Using the flexible collection hose as marketed by Jet. May the copper grounding wire be wrapped around the hose or must it pass through the interior for proper results. 
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Dust Collection Grounding System
- Thread starter cwearing
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Neither one. The copper grounding wire doesn't really serve a useful purpose -- sort of like an urban legend. If you want fairly good results in reducing static, get a large rag and douse it good with graphite powder and pull it through the hose with a wire or string several times to coat the inside of the hose. Graphite is a fairly good conductor and it sticks well to plastic (and almost everything else that it comes in contact with).
Bill
Bill
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Urban Legends
Charlie,
I've been round-n-round on this "issue" having to do with DC systems using plastic pipe (flexible or otherwise). EVERY electrical engineer to whom I've posed the question has smiled [literally or figuratively] and told me you can't "ground" a DC system with plastic duct/pipe-work; the plastic is such a good insulator that the static charges will not flow from one point to another. They've also told me, without exception, that a home/hobbyist system will not build strong enough static charges to generate a spark HOT ENOUGH to ignite wood dust. Remember, it's not enough just to have a static spark, that spark has to be of sufficient temperature to raise the dust (given a sufficient air/dust concentration] to combustion temperature. Just because it will zap your hand doesn't mean it will ignite a fire in your ductwork or DC bag.
Bottom Line: You can't effectively ground your system other than grounding the DC and the power tool which happens with a three-prong plug anyway. If you want to be totally "grounded," get rid of ALL of your plactic pipe and run everything in metal ducts, including the flex-connectors.
I've had on-line conversations with people who "witnessed" home-shop DC explosions. Funny that there is not a single substantiated report by fire departments of such occurances. I suspect those folks can also testify as to the efficacy of Spanish Fly.
Mark Mandell
Charlie,
I've been round-n-round on this "issue" having to do with DC systems using plastic pipe (flexible or otherwise). EVERY electrical engineer to whom I've posed the question has smiled [literally or figuratively] and told me you can't "ground" a DC system with plastic duct/pipe-work; the plastic is such a good insulator that the static charges will not flow from one point to another. They've also told me, without exception, that a home/hobbyist system will not build strong enough static charges to generate a spark HOT ENOUGH to ignite wood dust. Remember, it's not enough just to have a static spark, that spark has to be of sufficient temperature to raise the dust (given a sufficient air/dust concentration] to combustion temperature. Just because it will zap your hand doesn't mean it will ignite a fire in your ductwork or DC bag.
Bottom Line: You can't effectively ground your system other than grounding the DC and the power tool which happens with a three-prong plug anyway. If you want to be totally "grounded," get rid of ALL of your plactic pipe and run everything in metal ducts, including the flex-connectors.
I've had on-line conversations with people who "witnessed" home-shop DC explosions. Funny that there is not a single substantiated report by fire departments of such occurances. I suspect those folks can also testify as to the efficacy of Spanish Fly.
Mark Mandell
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Mark is 100% right on the money - take his advice. No need to repeat it, just a nod of confirmation.
Some folks just can't stand the little jolt/shock when they touch the DC hose to skin. If that is your case, then sure, thats a good enough reason to work to minimize it, but forget about grounding it. I have no idea why - but my DC used to shock me pretty reliably but I replumbed it - same material, just more of it, and it stopped completly. I'm sure there is an engineering explanation for it, but I was just happy to not get shocked any longer.
Some folks just can't stand the little jolt/shock when they touch the DC hose to skin. If that is your case, then sure, thats a good enough reason to work to minimize it, but forget about grounding it. I have no idea why - but my DC used to shock me pretty reliably but I replumbed it - same material, just more of it, and it stopped completly. I'm sure there is an engineering explanation for it, but I was just happy to not get shocked any longer.
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They were doing it on Mythbusters the other week, they sandblasted pvc pipe with more sand than I've ever seen and built up just a few milivolts but not enough to shock you.