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I think I am feeling an electrical current in my bandsaw table

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Doc Fluty

Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2017
Messages
7
Hello

I have noticed that while touching my new bandsaws table my fingers start to tingle as if I am getting some low voltage current going through them. It's very faint and I don't think I am imagining it.

The tingle isn't there when I disconnect power. but does come back when plugged in but not turned on.

Is there a way I can test this with my multimeter to see if it's not in my head and if there is a bigger problem I should be worrying about?

any help would be appreciated.
 
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TheEquineFencer

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Jan 15, 2009
Messages
9,278
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Farmville, NC 27828
Doc Fluty said:
Hello

I have noticed that while touching my new bandsaws table my fingers start to tingle as if I am getting some low voltage current going through them. It's very faint and I don't think I am imagining it.

The tingle isn't there when I disconnect power. but does come back when plugged in but not turned on.

Is there a way I can test this with my multimeter to see if it's not in my head and if there is a bigger problem I should be worrying about?

any help would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

Take a meter and hook it to a good building ground or a better, a ground that is known to be good going back to the main panel, then attach the other lead to the equipment and see what you get. I'd verify the source feeding the equipment is properly wired.
 
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Radix2

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May 28, 2014
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1,853
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the thumb!, MI
Be careful, just because it is a slight tingle does not mean it is necessarily low voltage.

Just standing there with your shoes on, you are not well grounded and the current and sensation may be mild.

If you touch a real ground while debugging this, you may get a serious shock.

Be cautious and assume you have high voltage on that table while you are figuring it out. Most likely you have a pinched wire somewhere, make a visual check.

Does this saw have a low voltage starter with a transformer? If not, then the voltage is probably line voltage.
 
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larry_g

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Location
oregon
Un plug the unit and turn it on. Measure resistance between each blade on the plug and the frame of the machine. Should be no continuity between either flat blade and the frame and zero ohms between the frame and the ground pin.

This is assuming this is an american 120v machine. Link to the machine is necessary to make good suggestions, and your location so we know what power system your working with. At this point we have to make to many assumptions on what you have. Could be some newer plastic machine that is generating static, or an antique 2 wire machine with a leaky motor.

lg
no neat sig line
 
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Falcon67

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Jun 11, 2009
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18,371
Location
Merkel, TX
Could be some newer plastic machine that is generating static, or an antique 2 wire machine with a leaky motor.
Click to expand...

X2 - my 4x36 belt sander turns into a Van DeGraaf generator if I run it for a bit using a metal piece and don't hold one hand on the metal table.
 
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wyliesdiesels

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Aug 14, 2012
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20,289
Location
Modesto, CA
Location and machine brand and model would be very helpful as said above.

Do voltage test with DMM between table and known good EGC.
 
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driftpin

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Miami-Dade/Broward Co. Florida
Do you use a temporary ground cable? Sounds like a good thing to do.

At-least it's not a jacob's ladder, those always intrigued and scared me, as a kid. I also like the pics of Nikolai Tesla sitting by one of his cages, surrounded by huge arcs.

If the power cable has a stress relief piece on it where it goes into the machine's switch or some other electrical box, remove it and see if the insulation on the power line has worn-away, and is now contacting the metal box.

I once had a stove which would deliver a tingle if I contacted it in bare feet on the terrazzo floor, it turned out that the bonding strap for the cooktop burners and switchpanel was loose.


Falcon67 said:
X2 - my 4x36 belt sander turns into a Van DeGraaf generator if I run it for a bit using a metal piece and don't hold one hand on the metal table.
Click to expand...
 
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driftpin

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Miami-Dade/Broward Co. Florida
Thomas Edison, the champion of direct current, hated him because Tesla discovered alternating current, among other things.

George Westinghouse loved him because his designs made Niagra Falls work.


akalian said:
This is the one I have, and sometimes use it for an avatar. I figured he's alone because nobody else had the balls to enter that chamber but Tesla himself.
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