Static electricity on my RCBS powder funnel
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R
Rock63
Guest
Rub the outside with a fabric softener drier sheet.
A
AZLarry
Guest
I got away from using plastic funnels. The best I have found is the aluminum funnel with a brass tip made by Satern. They are caliber specific (.17, .20, .224, etc.). Top of the line and available at midwayusa.com
That's a good tip Larry.
As to how the static clingy thingys work I don't have a clue! I've heard the postulation that they "grease" the clothing kinda' like hair conditioner shampoo but that makes no sense to me. You can rub a used up dryer sheet on a funnel and watch the powder drop, no grease. I've used the static discharge clicker guns too...... 'clik' and the powder falls off the walls. I ground stuff to the center screw of a switchplate and still have the occasional buggerup.
Ahhh the perils of living in a dry environment
al
L
Louis Boyd
Guest
Many plastics (synthetic fabric) can detach electrons through mild abrasion. A static charge is just an overabundance or deficiency of electrons relative to the number of protons in an object. The inside of a dryer (once the moisture is removed) is an ideal envoronment for generating static charges. The anti-cling sheets (like Bounce) coat the surface with material which prevents the surface of the plastic from touching other materials thus preventing the electrons from being stripped from the surface. The film only needs to be a few atoms thick. Some films and sprays are electrically conductive and actually drain off charge which has accumlated, but that isn't necessary to stop static cling,
I only use metal funnels, scale trays, and spatulas for handling powder. A conductive material cannot have a static surface charge but there is still a possiblity of a spark igniting powder if your body becomes charged and discharges though the powder in a metal container as you touch it. It's not likely, but it makes sense to have a realoading bench area which cannot generate or maintain static charges . My reloading bench is an electronics workstation with a non-static (slightly conductive) benchtop and stool. The floor is concrete which is conductive and I wear cotton clothing, not static producing synthetics. I'm more concerned about static causing problems with my electronics work than for reloading but I treat them the same.
G
geneinnc
Guest
your testing my memory, but I do remember reading a cure to that problem.
Seems like it had something to do with washing it in soap but not rinsing it out? Please don't hold me to that. Hopefully someone else might remember that. The only literature I had back then was a Speer reloading manual. I could have read it in a gun rag, who knows. Whatever I did, it's still working 20+ years later.
(the dryer sheets does sound like an easy cure. I tried rubbing my static prone cat with a dryer sheet, but I just got buzz sawed and shocked
Seems like it had something to do with washing it in soap but not rinsing it out? Please don't hold me to that. Hopefully someone else might remember that. The only literature I had back then was a Speer reloading manual. I could have read it in a gun rag, who knows. Whatever I did, it's still working 20+ years later.
(the dryer sheets does sound like an easy cure. I tried rubbing my static prone cat with a dryer sheet, but I just got buzz sawed and shocked