JohnB. wrote:Save your time. The handles are already aluminum, not plastic.

I just went and ground the morning coffee and checked, you are correct. They are aluminum, and probably anodized black.

I did try grinding with one hand on the center post yesterday and that did not seem to make much of a difference, but this morning I ground the same new beans, but did so in my bare feet.; NO STATIC CLING....

Now I am a poor person to judge static cling because I can cause light plastic things to not fly straight or even leave my hand at all. About 30 years ago I discovered that I can dowse for water, or anything underground that is different from the material on which I am walking. Weird stuff but it works, and the better the connection my hands have to the dowsing rods/sticks/twigs the stronger the pull. If my hands are dry then it does not work as well. If my hands are damp then I have a great connection to whatever force is happening.

So the bare feet might actually have played into the zero static. Later today I will try the same beans while wearing socks.

FotonDrv wrote:I did try grinding with one hand on the center post yesterday and that did not seem to make much of a difference

Haha. I did the same thing, with no difference noticed. Although, today I am getting virtually zero static, anyway.

I think the only way to really t/s the issue would be with a big bag of old beans you wouldn't mind putting through the grinder while running the gamut of possible static-relievers. It would have to be a day, and a bean, where you noticed problems, of course.

Thanks for doing the glass test....goes to show that solutions to this problem involve mostly trial and error, complicated by the vast number of variables involving different beans in different kitchens indifferent climates and countries.

When puzzling through this always keep in mind that static involves charge imbalances and ONLY on the surfaces of the materials, including you. So aluminum handles which are coated behave like the coating material when it comes to static.

Grinding thru a glass lower funnel doesn't work.

Holding the stabilizer handle upside down so a finger can be in contact with the burr shaft while standing barefoot doesn't work.

Doing an Indian prayer dance doesn't work.

Spritzing the beans does.

I'd be curious to see if TerraNova's coated burrs diminish the problem though. It would be a double whammy if we could extend the life of the burrs essentially indefinitely in the home and eliminate the static charge that is created.

FotonDrv wrote: Later today I will try the same beans while wearing socks.

I will ask my babe, to grind in her Victorias Secret underwear maybe this might have an effect (to static).

I'd be curious to see if TerraNova's coated burrs diminish the problem though.

I doubt that the 0,003mm - .000118" thick TiN coating (A well-known use for TiN coating is for edge retention and corrosion resistance on machine tooling) has an effect on statics, but I have sent the lower funnel of my M3 (stainless + Titanium/ TiN coated) to another company, for an anti grip / slide coating for the inside of the lower funnel which is a mix out of PTFE (something like Teflon) and ceramics.
Maybe this makes a change.
BTW. The upper funnel gets 24k gold plated, to get rid of the smelly brass.
I know that this thing has gone over the top... but it was cheaper than having the funnel in stainless + TiN coated

Edit: the main reason to avoid a stainless funnel in an aluminium thread, is because of the unfavorable coefficient of friction of the contacting materials.
Stainless steel inside an aluminium thread is not a long lasting combination.

BTW. The upper funnel gets 24k gold plated, to get rid of the smelly brass.

Frank, you are definitely over the top and I LOVE it.

Terranova wrote:I doubt that the 0,003mm - .000118" thick TiN coating (A well-known use for TiN coating is for edge retention and corrosion resistance on machine tooling) has an effect on statics, but I have sent the lower funnel of my M3 (stainless + Titanium/ TiN coated) to another company, for an anti grip / slide coating for the inside of the lower funnel which is a mix out of PTFE (something like Teflon) and ceramics.
Maybe this makes a change.
BTW. The upper funnel gets 24k gold plated, to get rid of the smelly brass.
I know that this thing has gone over the top... but it was cheaper than having the funnel in stainless + TiN coated

Edit: the main reason to avoid a stainless funnel in an aluminium thread, is because of the unfavorable coefficient of friction of the contacting materials.
Stainless steel inside an aluminium thread is not a long lasting combination.

Frank: I can see the underwear generating all sorts of static, but not with the HG-1!!! Might make interesting coffee filters... We have bikini baristas in this part of the country and they too generate static with some of the locals.

I tried socks, no socks again today and a different story. The only thing that seems to work fairly well is a light spritz of water! Simple fix and nothing else to do, except maybe coat the burrs?

That glass funnel sure was a static hound! Wow, almost clogged the funnel. Thanks for showing that Tom.

Now my cars benefit from a water/methanol injection system,,,, maybe NAH!!!!

My K30 gets static every once in a while. No way to do water drops with hopper use. No sure what causes it.

I've used a damp finger in the exit chute of my Baratza Vario, you might try the same with the K30 when static becomes an issue.

Well, I have to weigh in on this topic. I usually stay out of these debates because people with their own experiences will always contradict the facts of static electricity.

My "opinions" are based on 17 yrs of working all day every day in the field of static control. so here are some facts based on my knowledge of the science:

The glass funnel is an insulator, it will hold a charge whether grounded or not.

Plastic bins are the same as the glass funnel, insulators and can not be grounded.

Touching a burr will not ground it unless you are connected to ground yourself. It may create a small sudden discharge but the charge will rebuild.

Wearing no shoes does not ground you unless you are standing on a grounded surface.

Charged coffee grounds will attract to anything that is metal whether grounded or not because a charged surface (the coffee) will look for a ground reference or an oppositely charged surface.

I have done tests with my AC ionizing equipment and this is the best way to kill the charge. This equipment creates a field of positive and negatively charged ions that will neutralize anything in the field. These products are what I sell but they are way too expensive for a home coffee setup.

Here is a test for you folks to try. It's called passive ionization. Take something multipronged, like a fork or one of those tined things you hold turkey slices with, and ground (to earth ground) all the tines. Hold that about 1/4" from the coffee grounds. When a static field is felt by the sharp grounded points (the sharper the better) it excites a flow to and from ground naturally generating a small passive ionized field. As the coffee grounds pass in front of the sharp grounded point it should become reduce the charge. You could do this by hold a fork in one hand (just above the coffee grounds path) and touch the sink with the other.

The problem with this theory is that it takes about a 5kV charge to excite that flow. If your charge is lower it may not work. I could measure the charge on some coffee from my Maestro but the field will be read from the bin and the coffee grounds. I have no static problem on my Mazzer.

Just some thoughts based on the facts of working with static in industrial applications, try it and see if it works for coffee.

Barry Bayer