I just received my X1C and AMS a few weeks ago. I wasn’t sure before, but this morning painfully confirmed that if I touch any of the metal enclosure around the back left (where the filament enters the unit) then I get a not so mild electric shock. I noticed it again this morning when I reached back to mess with the filament and got a painful shock across my arm and chest because my chest was touching the opposite side of the enclosure as I reached over. I then confirmed the filament area was the source with a painful finger touch.
This seems very serious. Has this issue ever occurred? I’m filing a ticket and will update this thread.
I have noticed that my X1C has some current flowing in the door. I can feel it when I touch the right side of the door and move my finger up or down on the metal. Luckily I was not shocked like you did but there is definitely something that feels not right. I also want to open a ticket about it but have not done yet.
Hope you’re fine and will soon have a safe printer.
It’s either just a static electricity discharge if there is no continuous feeling and nothing happens if you touch it again. If it’s continuous feeling, then there is no earth connection. Either you use non-earthed extension cord or there is electrical wiring problem in the building with no earth connection in mains socket.
If your house wiring correct, and you are static charged, you feel it. But if you feel a continues flow, check your wiring. Its impossible, that the printer has something. It has a steel frame, and the outer shells are made of aluminium. So all parts a grounded - its impossible that they are not.
Thanks for all the comments everyone. Yes I’ll move it to another plug and see. Everything should be up to code etc and it is a continuous shock, I can reliably touch it and get shocked.
I’m not an electrician, and I’ll check another plug etc, but my thinking at the moment had been that there was a short or a loose part internally that exposed the metal shell to some current/potential.
At that moment I was shirtless. Foam floor in the garage and low Humidity environment. But I’m very familiar with static shocks and it is a continuous and repeatable event. I’ll look into the cords and outlet when I get home. Thanks everyone.
I just verified that my printer has the ground lug on the AC plug directly connected to the chassis of the printer. That is how it should be.
Your printer could be missing that connection. Either through a defective power cord or because the grounding wire from the power socket is not properly connected to the chassis. This is easy to test with a cheap DVM (Digital Volt Meter) AKA a multimeter. At no point will you be measuring the AC socket! Unplug the printer. Set the meter to Ohms, hold one probe on the ground lug of the power cord and touch the other to the sharp edge of a enclosure panel. You may have to slide the probe along the edge to get good contact. I get 1 Ohm or less, you should get the same. If you do, this means that the chassis potential cannot be above ground and that your printer is properly wired. If this doesn’t make sense, search for videos about checking continuity.
The AC socket could be miswired. This happens more often than it should. Maybe a home owner added an outlet. Maybe the apprentice had a bad day. Hard to say. You could try one of those cheap plug in testers with 3 lights. They work fairly well in most situations. There is a wiring fault they don’t catch, I don’t remember what it is right now. Do not use your cheap multimeter to check the outlet if you have any doubts at all about what you are doing. Minimum, you burn the tips off the probes. Worst case, your family morns you.
Finally, and this may sound weird, but if you were barefoot and shirtless while standing on concrete, you may have turned yourself, the concrete and the printer into a battery. Current can flow from your damp feet on concrete (which is connected to ground since it’s sitting on the ground), through your hands touching the chassis of the printer which is connected to ground via a rod driven into the dirt outside your house. It’s not a lot and could be hard to measure but might be just enough to cause a burning tingle to sensitive body parts. I think of this as galvanic action. Just like in science class with the lemon, the copper wire and the nail. Yes, current can flow through concrete. In some locations rebar embedded in a concrete slab can be used as part of the safety grounding system. It’s called Ufer Grounding.
Had another thought. I just saw that you were standing on a foam mat. You could still have created a battery by touching the side and rear panels at the same time. The sides are aluminum and the rear is steel. Ever touch a metal fork or piece of aluminum foil to a metal filling? Yeouch! Although I admit I’ve done it on purpose. That might explain why I am the way I am
lol well thanks. At this point I’ve switched out the power cords and nothing. Then power cycled and didn’t have anything at first? That means the issue is intermittent and harder to track down. But you have to believe me it’s nothing like static.
You can remove the rear back printer panel and check the internal ground wires yellow/green and the ground wire screws are all tight also check the polarity on the power supply modules the blue and brown wires are correctly hooked up and not reversed.
I have found that it only happens when the unit is in full printing mode. I changed out the Amazon longer power cord to the OEM and it did nothing. I haven’t tried a new outlet or tested this outlet yet (because I’m a procrastinator). But I’ll update the thread when I do.
Get a cheap phase tester and see if it lights up when touching enclosure. If you have a multimeter, you can check resistance between center terminal in mains connector and back panel of the printer, they must be connected. After all you wrote, I’m 95% sure there is no earth connection is the mains socket.
I don’t remember where I saw it but there’s a video posted of sparks jumping from a stepper motor to the frame of an X1C. This would be due to static generated during the printing process. Not saying this is your issue but that does imply that things may not be bonded as well as they could be. I would have thought all metal parts would share the same ground potential since it’s a welded steel frame.
but I have not had this happen.
