Harrell's powder thrower question

[FryeGuy]

Ok, So I just picked up a Harrell's thrower. I have a couple of issues/questions.
1.) When operating, I get a ton of static issues with the drop tube. it's only a 4" tube. I believe I have seen that this is an issue. what are the fixes? one I tried last nite was to take a small piece of lead wire, wrap it around tube and ran it over to a pipe on the water heater, which is only a few inches away. this didn't help a bit. in fact, the way I wrapped it made the powder stick in that area even worse. should I try a different material wire? or is there some other magic trick I can use????

2.) I thought they were interchangeable from left to right handed operation? Am I being completely oblivious to this?

 

[ReedG]

Don't know about the right/left setup, but the static in the tubes will go away after the graphite from the powder gets a bit of a coating on the inside of the tube. It will get better with use.

 

[BoydAllen]

Wipe the inside and outside of your powder bottle(s) and drop tube with a drier sheet. You will have to poke a piece through the inside a couple of times. This should help. Also, if you are going to ground the measure use a copper wire attached to the metal part of the measure, and to a water pipe. In the winter, the humidity in our houses can be low, and and the tendency to build static charges is greater. After you sit down to load, before you touch anything, if it is convenient, touch the pipe, and bleed off your static charge. If the pipe is painted, you may need to scrape a little of that off to make a good connection with your ground wire clamp, and if that is the case, you will want to touch the clamp rather than the painted pipe, to bleed of your charge.

 

[JRS]

Lay a cork tile floor in your loading room and enjoy your loading chores 8)

 

[FryeGuy]

thanks for the replies and help. will take the advice, and keep playing. it sure is one nice looking piece of equipment! I am going to have to lay out my bench differently I think to make everything work/function better.

 

[BoydAllen]

The accuracy of any powder measure depends on three things, the grain size of the powder being thrown, using the best technique (for that powder and measure) and consistency of operation. Practice with a really good scale is key.

 

[Lazydays]

I use a Harrell, and just love it! But I do think the Sinclair drop tubes helped the powder flow a little bit. I use a 4" and a 6" one, depending on what powder and load I'm running thru it. The ground wire trick seems to help most powder measurers, but have never needed to do it yet. (knocking on wood)
gary

 

[bozo699]

I use a Harrell, and just love it! But I do think the Sinclair drop tubes helped the powder flow a little bit. I use a 4" and a 6" one, depending on what powder and load I'm running thru it. The ground wire trick seems to help most powder measurers, but have never needed to do it yet. (knocking on wood)
gary

You guy's are killing me here! static electricity is caused by two dissimilar materials and friction, no amount of grounding will help nor remove it, as to what Boyd said discharging yourself to a pipe or door knob is a good idea, the metal item does not need to be grounded to discharge yourself, also the dryer sheet really does help. The reason one fella on here had better luck with the Sinclair tubes is because more then likely there made of a little different plastic, I have had huge issues in the bullet making business with static problems on our load lines, in my experiences it is usually a problem with a new plastic plate that the product is moving over causing the problems or something as simple as the operator wearing silk undergarments, I know that sounds absurd but I have had only one person out of 10 or 20 complaining of getting shocked and when all my csi work has been completed he/she would have silk undies on. I am not saying to not ground your equipment, that is always a good idea when there is energetics involved, it just won't keep you from getting shocked nor will the static issue go away.
Wayne.

 

[JRS]

That's why I went with cork Wayne. The floor was carpeted, then wood. The wood worked fine as long as I wasn't wearing socks on my feet ;D After talking to a couple of the I&C (instruments and controls) Techs at the Nuke plant where My wife and I work, they suggested the cork tile. I can wear wool socks on the floor if I want to. No more shock. I got rid of the static problem on my powder measure by coating the inside of the drum and drop tubes with a smidgen of some leftover hBN

 

[BoydAllen]

Over 40 years ago, I had a job working for Dow Chemical, in a plant that made polyethylene sheeting, wrapping the finished rolls with....you guessed it polyethylene sheeting. My wrapping station had a rubber mat to stand on and the table was steel (and well grounded), with pivoting rollers, and a roll rack above, to pull down wrapping material from. It was as is it was designed to produce the maximum static charge on one's body. the edge of the table was just the right height to hit me in a strategic area below the waist, so I soon learned to tap the edge of the table with the back of my hand before letting any other part of me touch the table. On the discharging personal static charge thing, for those working on computers, they make wrist straps that are connected to a wire that is coiled like a that of a phone hand set, with an alligator clip on the other end, so that the technician will not build up a static charge that would harm sensitive equipment. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antistatic_wrist_strap

 

[bozo699]

Over 40 years ago, I had a job working for Dow Chemical, in a plant that made polyethylene sheeting, wrapping the finished rolls with....you guessed it polyethylene sheeting. My wrapping station had a rubber mat to stand on and the table was steel (and well grounded), with pivoting rollers, and a roll rack above, to pull down wrapping material from. It was as is it was designed to produce the maximum static charge on one's body. the edge of the table was just the right height to hit me in a strategic area below the waist, so I soon learned to tap the edge of the table with the back of my hand before letting any other part of me touch the table. On the discharging personal static charge thing, for those working on computers, they make wrist straps that are connected to a wire that is coiled like a that of a phone hand set, with an alligator clip on the other end, so that the technician will not build up a static charge that would harm sensitive equipment. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antistatic_wrist_strap

Boyd,
Where I work the chargers and powder monkeys were these on there ankles and also some were static shoes, of course being an electrician I can't wear either hahaha!! or rather I won't!!!
Wayne.

 

[ReedG]

I know I'm such a heathen compared to most of the guys on this forum, but my reloading area is in a basically unheated basement where temps run from high-50s to low-60s in a good winter, bare cement floor and three reclaimed old office desks, two with L's. I have 4", 6" and 8" drop tubes for my Harrell's and none of them has had static problems after about the first 100 powder drops. The Redding BR-30 has never had any static. One of the desks has my amateur radio station on it so I can load a few rounds, spin the chair around and do a little CW or RTTY. Probably not a good environment for a Chargemaster, but that's OK 'cause I don't want one anyway.

 

[bozo699]

I know I'm such a heathen compared to most of the guys on this forum, but my reloading area is in a basically unheated basement where temps run from high-50s to low-60s in a good winter, bare cement floor and three reclaimed old office desks, two with L's. I have 4", 6" and 8" drop tubes for my Harrell's and none of them has had static problems after about the first 100 powder drops. The Redding BR-30 has never had any static. One of the desks has my amateur radio station on it so I can load a few rounds, spin the chair around and do a little CW or RTTY. Probably not a good environment for a Chargemaster, but that's OK 'cause I don't want one anyway.

Reed,
You might want to watch that cw key around those enrgetics, and my hat is off to anybody that would have enough paitence for RTTY A little CQDX will work for me.
Wayne.

 

[ReedG]

Nice to you're a ham, Wayne. I am mostly a CW op but do quite a bit of digital stuff. Cut my RTTY teeth in Navy MARS with old Model 19s in the basement. Now it's all on computer and I love it. 73 ...

 

[FryeGuy]

well guys, thanks for all your help. I actually did something last night that ended up working like a charm so far. The more I thought about it over the last day or so, I had a theory I had to test. I realized that the powder never stuck on the upper half of the tube, it was always the last 1 1/2" to 2" of tube where the powder would stick like crazy. I figured drop tubes weren't that expensive, so I took one of the drop tubes, cut it in half, and re-chamfered the bottom of it. I ran 30+ loads worth thru it of IMR4895. not the first kernel even dared to stick in that drop tube. I realized I had shoes on, so after that batch of powder was thru, I did it again with Varget. This time I took my shoes off. this was the same batch of powder that previously stuck like crazy. again, not the first kernel stuck. I didn't have the wire connected to the water heater or anything. So problem solved! I don't currently see the need for a long drop tube for what I am doing anyway. if it starts to get static build up again, I can cut even more of it off. until then I think I am set.

 

[BoydAllen]

I run a 10" drop tube on mine. Did you try wiping it down with a drier sheet? If you had, you would have solved the problem. It is pretty standard practice. I mention this because you may need a longer drop tube some time, and cutting yours off, while it got the job done, is unnecessary.