Grounding Cabinets and Tables

[Cecell]

In my new shop I need to ground my yellow fire cabinet and want to go ahead and ground my metal working surfaces while I'm at it since I do tinker with microcontrollers and such on occasion.

All receptacles use those blue plastic in-wall stud mounted boxes and are wired with Romex 12/2 w/ground and all metal objects make contact with concrete floors that are poured directly into dirt.

Now, question: Can I ground objects by connecting them to the ground wire that runs to a receptacle? The goal closest to my brain at the moment is mitigating static electricity. The GFCI of the receptacles powering tools would catch any device faults right?

 

[Chuckster in NJ]

Check out: "Equal Potential Bonding and Grounding"……… Lots of information on the net.

 

[mm08822]

Probably the simplest/cheapest for esd......just use the recept cover plate screw.

 

[Cecell]

[duplicate]

 

[Cecell]

Probably the simplest/cheapest for esd......just use the recept cover plate screw.

Damn, ok got it thanks! Lol

 

[dave*99]

Be careful with grounding workbenches. An ESD workbench is designed to dissipate static. It has a high impedance grounding system as does the ESD wrist straps. This is not a low impedance ground as that can present an electrocution hazard.
Imagine one hand on a grounded work bench and the other touching something live inside an electronic device.

There are ESD mats you can place on a wood bench.

Read up on ESD as mentioned above.

What You Need To Know Before Buying An ESD Workbench

An ESD workbench is an effective tool to combat the damage caused by electrostatic discharge. Here is what you need to know before purchasing and what you

resources.workstationindustries.com

 

[Innovate1]

Be careful with grounding workbenches. An ESD workbench is designed to dissipate static. It has a high impedance grounding system as does the ESD wrist straps. This is not a low impedance ground as that can present an electrocution hazard.
Imagine one hand on a grounded work bench and the other touching something live inside an electronic device.

There are ESD mats you can place on a wood bench.

Read up on ESD as mentioned above.

What You Need To Know Before Buying An ESD Workbench

An ESD workbench is an effective tool to combat the damage caused by electrostatic discharge. Here is what you need to know before purchasing and what you

resources.workstationindustries.com

This. ^ Grounded metal benches are a shock hazard if working on live electrical things. Even with low voltage stuff I would want a high impedance ESD mat. That way if a conductor touches the surface it has much less chance of damage to the circuit. I think some rules for grounding flammable storage require a hard ground (low impedance - just a wire). Since the benches are on concrete they likely have a path to ground that way and that might be lower impedance than an ESD high impedance connection. I would do a high impedance ground on the benches and use an ESD mat.

 

[mm08822]

For board work, i have always been around wooden topped benches. The frames were grounde. When needed, esd mats and wrist straps were used on top of the wood. Not too often however.

At home, I frequently use the steel top of my tablesaw with a large piece of cardboard beneath the work, especially when 120 or 240volt stuff is opened up and plugged in for troubleshooting and repair.
Resting forearms on a bare surface while working could surely light you up.

Regardless of the methods used, you always need to know if you are grounded or isolated.