Question static electricity on sheets of coro....

[Ed. C.]

get a couple of humidifiers and park them in front of your media.

 

[netsol]

for many things, yes
for certain types of cleanup, i have used the larger alcohol wipes for well over 20 years
cleaning zebra thermal heads, for instance
old habits die hard

 

[JBurton]

The best thing I have found to get rid of static is to keep hi powered magnets either in a pocket or attached to a work table. The magnetic field absorbs the static.

Ok this makes no sense, but hopeful me had to test it, not as far as static discharge shocking someone, but as far as taking all those tiny chips off of an ADA panel before adding layers. In no way could I get the static to dissipate with the magnet. In my pocket, holding it, rubbing the material with it, nada.

 

[ChicagoGraphics]

You can also use Christmas tree garland silver or gold worked the best and drape it over your material

 

[DL Signs]

Back when I dealt with pallets of coro. sintra, and other static prone materials, we used those ionizing anti-static guns. We had a couple variations, one was just a blow gun attached to an air hose that we could use anywhere, the CNC even had an air hose with one attached, and big units that had their own transformer we used at the flatbeds. The one with the transformer really paid off, because when you blew the sheet off on the pallet, any static that returned from moving it to the bed, you just blew it off again, it also removed any dust or debris that would be attracted because of the static. Only takes seconds to do, vs the time it takes to wipe sheets down. If you do have to wipe sheets down with alcohol or adhesion promoter, you can use them to dry sheets off, and remove static at the same time just before printing. They run anywhere from a few hundred for the air hose ones to well over a grand for the transformer models, which work way better. And you'll need clean air (we just used really good separators and filters on air lines from the shop). If you only do a few sheets here and there it can be a hefty investment, but if you do a lot on a daily basis like we did, they might be worth looking into.

This is the company we went through for all this, ours were older versions. They have anti static everything, ionizing room fans, anti static bars for equipment, cords, copper tinsel: https://amstat.com/static-eliminators/anti-static-guns/

 

[MelloImagingTechnologies]

Static is the reason Vanguard have de-ionizers installed under the printer carriages near the led lamps.
Static causes overspray to adhere on white parts of print next to printed areas.
When uv printers first came out, my customers would use anti static spray made for laundry and available at supermarkets before printing.
Bruce

 

[netsol]

Static is the reason Vanguard have de-ionizers installed under the printer carriages near the led lamps.
Static causes overspray to adhere on white parts of print next to printed areas.
When uv printers first came out, my customers would use anti static spray made for laundry and available at supermarkets before printing.
Bruce

but bruce, wouldn't that leave a residue, (an ever changing one, as the EPA changes their minds about chemistry) inserting a variable
we have no control of into the adhesion problems?

i still use those stupid alcohol wipes (we use them for zebra & gerber edge printhead cleaning) and 91% isopropyl & microfibre cloths

i am NOT HAVING static problems NOW, but want to setup a procedure that will ensure that kind of problem is not in my future

 

[netsol]

it seems to me, my biggest problem is going to be that it will be difficult to humidify a warehouse area heated by a hanging natural gas heater.

my HVAC guy doesn't want to add a humidifier to my office furnace, a york downdraft, mounted in the suspended ceiling

for the first 2-2-1/2 years we were printing a small enough volume that all my printing was done in the office area where i had

2 "console" humidifiers . this winter will be more of a pain in the ass, i think

 

[DL Signs]

it seems to me, my biggest problem is going to be that it will be difficult to humidify a warehouse area heated by a hanging natural gas heater.

my HVAC guy doesn't want to add a humidifier to my office furnace, a york downdraft, mounted in the suspended ceiling

for the first 2-2-1/2 years we were printing a small enough volume that all my printing was done in the office area where i had

2 "console" humidifiers . this winter will be more of a pain in the ass, i think

Is your office area attached to the warehouse? Build a room off of that wall it off, run suspended ceilings, insulate, and add ducts to the office HVAC. That way it's a contained area (with AC) that'll be easier to control temp, humidity, dust. You can still run freestanding humidifiers if you need to, and they'll be effective.
We have a similar setup, shop has the hanging heaters, office has the above ceiling HVAC units. We're looking into adding more equipment, and that's the route we're taking if/ when we do, then adding double doors or a roll-up to the shop to get sheet material in/ out of it.

 

[ikarasu]

We have a ton of static issues where we live... And our warehouse is huge so we were worried about humidifiers as well. Our flatbed was misting a lot, so we decided to try it.


Bought something like this -

AIRCARE 5 Gal. Evaporative Humidifier for 4,000 sq. ft. HD1409 - The Home Depot

The Valiant is the perfect choice for whole-house humidification. It humidifies up to 4,000 square feet for up to 55 hours on a single fill. Easy to use digital controls make airflow adjustment simple,

www.homedepot.com

It's good for 4k sqft.... And we're in a 30k warehouse with 20 ft ceilings.... It actually helps a lot when we need it, it doesn't help the whole warehouse but around our printer saw a pretty big spike according to our cheapo measuring device on amazon. Annoying part is refilling it every 2 days.

We still alcohol spray every sheet with a 60/40 blend of alcohol since it takes seconds and clean s off fingerprints as well.

But don't rule out a portable humidifier, it won't help your whole warehouse but it'll affect the area around your skid / printer or wherever you put it.... For $150 and a $10 device, it's worth buying and seeing what a difference it makes.

 

[Boudica]

The best thing I have found to get rid of static is to keep hi powered magnets either in a pocket or attached to a work table. The magnetic field absorbs the static.

This idea had me so fascinated I had to try it. Printing on a couple of sheets of 1/16" polycarbonate, after cleaning the first sheet, I went to move it over to the printer input table, and got shocked all to hell. Then I remembered the magnet trick, went and grabbed a couple of wrap magnets and put them in my pockets. It WORKS! moving sheet one off the table I could hear the static but it' wasn't getting me. Didn't get shocked once on the second sheet. Thanks Big Squeegee!
... it does take some getting used to though - My pants kept smacking up to the printer and the output table, The first couple of times startled me, but I got used to it pretty quickly.