humidity in your shop area a
> little bit. That'll take care of it.
>
> .........

That's interesting Tom, but could the increased moisture also cause dust to stick to objects? Or, would the increased moisture also by effect clean the air of the dust particles?

I never had this option in electronics, though Florida is very humid in hot summers, our work was mostly indoors in controlled environments where this was not an option, but interesting to consider.

Added- in Florida our humidity can be quite high in summer, so I have to move indoors for some garage type of projects, but I had noticed moisture condensation on my boat and other surfaces at times and wonder if it could affect rod building in the same way.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/22/2022 11:42AM by Kent Griffith.

Mike,
Of course it is possible, and having humidity, as well as good grounding everywhere in the shop is also a good idea.

During my career as an engineer, any time we were in the lab working around ESD sensitive components, we always had a wrist or leg connected to a good solid earth ground.

Everyone that worked in the lab also wore shoes that were ESD conductive shoes. Also, the floors in the lab areas were also electrically conductive and well grounded to earth ground.

However, after having said all of that, I rather suspect that in your case, as is the case for every rod shop that you may very well be not having such an issue with ESD so much as simply having dust in the air, and it is settling where ever it happens to land.

So, absolutely be well grounded and have your tools all grounded.

But, even more important - just be anal about keeping a pristine environment in the rod wrapping and coating part of your operation.

--------------------------------------
Your situation, is exactly why myself and many many other rod builders do not do any sort of dust raising activities in their guide wrapping and rod finishing part of their operations.

i.e. NO sanding, No grinding, or never do an activity in the wrapping and finishing area that will create and generate dust of any type. Also, have a good method of air exchange in the shop or working area, such that fresh filtered air is being introduced to the work area on a timely basis.

If no dust is present, and if no dust is generated, the issue with settling dust is largely eliminated.

Note:
Another thing that some folks do - that do have a continuing issue of this sort is to effectively work under a tent that shields the rod under construction from any dust in the shop that might settle on the rod being built.

One thing that I personally do, is to have a low velocity high cfm fan at one end of the build area the constantly moves clean fresh air along the rod to inhibit room dust from settling onto any part of the rod that is under construction. Note-- I said fresh clean air. So, the air that is moving is highly filtered air and not just residual shop air.

Another thing that I do on a periodic basis, is to open the windows and use high pressure air to effectively remove any residual dust from ceilings, walls, floors and other surfaces such that any dust if there happens to be any - is removed from the area.

Just part of shop hygiene - so to speak to minimize issues in the final product.

Take care

p.s.
If you are concerned about static or ESD; here are some articles to help create an ESD free work area:

[www.rs-online.com]

[www.youtube.com]

Kent, thanks for the input!......didn't know i was such an Electric guy....LOL but it makes sense! I work with high strength Earth magnets and this may be the issue. I cannot wear a watch without it being damaged or it quit working. I will need to get me a ground rod or something to discharge myself before working on my rods.

I also think Tom has an excellent point on humidity, my work space is indoors and environmentally controlled so i need to check the humidity in there. Thanks for the comment Tom!

Thanks Much!!!

Will let y'all know the outcome.

Mike

Roger, Great Advice and well taken, I have installed an Air purification system Dust collector which definitely helps, also constantly vacuuming.
When i try removing by a wipe of the blank it will just line up so i use masking tape to remove it.
Thanks for the links!

Regards,
Mike

Mike,
If in fact you are in an area that has potential to be a a source for very high ESD - consider the use of a conductive coat or smock to insure that the area around you is protected and that you yourself is well grounded.

For example:

[store.unitedesd.com]

Best wishes.

No the slight increase in humidity will not attract nor cause dust to stick to anything, nor does it affect how epoxy sets and cures.

................

I worked on sensitive electronics for years, and yes, we had to wear grounding straps to prevent static discharge from us to the electronics (mosfet devices). I also installed telephone systems for another company. We had customers telling us that their phones were shocking them when they lifted the receiver to their ear. The customers were discharging a static spark into the phone, which in some instances was strong enough to travel back to the phone system and blow out circuits. Air conditioners remove moisture from the air, making static more of an issue. Addition of a room humidifier, and taking care not to wear clothing that easily built up a static charge, took care of that static issue. An ordinary swap cooker setup will cool the air, and ad moisture. Just take a frame with a screen attached. Place the frame vertically into a suitable bucket, and hang a cloth over the frame so that the cloth sits in the water. Put a fan behind it. As water evaporates into the air, humidifying it, it also cools the air through evaporation. That should take care of your static problem on the cheap.

Tight Lies and frisky fish

RJF

Using an elephant gun to shoot squirrels is rarely efficient.

............

Never had to do anything about static electricity while building rods. Winter humidity is pretty low, but I don't know exactly what it is. Did I hear the work "anal?" I think so.

I understand the meaning of grounding, but what I fail to understand in a lot of cases, is the rod is mounted in a chuck with rubber jaws and then suspended throughout it length by rubber rollers.

Info from a different perspective.

In the electronics industry it is common to employ grounding methods. In a hospital setting (think open heart where static electricity could be deadly, or flammable anesthetics where ignition would be catastrophic) mechanical manipulation of the relative humidity is the preferred method. We inject steam into the air conditioning duct work.

Typically you don't run into problems until you get into the 30 something % and under RH range. Maybe it is worth measuring your RH Mike? Could be as simple as making a cup of tea while you build a rod.

Russ in Hollywood, FL.

Russell, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I have no problems.

Your comments on the electronics industry are spot on. But wrapping a rod is nothing like that. I'm not a heart surgeon. Until I see a problem, I will not be connecting clamps from my blank to my ground rod outside the house.

Maybe I have no idea of what I'm suggesting, but... Back in the day of vinyl records, when static electricity was an issue, a cheap degaussing gun solved the problem. Whether they are readily available today, or cheap, is something of which I'm clueless. Would a degausser solve the problem?

From ghoulies and ghosties,
and long leggedy beasties,
and things that go bump in the night,
Good Lord deliver us!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/22/2022 08:15PM by Hunter Armstrong.

Hunter Armstrong Wrote:
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> Maybe I have no idea of what I'm suggesting,
> but... Back in the day of vinyl records, when
> static electricity was an issue, a cheap
> degaussing gun solved the problem.

Well that is interesting! A degaussing coil like the one used on old TV's was mainly used for eliminating magnetic fields. Never heard of them being used for static! But if it works... When I first started in electronics I had to use those things. Glad they went the way of the buggy whip in TV repair... but hey, maybe some conductive tape all over the place would work! I liked the steam and cup of tea solution as well. And Roger, great dust control info!

I got it! use metallic thread and ground it out while wrapping the rod and static can be discharged to ground via metallic thread!

Trying to recall the 70's but I seem to remember that I used a conductive foam on the metal turntable platter that discharged the vinyl static to ground through the turntable. Lossless audio files are so much easier now! Backward masking is now a lost art though...

In the wintertime when humidity is low, you often get a static charge or shock when you touch your car key to the car door, to simply touch a doorknob in the house. This rarely happens in the summer when the air is a bit more humid.

The solution is simple. Don't make a big deal out of how you resolve things.

.............

Kent Griffith: Actually the device used by audiophiles, as I remember it, was much simpler than a coil. It very much resembled a hot glue gun. Whether the static charge was in the vinyl record, the turntable, or the cartridge isn't known to me, but it did impact the quality of the sound. My memory is a bit fuzzy here, but I seem to recall that you put the nose of the gun on the record and squeezed the lever. I have no idea if this is an issue with modern turntables, and an internet search produced nothing similar to what I remember. However, with the resurgence in the popularity of vinyl records, I am sure everyone here is within reasonable proximity to a used record shop whose staff would be familiar with the device.

From ghoulies and ghosties,
and long leggedy beasties,
and things that go bump in the night,
Good Lord deliver us!

I remember that thing! Just looked it up. Its called a zerostat gun! A static discharger. Darn things are now $115!

Maybe you are right and using one of these will solve the rod blank static problem!

I had forgotten all about those! Trippin' back to the 70's on this thread.





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/22/2022 09:35PM by Kent Griffith.