Need Help , best method for clean-up, polystyrene dust.
Tungston
carving away at a huge block of polystyrene. Now my basement is flooded
with tiny "tribbles".
I hesitate to use a shop-vac, thinking that the charge produced will just
coat the entire thing in seconds.
I am starting to think that using static to my advantage may be the answer.
But I need advice from someone who has dealt with this before.
I'm talking about maybe a cubic meter of styro-dust.
Any help appriciated.
Tungston
humorous ridicule also accepted.
Cathy Morgan
part of it, see if that enables you to sweep it up? (The
spray is available in most grocery stores with laundry
supplies. A photo lab told me about it; they use it daily
to keep dust from sticking to negatives.)
Tungston wrote in message ...
Andrew Werby
From: Tungston <mort...@home.com>
Newsgroups: alt.sculpture
Date: Monday, February 21, 2000 8:17 AM
Subject: Need Help , best method for clean-up, polystyrene dust.
>Ok, I knew I would have to deal with it later, but I went crazy with a saw,
>carving away at a huge block of polystyrene. Now my basement is flooded
>with tiny "tribbles".
>
>I hesitate to use a shop-vac, thinking that the charge produced will just
>coat the entire thing in seconds.
>
[It will, but after the charge subsides you can dump it out.]
>I am starting to think that using static to my advantage may be the answer.
>But I need advice from someone who has dealt with this before.
>
>I'm talking about maybe a cubic meter of styro-dust.
>
>Any help appriciated.
>
>Tungston
>
[Next time, consider using something less productive of dust. Styrofoam
or expanded styrene can be cut cleanly with a hot wire (but don't try this
on urethane foam, which is poisonous when burned.) An electric carving
knife works pretty well on both kinds of foam, but if you don't have one
try
a regular serrated knife. Since it doesn't have the kerf of a saw, it
doesn't
make much dust.]
>
>humorous ridicule also accepted.
>
[Well, if you didn't want to overstress your shop-vac, just go in there in a
big
fur coat, and start combing it with a rubber comb. Then, when all the
tribbles
have leapt aboard, run out of there shouting "Make way for the Snow-man"...]
Andrew Werby
http://unitedartworks.com
Lauri Levanto
As a resident of a snowclad country
I can tell that the fur coat does not work.
At least my cat is surprisingly immune to styrofoam static.
OTOH TV is not.
I have notices that moistening the dust with spray bottle
makes it quite manageable.
Andrews comments on serrated knives and hot wire are to the point.
- lauri
Andrew Werby
Lauri Levanto wrote in message <38B3893B...@nokia.com>...
>I never thought I had to correct Andrew.
>
>As a resident of a snowclad country
>I can tell that the fur coat does not work.
>At least my cat is surprisingly immune to styrofoam static.
>OTOH TV is not.
[I guess I'm not infallible- this is something I remembered from "Fun
science
experiments you can do at home", but just now I tried it and didn't get much
static charge going at all. Maybe it's too damp around here today. So forget
the fur coat idea- go in there with your TV set, switch it off, then grab it
and
run like hell...]
>
>I have notices that moistening the dust with spray bottle
>makes it quite manageable.
>
[Although I've looked, I've never seen anything in the supermarket called
"anti-
static spray". Is there a brand name I could look for?]
>
>Andrews comments on serrated knives and hot wire are to the point.
>
>- lauri
[There are tools made with loops of nichrome resistance wire which are handy
for this sort of thing- it's hard to make concave cuts with a knife. Does
anybody
have the specs on how to build hot-wire tools like this? It's a fairly
simple formula:
a certain length of a certain gauge of nichrome wire is plugged into the
wall and it
achieves the correct degree of heat, but I don't have the numbers.]
Andrew Werby
Lauri Levanto
I have an itch that there is some antistatic spray
intended for ironing clothes. I have to check out
the local supermarket.
Andrew wrote:
> [There are tools made with loops of nichrome resistance wire which are handy
> for this sort of thing- it's hard to make concave cuts with a knife. Does
> anybody
> have the specs on how to build hot-wire tools like this? It's a fairly
> simple formula:
> a certain length of a certain gauge of nichrome wire is plugged into the
> wall and it
> achieves the correct degree of heat, but I don't have the numbers.]
>
> Andrew Werby
> >
Not so terribly long ago someone presented a homemade polystyrene foam
cutter here.
I Deja'ded but found only this reference:
I have in the past used a dimmer switch (under $10 at the hardware
store) wired to an outlet box (built this one at the end of an extension
cord) to
control the heat of a soldering iron which I had altered to use for
spruing waxes. I was able to control the heat quite well with it. When
I found
temperatures that worked well for me, I marked the settings with a line
on the base and a file notch on the plastic knob. You ought to be able
to put
this together in 20 or so minutes for under $15.00
Quicker and cheaper than trying to find something.
C Whitehorn
I am at www.whitehorn-sculptor.com
=========================================
Luckily it has a contact address
- lauri
Cathy Morgan
Apparently that's where the photo lab gets theirs, too!
What I use is called Static Guard but I think any brand
would do.
Lauri Levanto wrote in message
Phelan
> [There are tools made with loops of nichrome resistance wire which are handy
> for this sort of thing- it's hard to make concave cuts with a knife. Does
> anybody have the specs on how to build hot-wire tools like this? It's a fairly
> simple formula: a certain length of a certain gauge of nichrome wire is plugged into the
> wall and it achieves the correct degree of heat, but I don't have the numbers.]
I've always used Nichrome wire, and fed it with a model train
powerpack to adjust the heat.
Robert Womble
7dra...@home.com
Castaways Fyne 3-D Artworks
sculpt...@my-deja.com
Use a variable transformer of type used by big time model railroaders,
or heck- buy a commercially made hotwire.
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
chrisba...@gmail.com
julie...@gmail.com
> Ok, I knew I would have to deal with it later, but I went crazy with a saw,
> carving away at a huge block of polystyrene. Now my basement is flooded
> with tiny "tribbles".
>
> I hesitate to use a shop-vac, thinking that the charge produced will just
> coat the entire thing in seconds.
>
> But I need advice from someone who has dealt with this before.
>
> I'm talking about maybe a cubic meter of styro-dust.
>
> Any help appriciated.
>
> Tungston
>
>
duct tape??