Grounding drum sander /static shock

[Don Wacker]

Im tired of getting shocked after turning off the drum sander. Its just static electricity but its getting old real quick. The cabinet is grounded to the the building, Ive verified that ground. I shut off the machine and if I touch the outfeed or the blast gate I get zapped. I ran a ground wire from the chassis ground to the outfeed then to the blast gate with no luck. This is the only machine that creates static. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Don

[glenn bradley]

If there is a valid path from the surface to ground the static will dissipate before it reaches a level that will shock you. The reason the charge is hitting you is because you are a better path to ground than it can otherwise find. Unplug the power cord and use a continuity checker between your outfeed and the ground lug on your power cord. If that is good, plug the cord in and check between the outfeed and your electrical ground at the panel or outside. Somewhere, the path to ground is not good for the items that are preferring to discharge through you.

[Don Wacker]

I have continuity (checked with Fluke) between every place on the machine to the ground spike and the panel. I ran a bare stranded wire from the blast gate to the ground screw on the machine. No such luck it doesnt matter if I walk over to the table saw or the any other machine I get shocked after using the drum sander. Im thinking about running a ground through all my duct work to every blast gate but dont know if that would help.

Don

[Dale Cruea]

Sounds like you are collecting the static electricity. We had this problem on a sand blaster at work.
Remove any matting you are standing on and run a wrist strap(we used one like the computer people use) to ground on the machine.

[Chris Tsutsui]

Is the blast gate metal? How about you insulate the handle on the blast gate so your hands don't get shocked? Wrap it in some fabric or rubber tape or something.

Or you change to an anti-static duct because I believe it's the friction of the dust and the duct creating the charge.

Or make a ground wire going directly from the blast gate to the ground.

[Jeff Duncan]

Are you using plastic duct? I never got any static electricity off any of my sanders so it's not normal.

good luck,
JeffD

[Bill Huber]

Don the best way to take care of it is to use a grounding strap to the machine like Dale said. The other thing you can do is leave your hand on the machine at all times.
I get it from my planner all the time, so what I do is to leave my hand touching the infeed table or the outfeed table and that takes care of it.
Here is one with a straight wire.
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103245

This one has a curl cord on it, I like it better and this is what I use at work.
http://www.amazon.com/KingWin-Anti-Static-Wrist-Strap-ATS-W24/dp/B0042TLA90

[David Kumm]

At least it is static. I had a ground wire come loose in the starter on an old Greenlee vertical borer and became the ground when drilling through metal. Hadn't thought about the fact it was on wheels. Bummer, Dave

[Rick Fisher]

I get the same thing with my bigger sander.. Sanders seem to create more static than other machines.. I think its all the tiny particles going up the dust chute..

You need to run a copper wire from the handle to raw metal on the sander .. let the static ground constantly .. I did run one to a painted surface and got no help.

The problem with Static is that it doesn't really move like regular electricity .. its "static" .. lol

[Dan Hintz]

I had a ground wire come loose in the starter on an old Greenlee vertical borer and became the ground when drilling through metal.
For this exact reason, I highly suggest against grounding yourself to the machine... bad practice, and very dangerous. If you have a build-up of charge on a metal base, that base is not grounded like you think it is. Make sure all connections are touching bare metal and not covered by paint.

[Rod Sheridan]

Doug, are using plastic ducting or plastic flex hoses on your drum sander?

I had the same problem with my planer. I have grounded metal ducting s there's no possibility of a static discharge except of course for the plastic flex hose I used on the planer.

Every time I bent over to and my head got too close to the the felex ZAP! So I replaced it with a piece of aluminum flex, which was grounded by the metal ducting.

Regards, Rod.

[Don Wacker]

Thanks I got this fixed! I just needed to open my eyes. I notice that my shop is pretty dust free except the thick layer stuck to all the pvc duct. I ran a plain stranded wire along all my duct and attached to each blast metal gate terminating at the rebar spike. I dusted off all the pvc, well had my grandson do it any ways. So far so good no shocks.

Don