static electricity from processing foam board

[misterT]

We are processing foam board and it builds up a lot of static electricity. I have searched the threads and did not see any that addresses our specific problem. I have looked on line and found " static stop" cord and bars that are connected to earth ground. The manufacturer states that it ionizes the air around it. I am skeptical that this is possible without any sort of power supply to generate ions. There is another company that sells ion bars. but in their own literature they hint at problems with the power supplies going out. Anyone have experience with dissipating static electricity between operations?

 

[deljr15]

I have looked on line and found " static stop" cord and bars that are connected to earth ground.

Those have been in use in PC construction/repair for years.

Back in high school i worked for a security company that built DVRs. We had to wear a strap around our wrist that plugged into the ground slot of a outlet. (1 Prong)

When wearing it I noticed if I did things that would generate static I would feel a shock in my wrist.

 

[Jim Williams]

Try keeping the humidity up with an ultosonic mister.

Jim

 

[Chip Chester]

In the world of vinyl records the go-to tool was a Zerostat, a gunlike device that fired positive and negative ions from a piezoelectric crystal. Good for hunks of plastic about a foot in diameter, but not a 4x8 sheet. It is still made for records, lab use, etc. Diligent Googleage may reveal sources of larger capacity devices.

Chip

 

[John Welden]

Get something like this
McMaster-Carr

They work great.

They make big blowers an all sorts of different styles. Have a sales guy figure out what you need.

 

[adama]

Air ionizing type guns are common in the print sign-age world when printing on a lot of the plastic foam cored sign pannels, if you don't eliminate the static, the effectively over sized bubble jets ink just floats around on top makes a hell of a mess, its a really funny effect if its the first time you see it! Wave the gun like devices air stream across it and its back to normal. The comments about humidity helping are spot on too, but the ion generating devices are the real goto when the problems bad.

Everyone here knows what little polystyrene balls are like right? Well one zap of ion stream and they fall and roll around more like low weight ball bearings, not ultra sticky little balls!

 

[Roger49]

Please state the size, thickness, etc.
In the printing industry, paper generates static.

Think of the electrons as being scattered across the surface of the material, much as the letters on a page. You would like to brush them off, or pick them up.

1)A static bar using high-voltage electricity and air pressure really helps. The air pressure breaks the surface film, the ions reduces the static. Yes, the power supply wears out (no voltage), and the static bar shorts out (ungrounded you get a big shock), also read the notes on the importance of the grounding of the material, the static bar and the surface the material is on.
Example:Home

2) Some people would keep a cloth damp and the paper would move under it.

3) A copper "tinsel" works great and would be stretched out taut across two points and barely touch the paper as it moved over or under it. A spring at one end and well grounded at the other or springy wire supports.

4) Using a can of "Static" spray helps, but being alcohol, it evaporates and needs to be re-applied at regular intervals.

There maybe a point in your processing where the foam can pass under the static reducer while going from one step to the next.

 

[Davis In SC]

Check out a website, ESD Journal, is the name. Steve F, the owner is a well-known authority on static, and does consulting around the world. He gave me some of the static string and it really works.