# Static Electricity Welded My Table Saw



## bubinga (Feb 5, 2011)

I was playing around (About 20years ago) with a CB radio, magnet mount antenna,I figured I would stick the antenna to ,table saw for a good ground plane,.When I got within 4in of saw ,with magnet mount, a big bolt of electricity,shot between the saw and the magnet mount,wow a big loud bamm ! magnet stuck to saw ,
(my hand was holding plastic -not touching metal) ,when I pulled off the antenna,there was a small crater burned into saw top, about 1/4in dia,and 1/16 deep.
I m not sure why this happened for sure. The saw stand was open at the front and back on the bottom .so I had covered it "to contain the dust" with plastic window covering ,the kind you stick on and heat with a hair drier .
I had noticed saw dust sticking to plastic ,like static was present, but didn't think much about it , well apparently there was a build up of static.There was no dust collector involved, the saw was on wood floor .
The antenna cable was not hooked to anything at the time.
Again I don't know exactly why this happened ,BUT IT DID. Scared the Sh** out of me.


----------



## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

You didn't have the antenna connected to the radio thumbing the mic?


----------



## bubinga (Feb 5, 2011)

The coax was not connected to a radio


----------



## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

Did you have flourscent lights on? Anything thing on?


----------



## bubinga (Feb 5, 2011)

No fluorescent lights on,
At that time ,my shop was a spare bedroom .
As far as I can remember ,it was day time and , I don't think there was not any thing on in that room.,bright 
sun shine ,big window
The radio equipment was in a adjacent room ,but was not connected to coax
I think I may have had a two prong adapter on the three prong plug
The saw was 3/4hp direct drive, 110 v


----------



## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

Not really my forte' ;-)) I suspect a Tesla effect from one of the live circuits in the area. I really don't know how CB antennas are made, but I think they have an amplitude of 108" or there abouts. They have to account for that somehow unless you use a steel whip that long. Stray currents show up in odd places, that is why swimming pool wiring is so complex, especially the grounding requirement.


----------



## wseand (Jan 27, 2010)

Was your saw plugged in. Since your antenna was not plugged in it was searching for a ground and found it in your table. Its just one of those things. Normally you insulate your antennas from steel so this sort of thing doesn't happen. Antennas have a tendency to hold a electrical charge till it finds a ground to release it. Weird anyway you look at it.


----------



## bubinga (Feb 5, 2011)

The saw was plugged in.


----------



## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

That might give me the heebie geebies ;-)) My wife had lightning strike very close to her leg when she was a kid, but no antennas or table saws involved ;-))


----------

