Literally!!!

The grinder I use is a fairily cheap unit....only good for flat grinding....I cant complain too much because it has more than paid for itself.


Here is the problem I just ran into.

I resurfaced my platen today with a new material....I cant remember for the life of me what it is called at the moment, but It is usually used in areas of high wear..where two surfaces slide togerther frequently.
It is not a metal but some synthetic material. It woks awsome as a platen material. except for one thing.....Static electricity!!


It seems that the friction between this synthetic material and the cloth backing of my belts acts like one of those static generators everyone has played with in science class.... grind grind, gind ZAP! Grind, Grind, Grind ZAP!

Anyhoo if anyone has any Ideas on how I can remedy this I am all ears...this new stuff woks really well....It would be a shame to not be able to use it....

Thanks

Eric

Eric, what your saying just started to happen and not when you did it before. Sounds like more that just stactic electricty. Is it doing it when you turn it off or doing it while your using it? Sounds like a ground problem, have you blown out your motor. I bet its full of steel dust. Another sulution is to drive a steel pin in the ground and run a wire from the motor to the steel pin. A wire any where on the motor as long as theirs bare metal contact should re-route the electicty to ground instead of threw you. Have you checked out the outlet your plugged into, its probably full of crap to.
Are you using the graphite or cerramic? Don't stand in a bucket of water for awhile...Ray

I have had the same problem. Ever slide your feet on a carpet? The grinder is doing the same thing. Shoes with rubber soles insolate you from the ground and make things even worse. What I did was loop a small copper wire around my ankle and ran it to the bottom of my shoe so that I was standing on the wire when I was grinding. Sounds silly but it works.
Bob Brothers
www.bobcatcustoms.com/ (http://www.bobcatcustoms.com/)

You betch ya it's static alright. I had exactly the same problem with my grinder. It would bog down whenever I would put presure on the platen, so I bolted a strip of plastic to the platen to reduce the friction. Worked a dream but the shocks to my fingers were horrid. I tried to organize an earth but all variations were the same, still got the jolt. My solution was to remove the plastic and buy a tin of good silicon spray that I spray on to the back of the belt when I start up the grinder. Doesn't work quite as well but considering I don't get the shocks anymore the result is more than satisfactory.

Mick

I had the same problum with my buffers, I fixed it with a ground wire from the frame of the buffer to a long nail 12" long driven into the ground Gib

Please DON'T ground yourself to the machine housing.

Home Depot has grounding rods to drive into the ground, attatch a wire to the fuse box, and/or ground lug of the machine.
A wire from the block (platten) to the motor housing wouldn't hurt either, to take the static charge to earth ground.
You can even stand on a gronded wire, but don't attatch yourself directly to the machine, PLEASE. The ground rod takes the extra current back to the earth.
Ground rods are quite common here in Texas, easy to install, and could easily save your life.( a cheep fix, too)
You can use as many ground rods as you need.
Maybe some electrician can help us with the formulas for grounding, (how many rods are needed for what size shops?)

Electricity of any kind can be dangerous coming from your equipment. A sudden shock can make you jump and cause a nasty booboo much worse than the shock itself.

If when you the shock it wants to pull you towards the machine you have a short in the system. If when you get the shock you want to pull away then it is static elecricity. You can put more humidity into the are air with one of those inexpesive vaporizers. The easiest way to deal with the the static electricity is to spray the running belt with that anti static spray for clothes. It doesn't take much and it does do a super good job. I believe that the best wear plate for a platen and the longest lasting is a covering of neo ceran glass. It will take lots of heavy use for a long time. frank Niro

Thanks for all the replys guys.

Fistly it is Static Electricity..for sure. I had my home electrician( my dad :) ) check out the machine just to be sure it wasent something else.

I am going to try some of the suggestions above for a fix. but for now I'm just going to stick to my steel platen until I figure out a safe soloution.


thanks

Eric

Glad I'm not the only one-

I was getting shocks and really couldn't figure how the rubber belt or the wooden table were carrying current. I thought it might be static, but it's a pretty good shock, and it is steady if I leave my hand on the steel platen when some part of me hits the ground. Guess my work boots are getting old...

I attached a copper wire from the grinder to the ground, which cleared it up... except for when one of my legs hits the wire...

First of all. . . (b)DO NOT GROUND YOURSELF!!!!!!!!!(/b) :evil:

Second, if you don't have a meter and don't know what to check for,
(b)GET SOME EXPERT HELP(/b)
I would hate to lose some of the good help I found in there boards

Check all your electrical connections for good grounds, make sure the ground at your fuse/breaker box is still connected to a ground rod or an underground metal water pipe. Use a meter to check for voltage from the machine frame to the outlet ground, a few volts may be OK but any more indicates a problem.

Add a ground wire to your platen and connect it to your motor ground.

If the problem is static, find a grounding wrist strap like they use in the electronics assembly ot semiconductor industry. these have a resistor (usally 10,000 ohms up to 1 meg) built in, that drains the charge slowly.

Some motors develop leakage to ground and start blowing the breaker, if disconnecting the ground helps, GET A NEW MOTOR OR HAVE IT REBUILT. Some old motors leak so much they won't run grounded, these make great door stops.

Please be carefull, safe and come back.

Another little trick is not to grind in rubber soled running shoes. The static gets really nasty when it can't bleed off.

I wear leather work boots to reduce static buildup and on really bad days I wet the boots a bit to reduce the secondary shock as it goes to ground on the concrete floor. The metal dust on the floor does a good job of acting as a ground plate.

Eric,

Did you get this resolved?

PUT in a groud rod and attack a jumper cable to the ground rod. Attach the other end to the seat of your pants.:lol: :rollin: :lol: