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lordedmond:
Like your sig which mine would been on two crutches for years
Back to your question
Equiptensial bonding ( equal potential )
In short all the metal lumps in your WS should be connected ( bonded ) with a earth wire 16 mm sq now this can be the nice flexible cable that the car audio freaks use as long as you put a wind of earth tape to identify it as a earth conductor.
This is important when you can touch both lumps of metal with both hands ( one on each one ) volt across the heart
Note I have said metal lumps this includes central heating rads , taps , anything metal
This bonding wire should go back to the consumer unit and on to a good earth copper earth stake f
One meter long just outside the WS
Now the catch is not there always one it will not prevent a belt as I think you got due to a exposed metal part in a insulating case that has become live , now you have a live metal part and a earthed lathe thus a potential difference , that is why those parts should have been on a earthed metal plate .
To ilustrate the point on my lathe the bolted on metal cover on the sparky bits has a bonding conductor to make sure it's all at the same potential
My history when I did the collage work many years ago earthing was a year long subject on its own
Hope that has not confused the issue. The point is even if it's on a 13amp plug they must be independently earthed as well
have you sorted the hot lathe yet?
Stuart
Arbalist:
All good stuff Stuart, thanks for chipping in with that.
lordedmond:
Thanks for the comment
A point which many people think is if they have a a RCD in the circuit they are safe , they are not good earthing is the primary protection
Stuart
garym:
Hi Stuart,
If Arbalist doesn't mind, thanks for your comments. I'm reasonably familiar with equipotential bonding as I did quite a bit when installing our new bathroom several years ago, but I'd never seen it mentioned in forums before in relation to workshops. It just hadn't occurred to me in the same way that, for example, bonding a cooker wouldn't. I think the three-pin mains plug lulls us into a false sense of security that equipment is electrically well designed. Obviously this is not always the case. I'm surprised the suppliers can get away with supplying equipment with such poor earthing. This post should really have been in the other thread I quoted, sorry.
Gary
lordedmond:
Gary
My comments are the result of the way apprenticeships were done in my case Stanton and Stavely sent the first year electrical apprentice to collage full time ,only then you have a mentor out on the works you the went to different plants and different mentors thus you became safe with a broad knowledge
In a works environment copper tape 1 inch by 1/8 was use to bond very thing in reach, yes it was the crowbar mentality but the fuses did blow and nobody was put in danger we had three phase volts up the 550 vac TP that the start of the killer volts
bonding to me is a requirement not something I will do tomorrow ,tomorrow may be to late.
After I finished my time I went on to degree level in electrical eng and did a paper on lightning, years later at the NAT West I continued with lots more learning inc items that were governed with fridge gasses ,Diesel engines ( biggish up to1000shaft hp) ,then more uni studying lead me to higher levels
In my core subject
So it went on with software BAS coming along , they were still sending me on university courses just before they made me redundant
now I just potter in the WS much better way of life ,I have dropped all the prefixes to my name now no point the are not needed it's just me
Stuart
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