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Thread: Dust Collector grounding

  1. #1
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    Dust Collector grounding

    I have a ClearVue cyclone and use 6' PVC piping for my ductwork (yeah I know). We live in the Hill Country of Texas and in the summers especially have relatively low humidity (7" of rain so far since Jan 1 on top of the whopping 11" from 2022), so yeah it is really dry. I saw humidity down to 19% last week. My shop is in a 900 sf garage with one single insulated garage door. The entire shop is insulated on all 4 walls and roof with spray foam and is climate controlled to 72F in summer. There is a 6" concrete slab.

    I know I need to ground my piping as evidenced by the collected fine dust on the PVC piping, but I am not sure how to go about it. I thought some of you guys have had this issue and /or know how to rectify it. I jump from my PVS pipes to Rockler (or others) expanding 4" piping that has a wire core. Dust collection is set up to the following: Table saw, router, drum sander, jointer, planer, band saw, and partially to drill press and miter saw. You can see a partial layout in the photos and also a close up of how static electricity is causing the dust to adhere to the outside of the PVC.

    Open to all suggestions. IMG_0780.jpgIMG_0781.jpg
    Tim in Hill Country of Texas

  2. #2
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    For my CNC I just got bare copper wire and tightly wrapped it around approximately 1 revolution per 2 feet. Then just ground both sides to earth ground. One on CNC and one on my dust collector motor mount.

    Basically you just need something with a lower potential to dissipate any charge that accumulates.

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by tim walker View Post
    I know I need to ground my piping as evidenced by the collected fine dust on the PVC piping, but I am not sure how to go about it.
    Why do you believe this? It's not a fire hazard, at the scale your shop, and most small shops work at. Further it's not really possible to ground an insulator, like PVC. Unless you're getting regular shocks and find it annoying, I'd leave it alone, and find a more productive use of my time.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1RWjLP5QF0&t=33s

  4. #4
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    Has anyone tried anti-static coatings on PVC to see if that helps reduce the charge buildup?
    (first one that came up looked interesting, but pretty expensive)

    Matt

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Andrew More View Post
    Why do you believe this? It's not a fire hazard, at the scale your shop, and most small shops work at. Further it's not really possible to ground an insulator, like PVC. Unless you're getting regular shocks and find it annoying, I'd leave it alone, and find a more productive use of my time.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1RWjLP5QF0&t=33s
    I would say if there were no cnc I could agree with this. But the cnc is sensitive and the static can cause issues. Something like Michael mentioned would more than likely take care of it. You can tie the copper to the metal in the flex if you expose it on either end. My planer was my biggest offender of shocks, which was annoying but didnt hurt anything. I have rf issues on my cnc, luckily it just causes my screen to black out 5 seconds off 1 second on when my spindle/vfd are running.

  6. #6
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    I do this: Wrap wire around aluminum rivet and rivet to pipe every few feet.
    Last edited by Gordon Stump; 08-14-2023 at 11:03 AM.
    Ask a woodworker to "make your bed" and he/she makes a bed.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by George Yetka View Post
    I would say if there were no cnc I could agree with this. But the cnc is sensitive and the static can cause issues. Something like Michael mentioned would more than likely take care of it. You can tie the copper to the metal in the flex if you expose it on either end. My planer was my biggest offender of shocks, which was annoying but didnt hurt anything. I have rf issues on my cnc, luckily it just causes my screen to black out 5 seconds off 1 second on when my spindle/vfd are running.
    This is very true. It's not really a factor for most traditional woodworking tools, but CNC routers are a different animal and things have to be grounding properly to avoid missed steps or worse.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  8. #8
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    You can't effectively ground an insulator like PVC. Insulators build up static locally unlike conductive metals where the electrons can flow through the object.

    That's why teachers use glass rods (an insulator) and not copper rods to demonstrate static discharges in physics class.

    So, wrapping a copper wire around PVC pipe will pull the local static charge from the area around the wire, but not the whole pipe.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Keegan Shields View Post
    You can't effectively ground an insulator like PVC. Insulators build up static locally unlike conductive metals where the electrons can flow through the object.

    That's why teachers use glass rods (an insulator) and not copper rods to demonstrate static discharges in physics class.

    So, wrapping a copper wire around PVC pipe will pull the local static charge from the area around the wire, but not the whole pipe.
    You can mitigate a lot of it. Foil tape is another solution.

    https://www.supplyhouse.com/Venture-...0aAtyoEALw_wcB

  10. #10
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    Thx Andrew, good video. Not concerned about explosiveness or even shocks really, would just like for the dust buildup on the outside of the pipes to be less.
    Tim in Hill Country of Texas

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by tim walker View Post
    Thx Andrew, good video. Not concerned about explosiveness or even shocks really, would just like for the dust buildup on the outside of the pipes to be less.
    You're welcome. If it bothers you, it bothers you. Maybe better dust filtration would be more productive? Like I said, I don't think you can "drain" the static charge on PVC, because it won't conduct the charge to the grounding wire. You can make a pretty effective filter using a box fan + furnance filter. If that bothers you, you can usually get old HVAC blowers cheap on FB market place, and build a box to hold them.

  12. #12
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    I have an overhead filter system, I guess I just need to run it more.
    Tim in Hill Country of Texas

  13. #13
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    I have seen pictures of a strand of Christmas tinsel sprial wound outside the plastic duct work. I assume the aluminum is grounded at one end or the other , maybe both. There is no need for metal to pierce the insulating plastic. The charge will migrate to the lowest potential even through an insulator.
    Bill D.

  14. #14
    Though I haven't tried it myself I'd suspect aluminum HVAC foil would help dissipate it greatly.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bill Dufour View Post
    I have seen pictures of a strand of Christmas tinsel sprial wound outside the plastic duct work. I assume the aluminum is grounded at one end or the other , maybe both. There is no need for metal to pierce the insulating plastic. The charge will migrate to the lowest potential even through an insulator.
    Bill D.
    Spot on Bill. I was replying in the context of annoying static building up on the outside and shocking you or for CNC purposes. In those contexts, your idea and my solution work. If someone is seriously worried about a fire due to static on the inside, which the OP said he wasn't, then standard PVC really isn't even the correct solution to begin with.

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