[ Home | Staff & Contacts | HiFi Playground | Listening tests | DIY & Tweakings |

Music & Books ]

The TNT StatTrap©

Simple static control for turntables

[Italian version]

Product: DIY anti-static trap for turntables

Company: not for sale, TNT-Audio free DIY design
Approx. cost: 5-10$
Author: Chris Templer - TNT SouthAfrica
Published: February, 2014

Introduction
Much has been written about ridding LP's of static. There are devices
available to zap your LP's as well as plenty of Anti-Static sprays and all of
these cost money that you could spend on something worthwhile. Below is
an absurdly simple cure which is simple, very cheap and actually works.

This is no "magic", only standard industry practice, in this case cribbed

from Xerox printers. This method is used in many other industries, does not
wear out and other than one wire no fancy connections. I live on the
Highveld in South Africa which in the Winter is very, very dry and nothing is
safe from static. Walking over a carpet to change a CD or record results in
a "bite" from my equipment and before I thought this cure up, crackles
when lifting the record from the grounded professional EMT 948 turntable.
Almost worse than that is how a record picks up dust from the air when
static is present, not to mention occasional crackles whilst playing.

Construction
All that is needed is a small Carbon Fiber brush, something to mount it on,
which in my case was a small block of wood, and a thin wire to earth. The
width of the brush holder is around 25mm but only because that's how it's
made.

The brush pictured comes from a Xerox printer although any small
conductive thing with many points will work. Industry also uses Copper
tinsel which is a version of the wire wool used for cleaning pots. Visit Fraser
Anti-Static techniques for more details.

The brush does not touch the LP, mine is spaced roughly 4 mm from the LP
edge and level with the record. The wooden block just rests on the
turntable edge. Run a wire to earth and that's it. No more static, no more
sprays to contaminate everything, no $100-00 Zap Guns and no fancy
humidifiers. In fact it's the end of static problems!

How it works
The "brushes" / "tinsel" have a large number of highly conductive fibers,
carbon fiber and copper. The fine tips of the fibers concentrate the electric
field of the static charge and ionize the air. This ionized air provides ions of
the opposite polarity to neutralize the static charge and allow it to flow to
earth through the brush body. The tips of the fiber do not need to touch the
material to be neutralized, normally they are positioned 2-3mm from it.
The static discharger must be connected to an earth / ground. Although
static problems in record playback are annoying they are in actuality only
small charges which is why large anti-static bars are not needed.
Conclusion
Even for the non-technical this is a very easy and worthwhile project and, if
needed, be a simple Internet search will find a company that will probably
give you a sample of the brush or tinsel. The brushes come up to 5 meters
in length and all you would need is a small off cut.

© Copyright 2014 Chris Templer - chris@tnt-audio.com - www.tnt-

audio.com

[ Home | Staff & Contacts | HiFi Playground | Listening tests | DIY & Tweakings |
Music & Books ]