I should not have said toner, it was the toner carrier beads. They were precise iron beads with a teflon coating. The developer in the 3800 "dirtied" the beads with toner and moved them around with magnets to "wash" the photoconductor with toner. That left an image on the charged photoconductor. The beads were a supply item, maybe 20 pounds or more in each machine. They started about 0.007" in diameter as I recall. When spilled on the floor, it was like walking on dirty ice. The vacuum cleaner built into the machine was properly condstructed to avoid the static discharge. You lose your sense of humor real quick when the vacuum hose you are holding generates a three inch arc. I know THAT toner was not flammible, but todays processes are different. I wonder if any of those things are still around? John Ferrell 6241 Phillippi Rd Julian NC 27283 Phone: (336)685-9606 johnferrell@earthlink.net Dixie Competition Products NSRCA 479 AMA 4190 W8CCW "My Competition is Not My Enemy" ----- Original Message ----- From: "Peter L. Peres" To: Sent: Thursday, July 03, 2003 1:16 PM Subject: Re: Dealing with static buildup > > A bare, spiral wire inside the tube, grounded at both ends works well. > > If you vacuum sweep up spilled iron toner beads without this you will > > see a lot of BIG arcs! > > Has anybody built a Van de Graaff static generator using toner and a > vacuum cleaner (set to blow) ? Is toner combustible (I hope not). Gypsum > should work well too even if its epsilon is lower than toner's. > > Peter > > -- > http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different > ways. See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details. -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different ways. See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details.