static build up on custom plastic mb tray

fastboy

fastboy

fastboy

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ok so I'm trying to make my computer built into the ikea worktops I have,i have made a 'drawer' style unit which will sit inside the cutout in the worktop with a piece of 8mm clear acrylic over the top as a window and was going to use some pvcu gloss finish soffet/cladding board for the inside of it and the mb tray so it looks nice and clean and matches the worktop,however on cutting and screwing the bottom on there was a lot of static I could feel on it making the hairs on my arm stand on end when touching it.


any ideas on cures/solutions or am I just going to have to stick to paint over the wood and forget the pvcu?

thanks
 
What's the unit made of? Wood?

The major differences in a metal pc case is the whole chassis is grounded when connected to the PSU, so it eliminates a lot of grounding issues right off the bat.

Wood/mdf is not very conductive, but it's possible that a combination of sawing /drilling it resulted in static build up, especially if there are plastic components or lacquers involved.

I'd guess the static is a result of the drilling /cutting and can be discharged easily, but you might want a dedicated earth wire, one end attached to the mobo mounting screw and the other attached to a pemenant ground like a radiator or something.

Mounting the motherboard on a butchered metal motherboard tray might simplify things as you'll have good mounts for the standoffs and it'll be easier to ground.

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong but the standoffs also act as earths for the motherboard , so if they are screwed into a plastic motherboard 'tray' rather than a metal one, there's no earth.
 
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yes the unit which the pc is going to sit inside is made of wood which is then going to be covered inside with the pvc cladding.

I have made a mb tray before from acrylic with no problems but didn't recall any static feel from it when making it,having just felt the pvc again the static seems to have gone so touchwood might be ok,as you say I can always ground one of the mb posts to the psu casing since that's earthed.
 
Ok but you need a good ground if the interior of the pc case is made of plastic, including the motherboard tray.

So you might need to make a ground cable specifically for this, a bit like a 12v car battery has the negative terminal connected directly to the metal car chassis.

Exept you'd have to attach it to something in the house, a radiator or copper heating pipe or something.
 
Yes in theory, as long as it's a good metal to metal contact, so if your psu is painted or powder coated or whatever you'll have to make sure there is good contact, maybe by sanding a small area to get a good contact.

Also if the PSU is unplugged, you'll lose the earth, hence why it might make sense to have a secondary permanent earth via a different route.
 
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