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Old 03-31-2017, 09:39 AM
dtec1 dtec1 is offline
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Static charge

Hey guys, So I have been having this problem for a while. I am wondering if anyone else has this problem and maybe found a solution? So this only happens with certain belts like scotch brite belts, cloth backed like 3m trizact and a few others. So when I am grinding I get this friction between the belts and glass covered platen and it creates a static charge and lil sparks shoot off the platen onto my hand. Its not a huge shock but enough to surprise you. So I would like to fix that but I have gotten used to it a bit. But every once in a while instead of sparking off into my hand I guess it travels through me and I can feel it spark off my foot into the floor. Its worse of cores if I am wearing slippers (LOL one of the benefits of working at home ) but even with shoes and even when I have heavy boots on it still happens. When it sparks off my foot it is MUCH stronger than when it pops off into my hand. I have ruined 2 knife now as when I feel it in my foot it surprises me and I have dug the knife into the grinder. A couple times its been easy enough to fix but twice the only way of fixing it would be to take off a lot of the blade as the gash has been so big in the knife......ANY advice would really Help I cant afford to make these gash's in my knives. THANKS GUYS!
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Old 03-31-2017, 11:28 AM
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Ray Rogers Ray Rogers is offline
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Everybody has this problem, lots of possible ways it can be addressed.

Cold dry air helps make static electricity so warm up the room.

Wear rubber soled footwear, not plastic or leather.

Stand on a rubber mat.

Put a separate ground wire on your grinder. If necessary, get some braided wire hooked to a ground (either a real ground rod driven into the ground or a cold water pipe) and let the end of the wire brush against the belt as it runs.

Moisten the belt.

One of those things should help and there are probably many others....


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Old 03-31-2017, 12:27 PM
dtec1 dtec1 is offline
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Thanks ray, Its in the garage and I heat it up as much as possible with a space heater anyway as its cold here right now. I think I will get a rubber mat and see if that helps at all. I was actually talking to my mom the other day about this and she suggested maybe that spray that is ment to get rid of static electricity in laundry. Maybe a quick spray of that on the belt or the platen before grinding may work...have to try it next time I go to the grocery store. But I think the rubber mat may be key. When I wear my boots (wich are rubber like my shoes but a lot tthicker it still happens but not quite as bad. Ill just try combination of things and see what happens
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Old 03-31-2017, 01:28 PM
jimmontg jimmontg is offline
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Dave you can also use a ground wire held between your fingers, nothing bigger than a very small speaker wire, I use a single strand of bare wire about .003 thick and hold it between my fingers and blade. The wire is just taped to the grinder out of the way on the right side. I have the same issue too, also remember to just touch the metal of the grinder with the blade often when in a position where you can't use the wire. TAKE NOTE! NO thick wire, three thousandths is plenty to stop static build up. I just stripped a strand of wire off of an extra telephone line I had. If the belt did grab the wire it isn't going to snatch my hand into the belt pulley, good enough reason to use very thin wire. Can't always use it, but for just hogging steel it works pretty good. Could tape it to top of your hand as well.

I think Ray's solution of grounding the metal frame of the grinder is a better solution to static build up, it has somewhere else to go, the mat will protect your feet, but you will still get charged up. Try that first, save your money Dave the sprayon stuff won't help here, it conducts the static into the sides of the dryer, try grounding the grinder to the screw on an electric plug, it doesn't have to be big, just bare all the way to dissipate the static along the way. Run a damp sponge lightly on the back of the belt will work as well, lightly.

For some reason my 2x48 doesn't do it, don't know why except maybe I rest my hand on the top guard sometimes as I grind from the top in the flat position away from myself, but I don't usually touch the top guard. I have no reason to remove the guard as it doesn't get in my way at all. It will if I convert to a 2x72 though. My grinders sit on a big plastic cart and my 1x42 builds up a charge which is why I used the wire in the first place, never did it before as as far as I can remember, most all the grinders I used were grounded on a metal table. Now that I think about it, my 2x48's platen is grounded to the motor, my 1x42 runs on a pulley while the 8" disc is on a shaft from the motor and never shocks me. Food for thought.

Last edited by jimmontg; 03-31-2017 at 01:44 PM.
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