Is static electricity dangerous w/ reloading?

[fariagaurd]

Newbie…..and I’m thinking it is. Please educate me as I don’t want to get blown up! My area is carpeted so it’s probably going to happen with walking and normal operations around and on the bench. I would like to shop vac the area and bench to clean up metal shavings, debris etc. Shop vacs cause static electricity. Of course the powder and accessories that hold powder will be put away before the vacuum is turned on. Any thoughts?

Also I would like to put a 1/8” to 5/32” plastic top over the 2” thick maple bench top to keep it ‘pretty’. I have a relationship with a plastic vendor who can recommend a non static plastic material. This will protect the wood from wear during basic gun cleaning, maintenance and solvents. Some will say I am over thinking the bench cover and I probably am but I want it to last a lifetime.

My concern is safety first and the ONLY area I have is carpeted. Is it time to rip out the carpet? Wife will not be happy!

Thanks as always.

 

[rcmodel]

No, it's not, unless you are loading black powder and it has a lot of dust in it.

But, if you have a static problem?

Simply buy a can of Static Guard at the grocery store and spray the carpet with it.
Then spray some down your shop-vac hose.

http://www.target.com/c/laundry-car...ehold-essentials/static-guard/-/N-5xsyrZ55nub

No more problems!

rc

 

[Rule3]

I have carpet and have vacuumed up spilled powder, Not an issue. Shop vacs are not static electric they are electric from the brushes in the motor.

Is your bench a butcher block maple top. I would put a finish coat on it if it is raw wood, Like tung oil or even a satin polyurethane or varnish. A oil finish will penetrate and seal it for a lifetime.

 

[Jesse Heywood]

To help with cleanups and finding what you dropped get a plastic carpet chair mat. Cost is about $30+. I've never had a static problem with them, and they save a lot of wear on the carpet.

 

[X-Ring]

Over the years I have seen the results of several lab test on this subject. None of them could get smokeless powder or primers to ignite from static discharges. Black powder is another story and can be ignited from static discharges.

 

[rcmodel]

Shop vacs are not static electric they are electric from the brushes in the motor.

The hose can build enough static electricity to knock your dauber off when sucking up dust though.

Try cleaning the saw dust out of a table saw and see.

They will zap you hard enough every few seconds to make you cry if you aren't grounded!!
(Or use Static Guard in the hose first.)

rc

 

[Shaq]

Modern smokeless powder can't be ignited from just any spark; it must be a heat-generated spark. A friend & I tried to ignite some powder with a stun gun. It wouldn't ignite. However, to be on the safe side, I read it's better to use a brush & dustpan to clean up spilled powder then a vacuum cleaner. It may have something to do with the motor getting hot.

 

[Longhorn 76]

I worry about primers and static. Especially the residue that collects in primer tubes.

 

[John3921]

Biggest problem with static is that it can lead to inconsistent drops from a powder measure.

 

[steve4102]

Over the years I have seen the results of several lab test on this subject. None of them could get smokeless powder or primers to ignite from static discharges. Black powder is another story and can be ignited from static discharges.

Not exactly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nm6PEdBcQ6s

 

[Reloadron]

Igniting black powder or for that matter smokeless powder using a spark source is not as easy as one may think.

This video is pretty good.

A simple discharge of static electricity is not likely to ignite either powder.

<EDIT> Steve beat me with the same video. </EDIT>

Ron

 

[Kingcreek]

Carpet under reloading is a bad idea for other reasons.

 

[hdwhit]

As others have said, static electricity isn't going to ignite smokeless powder or primers, so you don't need to worry about getting blown up. Also, John3921 already noted that static electricity can interfere with powder flow through powder measures and that can be a problem.

But with you having mentioned the concern about explosion, I wanted to point out that you should establish formal procedures for doing reloading. All of the reloading manuals will tell you to do this. The manuals also have some suggestions. In my case, my reloading procedures are written down in the form of a checklist, just like a pilot, so I can check them off as I go along. And some of those procedures should be that you only have one type of powder on the bench at a time and that you remove powder and primers from the bench that are not going to be used during the reloading session.

Having the checklist and having to take time to stop along the way and check that I have done something makes me take time to ensure that each step has been done right. When I was in my twenties, following written procedures allowed me to catch a double charged case before it moved on to the next step - with potentially tragic results. It's a little easier for me to do this because I use a single stage press, but even if you use a progressive, you would still benefit from the orderly approach a set of formal procedures brings to the process.