drzaius Posted May 31, 2018 Report Share Posted May 31, 2018 I'm putting this in the power tools forum, because I figure a shop vac is a power tool of sorts. I've got mine running through a Dust Deputy & the bucket is unstable so I have a couple of bricks in the bottom for ballast. Last time I emptied the bucket, I accidentally dumped the bricks in the trash too. The only small, heavy thing I had handy was a 5 LB anvil, so I put that in the bucket. Fast forward a couple of days. My dust collector filter was badly plugged so I was cleaning it out with compressed air & the shop vac. I got a couple of little static shocks from the hose, which is pretty common when sucking up a lot of dust. No big deal. When I was done, the DD bucket was about 2/3 full of fine dust. When I reached in to fish out the anvil there was a loud crack (sounded like a firecracker) & I got the biggest, most painful static shock I've ever had. I felt it all up my arm & into my chest & both shoulders. Nearly knocked me on my backside. It scared my wife, on the other side of the shop, half to death. My theory is that all that iron was able to store up a massive charge that had to go somewhere. My hand was at least 8" away when it got me. So boys & girls, today's lesson is, don't use something massive & conductive in your Dust Deputy bucket. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted May 31, 2018 Report Share Posted May 31, 2018 Good to know ! I had an old Craftsman vac that had a coiled wire in the hose. Run it for an hour or so hooked up to the router table or drum sander and it would build up a charge that would slap the snot out of you. The trick is to run a ground wire. There are instructions on how to ground the Dust Deptuy version made for the Festool vacs. I'm sure you could adapt from that . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drzaius Posted June 1, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2018 3 hours ago, wdwerker said: Good to know ! I had an old Craftsman vac that had a coiled wire in the hose. Run it for an hour or so hooked up to the router table or drum sander and it would build up a charge that would slap the snot out of you. The trick is to run a ground wire. There are instructions on how to ground the Dust Deptuy version made for the Festool vacs. I'm sure you could adapt from that . The static shocks from the hose are but a minor irritation & not worth trying to remedy. But man, that anvil sure packed a wallop. I'm just going to go back to using bricks. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkinneb Posted June 1, 2018 Report Share Posted June 1, 2018 Wow glad your ok. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardA Posted June 1, 2018 Report Share Posted June 1, 2018 What's that old saying? ..........A brick today will keep the Doctor away. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom King Posted June 1, 2018 Report Share Posted June 1, 2018 I would never have guessed that an anvil would become a capacitor either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted June 1, 2018 Report Share Posted June 1, 2018 The anvil by itself would likely not store such a charge. But a metal electrode (anvil) surrounded by an insulator (wood dust) and contained in a material that CAN build a static charge (plastic / PVC bucket), apparently makes a good capacitor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robby W Posted June 2, 2018 Report Share Posted June 2, 2018 Glad you are ok! You built yourself a Layden jar, which is a type of capacitor used to store static electricity. As you noticed, they can pack quite a wallop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drzaius Posted June 3, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 3, 2018 7 hours ago, Robby W said: Glad you are ok! You built yourself a Layden jar, which is a type of capacitor used to store static electricity. As you noticed, they can pack quite a wallop. That's the name! Been bugging me for days. My son has a 30,000V electric fence for his horse pasture & I leaned a little to close to it one day & that was quite an experience. The voltage on the fence wasn't near as high though, cause you have to get pretty close to get shocked, whereas the anvil jumped at me from at least 8" away. Fence has more available current though because it was more painful. I high school electronics class I got poked with 25,000 volts from inside a color TV CRT, which threw me back against the wall. Maybe I have some subliminal shock wish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted June 3, 2018 Report Share Posted June 3, 2018 Frank, glad you’re ok bud! Thanks for the heads up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drzaius Posted June 3, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 3, 2018 Thanks guys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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