I thought I "bought the farm" today. I turned on my 1 hp baldor belt grinder, was interupted and spent a few minutes talking to a Vet, when I got back to the truck and started to grind a shoe the static charge knocked me flat on my ass. I got up turned everything off, double checked my extension cord, the GFI outlet I was plugged into and the motor itself. Came home tonight, plugged in and checked everything with a meter; no stray voltage, no bad ground , no short anywhere. I turned on the grinder, checked the motor; even put my hand on it. As soon as I started to grind a shoe, BAM! I'm sitting on the ground, feeling like I just pee'd on a electric fence. It's been real dry lately but this hasn't happen in the last 8 yrs this grinder been in service. Any ideas? Any solutions?
All the electrical is in steel conduit/steel boxes with ground screws, mounted to the aluminum cap, all the electrical equipment have 3 prong plugs. The grinder was running and showed no voltage on the case or brackets. When I touched to shoe to the belt and then my arm touched the truck, SNAP went the spark! It's never happened before but talk about making me gun shy.
Your grounding the truck when you touch the grinder. Sounds like you've got a short. Three prong plugs gfi etc don't make a difference unless the truck is physically grounded. If you ground the truck I'd bet it will trip a breaker.
The truck is essentially a closed system. Check for voltage with the meter connected to a ground away from the truck.
i ll ask a customer of mine who is an electrician tomorrow, suggest that if you know an electricity pro, that you do the same, ray
To add to the mystery, I came home for lunch today, replaced the zirconia alumina(blue) belt with a aluminum oxide(maroon) belt and ground an old shoe- no shock. I then sucked it up, put the blue belt back on went to grind a heel check and ZAP; that sucker got me good. WTF is going on?
Brian, have you tried moving the grinder physically to another work space ,ie off the truck? All these zaps might not be to good for an old guy like yourself,if your going to continue testing, you might think of making up a grounded holder that insulates you, i m sincere in this , you buy product from me and it is imperative that you stay safe! ray Ray
That also happened to me off of my Baldor. Only once and I had successfully blocked it from my memory until now. I never figured it out and it never happened again and my set up sounds identical to yours as far as conduit and everything grounded. It was one of the most powerful shocks I had ever felt and I had taken an electric fence handle on the eyeball once.
Well folks, after my electro shock therapy, I feel very mellow... I really don't think anything is a big deal anymore; certainly nothing worth getting excited about. Later today I'll be following after butterflies with my chamomile tea....
I did run that *&&^%#@$^^)(&%^^ grinder (tentatively at first) most of yesterday without getting anymore "therapy", with both the maroon and blue belts. Either there was something weird going on atmospherically before or God thought I needed a wake up call, to straighten up and fly right!
Brian when u figure out why a what's doing it ..please let us know so I can rig mine up to do it...dustian that helps always wants to use the grinder I'm not a fan of his heel checks he does like a kid AMD all day let me let me let me till I wear down and give in...I'm gonna fix his little red wagon..
