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| X-Tronic XTS-8080 -- Is it safe? |
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| SpinDoctor:
Kl27x, i checked the ground between the hot air gun and the ground pin from the back of the station and they are connected not sure what you mean by metal housing? if you are talking the outside of the case there is no continuity there between yhe case and the ground from my test. did you mean open it up and check the metal frame...... I havent done that yet |
| james_s:
*Any* exposed metal part on the unit should have continuity with the ground pin on the power cord. If it doesn't then that is a potential safety issue that should be corrected. |
| SpinDoctor:
can you or someone post a short video of what a properly grounded unit looks like....... I think i might be doing it wrong or not understanding |
| KL27x:
If the case is sheet metal (steel), it's usually painted. But it should still be grounded. The acceptable way to ground a metal case is with a small machine screw and a nut and a locking washer. The ground wire will have a ring terminal on it, and it will be locked down to the case with the screw and nut. Or sometimes it will be locked to the top corner of the transformer with the nut and lock washer, and the transformer will be screwed down to the chassis/housing. In some cases, the paint wasn't removed, adequately, from the grounding spot, so the ground doesn't get connected to the housing. If you were concerned with with safety of a cheap product, this is one thing to check for and remedy. But even this wouldn't keep me up at night. Paint is a modern miracle and is really tough stuff. I'm not sure the dielectric rating, but I bet most paint is good for 110VAC. It would take a freak chain of events for a painted case to shock you. If the insulatino were inadequate, you'd think the current would rather go through that bit o paint at the grounding terminal rather than through paint + human, due to kichoffs and ohms laws. But technically, paint is not regarded as an adequate insulator. (For instance, wood working routers which have an aluminum outer housing for the ridigity to lock to jigs, they have to have a sheet of high temp plastic insulator covering the inside of the housing to be considered double insulated.. A bit of a different animal being unpainted on the outside and ungrounded at all and the fact you're supposed to hold it when in use.... that's a much shorter chain of things going wrong). Most important safety info regarding electrocution: If the thing stops working, unplug and put your shoes on before you start poking around on metal bits. |
| SpinDoctor:
thanks. What i did so you know, is i stuck one probe on the ground pin on the back of the case (in my pictures earlier) and the other probe on the hot air nozzle. That produced continuity If i leave the obe probe on the ground and put the other probe on the case, i get nothing. I do think it's painted as you say but i had no idea paint was so good. I just bought some practice soldering kits so i guess ill find out soon enough if this is a good thing or not |
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