BP Blowup

[Mako]

http://i627.photobucket.com/albums/tt358/Mako_CAS/Odds%20and%20Ends/loadingup.png

[Driftwood Johnson]

OK  Mako, let's be fair. The bunny suit has nothing to do with a properly grounded work station. It's because the room is a clean room. Bunny suits are not necessary for a grounded work station. But I suspect you knew that. But I'll bet you dollars to donuts that the yellow plug on the suit with the wire coming out of it is a grounding wire. The chair probably has a chain on it to drag on the metal floor too.

I'm sure this was meant to poke fun at me, but I have insisted all along in this thread that I do not take all the precautions required for an electronics industry standard grounded work station. I simply try to show a little bit of caution. I only put Black Powder in a non sparking powder measure designed for Black Powder, and I try not to load BP on really dry days.

[Mako]

Driftwood,
Yep, I know exactly what a bunny suit is.

I've worn one (and still wear clean room gear, not full bunny suits) more often than I care to think about. I spent 9 years as a design engineer and manager of the automation and tooling design group in the semiconductor and electronics packaging industry.  I had already spent 10 years in medical devices and I am now after a 16 year hiatus once again working with medical devices.  Believe me when I say I know what clean room gear is.

I designed many, many small workstations just like that one in that picture.  I sat through required yearly ESD training for 9 years... Yeah I know what it takes to protect against static discharge.  I also know how overblown the threat is made out to be...

I have lived in that environment too long to get worked up about static with BP.  Oddly enough I have also worked in the pyro-techniques field with munition; primarily fusing, decoy flares and bursting mechanisms.  We even bought tons of BP from Goex.  I have overseen design for that type of equipment as well.  I know what it takes to make things go bang and just importantly not to go bang.

~Mako

[Leo Tanner]

Well, we have explored the options of being "perfectly safe".  In the end it is still gun powder.  It was designed to explode with ignition so everyone needs to make up their own mind of what is good and what is not as long as it doesn't threaten anyone else.  My wrist strap comment was just to say that there are ways around the issue if it concerns someone.

[Jefro]

Personally, I get nervous by those who cavalierly state they have read all there is to know about static discharge and Black Powder and declare it is all a myth.

Howdy DJ, I did not mean to be cavalier or imply that everything I've read and learned about loading BP and static discharge is a myth. My reply was about the OP and another internet story about a BP blowup without a shred of evidence, it was another "I heard from so n' so about a BP so n' so".
"accident a fella had while pouring BP and the DUST was supposedly ignited by a static spark. I say "supposedly"
"recently reported that an electrical engineer told him he had had an accident while pouring powder into a container."

It seems like every year or two there is another story (rumor, bologna, myth) about a BP accident that came from pouring, carrying, tightening the cap...etc...etc...all blamed on static. All these stories are from someone who told someone, who told someone, and "I was his best friend", or "and I was there". None of these stories have ever had pictures of any damage, or any local news reports, or any sign that it really happened. It's real easy for a keyboard cowboy to stretch something they heard to the point that they were there.

IMHO, and just my opinion, there are enough folks handling BP and have in the past that if any of these stories were true we should be able to put our finger on one incident and say "ah ha, there it is".

I have the utmost respect for you and others that are much more qualified and educated than myself. I try learn all I can and then decide what precautions I think are needed to safely reload. In fact I have mirrored most of your teachings and look forward to the next lesson.

Best Regards

Jefro Relax-Enjoy