saw stop D C static electricty a problem?

[Tony Scolaro]

Hi First an update to those who helped me make my SS decision. I ordered the 5hp. I did the old Ben Franklin decision making process. Listing on a piece a paper the pros and cons of going with each the 3hp and the 5hp. The reasons for going ahead with the 3hp out weighed the 5hp many fold. But I went with 5hp anyway. Go figure. I gave in to the logic or perhaps fear that if I ended up needing more I would of made a bad decision for short money.

I was wonder if static electricity could activate the brake or cause other problems? I believe I read a post along the way that it may be a possibility. Take care and work safely

Tony

[Sonny Edmonds]

Don't know about the static issue, Tony.
But I can say that with 5 HP (me too, but a Unisaw) you will never wonder about what it would be like with a bit more power.
(When you have your blade at max height, and ripping a timber in a buried cut, and the saw doesn't even begin to slow down.... Just smile) :)

Thou shall not want. Not for power anyway. ;)

[Dewey Torres]

Tony,
I live in a dry climate and the winter here mixed w/ the dry air was so bad... the first year I was here I changed out every single light and outlet fixture in the house with nylon screws BC is was knocking me flat on my backside. (exaggeration but it was plenty annoying) Even with these conditions I have never had a problem in the shop with my DC. Take it for what you will.

[Rick Christopherson]

The chassis of the sawstop is grounded, so even if you had an ungrounded dust collection system, it would not propagate to the saw.

[Don Bullock]

First of all, congratulations on your order. I made the same decision on the 5 hp and haven't regretted it.

For the best answer to your static electricity question I'd suggest that you call the fine people at SawStop. They have had a chance to get the data from a lot of brakes that have come back to them and should be able to tell you if any were triggered by static electricity.

[Sonny Edmonds]

Tony,
I live in a dry climate and the winter here mixed w/ the dry air was so bad... the first year I was here I changed out every single light and outlet fixture in the house with nylon screws BC is was knocking me flat on my backside. (exaggeration but it was plenty annoying) Even with these conditions I have never had a problem in the shop with my DC. Take it for what you will.

Brooms don't usually hold a charge, Dewey. :D

[Tony Scolaro]

This is the response I got on the question from SS Tony

"It is our policy that static electricity is not a problem for our saws. If an activation occurs due to a static discharge, we will replace the cartridge free of charge. That being said, I would still encourage you to use some static abatement measures if you are going to use PVC ducting for your dust collection. It is easy to at least run a bare copper wire inside the ducting that is connected to a ground source. Dust explosions are not uncommon. The dangers are serious enough that no PVC ducting is allowed in any commercial operation. The few activations that I have evaluated and found to be static related have all been while the customer is cutting plastic sheeting and the discharge has been into the blade. I would not expect that discharge inside your ducting to behave the same way. Let us know if you have any additional questions."

[Dewey Torres]

Brooms don't usually hold a charge, Dewey. :D

Sonny,
You know good and well I have a Jet DC. Yes I also have a broom.:)
What I don't have is a turbo suction system and a stock feeder.

[Allan Froehlich]

This is the response I got on the question from SS Tony

"It is our policy that static electricity is not a problem for our saws. If an activation occurs due to a static discharge, we will replace the cartridge free of charge. That being said, I would still encourage you to use some static abatement measures if you are going to use PVC ducting for your dust collection. It is easy to at least run a bare copper wire inside the ducting that is connected to a ground source. Dust explosions are not uncommon. The dangers are serious enough that no PVC ducting is allowed in any commercial operation. The few activations that I have evaluated and found to be static related have all been while the customer is cutting plastic sheeting and the discharge has been into the blade. I would not expect that discharge inside your ducting to behave the same way. Let us know if you have any additional questions."

Now that right there is some good information. Thanks!

[Jason Roehl]

Now that right there is some good information. Thanks!

Actually, Allan, that is terrible information, at least after the first two sentences. Dust explosions are NOT common in the hobbiest woodshop due to the scale of the 3 ingredients of fire--fuel, air and ignition. The static release needed to cause a dust explosion in a hobbiest's DC system is essentially impossible to produce without intentionally doing so. Commercial systems are a whole different ballgame. What Rick Christopherson said above is the best information--there should be no static electricity buildup on the SawStop chassis if it is properly wired and grounded. I would think it would HAVE to be properly wired and grounded for the SawStop signature feature to even work properly. Non-issue.

[Tim Marks]

What is more, running bare copper wire down the inside of the duct is not going to do much to get rid of the static charge. The static charge exists because of the sawdust rubbing on the PVC piping... sort of like shuffling your feet on the carpet.

Since PVC is an insulator, essentially a negligible amount of charge will be conducted from the PVC piping to the ground wire (only the PVC in contact with the wire).

I suspect that the risk of a static explosion (which is essentially zero) will increase by a negligible amount, since the internal wire bouncing around will actually induce small static discharges inside the pipe. This is exactly where you don't want them to occur if you are paranoid about a dust explosion.

http://home.comcast.net/~rodec/woodworking/articles/DC_myths.html


This is the response I got on the question from SS Tony

"That being said, I would still encourage you to use some static abatement measures if you are going to use PVC ducting for your dust collection. It is easy to at least run a bare copper wire inside the ducting that is connected to a ground source. ..