eliminating static electricity
a fellow pressman and i were having a discussion and static came up. he recalled a procedure of using an old dead car battery to absorb the static holding sheets together. he could not remember just how the system was hooked up. anyone out there hear of this or have any luck with it? i am running 3 kluges and a heid cyl all with auto feed. 2 kluges with hand feed. static is a bigger prob on the auto fed, it seems, more than with the hand fed presses. certain stocks, esp plastics are a real bear sometimes.
It is common to take static tinsel, placed so that it brushes the sheets as they are being picked up and forwarded, but it needs to be grounded. Maybe the dead battery can act as a ground.
i know of the tinsel. even grounded to a real earth ground rod. it may help but does not seem like alot. i have tried electronic devices also. the voltmeter to measure static is really expensive so there is no way for me to tell if any of this is really working.
Are you working in a dry climate? Maybe consider a humidifier. If you can get the humidity to 55-60% then your static problems should disappear.
Daniel Morris
The Arm Letterpress
Brooklyn, NY
eric m,
The Kluges and ‘Bergs are static electric generators, by their sweeping motions.
I have used a light brush of offset powder on the end of the stock pile. Offset powder is (+) ionized wheat flour, and like particles repel, thus negating the effect of static generated by the sweeping motion.
Buy a can of anti static spray. Spray it on the platen and the stock. Make sure you wind your stock to get lots of air in between the sheets, especially on the plastic stock.