Sign foam

[geneM (Unregistered Guest)]

Any else have trouble with the dust from sign foam.
seems that thedust is static charged...sticks to everything.
I am also wondering how many HP are everyones dust collectors.

I have 3 HP on 5, 4" hoses.

Maybe I should step it up.
Thanks
Gene

[Brady Watson]

Yeah....static and lots of it!!! I just cut some yesterday and when I pulled it off of the table, my shirt..dog hair and just about anything weighing under a pound was stuck to it!!!

I have found that if you spray Static Guard on your vac brush, it keeps it clear. In terms of neutralizing the static build up on the foam itself, that is a little more tricky...and I am not sure if spraying SG on the foam itself would cause problems with finishing/crazing.

Humidity plays a major role in static...the more humidity you have in the shop, the less static build up...although I doubt dowsing the foam is a good idea...or adding humidity to your woodshop is a good idea either.

If you are only cutting foam once in a while, it's one of those things that you have to live with. If all you are doing is cutting foam, and it drives you nuts, then an industrial ionizer would be the ticket. An industrial ionizer will neutralize the static charge...and your wallet!

-Brady

[lto]

This could be a fairly inexpensive solution to static cling. I haven't tried it, but I saw an ad where I think they started at $129.00. http://www.ionixtechnologies.com/plastic_fabricating.html

[jsfrost]

I wonder if there's a way to employ the static cling sheets that are designed for the clothes dryer? Price is right.

[toe_jam]

How about adding a Vicks Vaporizer next to the table?

[geneM (Unregistered Guest)]

That also might help aid the dust collection.

Brady,
Was there a guy at last years jamboree that used something like this to cool the bits during cutting?

[billp]

I use masking tape, and totally cover the entry hole where the router bit plunges into the dust collection pickup "foot".Then I let the bit plunge through the masking tape when it starts to make it's cut. This minimizes the size of the hole, and helps to eliminate much of the "competition" between the router exhaust, and the vacuum pickup.
The BEST thing I did however was to buy (20-25 bucks) one of those "air deflectors" made by Steve M., and sold by Shopbot. This clamps on to the bottom of the router with a hose clamp, and totally diverts the exhaust from the router in an upwards direction. Once I did that, my dust collector became much more effective at picking up the "HDU fog" which I used to have in the shop...
If you use a different router than the PC/Milwaukee ( he might have one for a Makita as well) it wouldn't take too much imagination to build one ( OR ask Steve to expand his product line....).
P.S. My dust collector is a 1.5 hp Delta...

[zeykr]

Gene,
Think you're talking about an Arizona Vortex Cool Tool.

http://www.arizonavortex.com/cooltool.htm

[superior]

Right on Ken. We had one at our camp in Oklahoma, and it certaily did a great job. However, it does nothing to help with static charges, But it really chills down the cutting area. I don't remember who brought this. It might have been Joe Crumlee, or maybe David Allen. The website above if for the very same tool we played with here.
Incidentally, many years ago I did screen printing for a five and dime chain. (G.F. Wacker Stores, Inc.). This was the original silk screen printing, and I can assure you static electricity was my mortal enemy. I found if I placed a wet rag beneath the screen, static electricit was virtually eliminated. Brady, as usual, is right on about humidity being a problem with static build up. If we can find a way to ground the atmosphere, we would be right on track.
Maybe we can address this at our camp in April. We are going to cut some foam. Any suggestions will be welcomed, and tried.
Doug

[Brady Watson]

Hmmm...got me thinkin' here...What might be an interesting experiment...What if you used a MISTER instead of the Vortex unit...and directed it towards the bit? This would increase the humidity at the highest concentration of static.

Not sure how that would work...but the better mist units put out a very small atomozed droplet that would not create a puddle on the workpiece. As I am typing this...what IF you used distilled or ionized water...<---is there such a thing?

-Brady

[fleinbach]

Brady,
I'm not sure but if my memory serves me correctly Hot tubs and Pools use ionization to create ozone for sanitation. They are called ozinators.

[jthelen]

I have this mister I got years ago for a metal cutting operation. It is called a Li'l mister by Trico.
http://www.tricomfg.com/store/ProdLineInfo.asp?ProdLineID=20&ProdSeg=MetalCuttin g
I think I got it from J&L or MSC or McMaster Carr. It used water based coolants but you could run straight water.
I put a regulator and pressure gauge on it and dialed the mist down so spraying it on your hand took 5 second to even feel wet.
It has controls for air and fluid.
I have not tried it on my router yet.
Jim

[jsfrost]

I just finished a lunchtime discussion with the resident high voltage guru at my real job, and he suggests soap as a low cost way to cut static charge on floors and plastic items. Just a quick wash with slightly soapy water will leave a thin conductive film that lasts a week or two. And a bit of soap added to the water in a humidifier or mister would help also.

[Brady Watson]

Jim,
The only problem I see with using soap in conjunction with sign foam is...fish eyes! If the soap is trapped in the pores of the foam then it may push to the surface when painted (I know we are talking microscopic here...but just mention silicone to a professional painter and watch him squirm!)

Good idea though in concept...in fact, the way just about EVERYTHING in the known universe operates on electricity (and why oil and water don't mix)...so I guess it would be helpful to know if the static is a positive or negative charge. From there, it may be possible to add some benign additive to the mister to change the electrical charge (neutralize it acutally)...a potassium solution might be a good choice, although untested.

-Brady

[tomj]

We end up dealing with static issues on plastic parts that we cut, which get painted after our work is done. We had to break down and get an ionizer to use when we blow off our parts before packaging but, what a difference! I thought it was all eye wash until we used it.
The company that we got our ionizer was from Exair www.exair.com (http://www.exair.com). They had a variety of ionizers for many different applications.

[davidallen]

if you need to get fancy (and effective) for spot cooling and static quenching you can also try www.vortec.com (http://www.vortec.com).

I used the coolers 20 years ago to develop a freeze concentration process for salt solutions and the static transvectors to solve a film corona treatment problem.

they're several hundred but very effective.

da

[kerrazy]

Here is a an Idea I read about recently, To reduce static electricity on Signfoam wet down the opposite side you are going to carve, obviously this would be the side lying on the table.
Seems simple enough.
Dale

[geneM (Unregistered Guest)]

thanks All,
I will try some of these and get back to you guys.

But still... How much dust collector HP for each router?

gene

[kerrazy]

I run a 3HP Industrial Dust collector and it does a great job with Sign Foam, I use a 6 inch pipe off the dust collector, then rduce to 4 inch the to the 2 or 2.5 inch dust skirt hose.
Dale

[jimhansen@snet.net]

We always used water to release fiberglass boats out of the mold because it eliminated all the static charge. Which on a 40 foot hull would throw you to the ground! So a mister should work on sign foam and not cause fisheyes, pinholes or alligators we hope. I run 2hp 800cfm dust collecter with 4inch hose. Jim