ESD (Electro-Static Discharge) is responsible for damaging all sorts of electronic devices.  The grounding pathway on an Axiom series machine serves to direct this harmful ESD through the grounding pathway and prevent it from going through your printer's viki screen, mainboard, and other components.  To measure if this pathway is sound you'll need a multi-meter with continuity testing.  Set your multi-meter to test for continuity and then touch the probes to each other to confirm the proper functioning of your continuity testing.  If your multi-meter's continuity test fuction is working correctly, you should hear a beep.  It's this beep that you'll be listening for as you go about testing for continuity.



1 - The first continuity check to do is to touch one probe to the front panel where the letters are where the paint is absent.  The other place you'll touch your other probe is the grounding pin on the AC power receptacle on the back of the printer.  See pictures below.  If you confirm continuity between these two points, your printer is properly grounded.  If you do not detect continuity here, you'll need to consult the rest of this guide to find the break in continuity.



2 - The second continuity test you'll do is between the front panel and the back of the corner screw where the viki screen attaches.  The screw you'll touch will have a white wire attached to it.  If you detect continuity here you can move on to the next step.  If you don't detect continuity here, see the instructions below.


        - The pathway that connects the front panel to the corner wire that is broken here is the screw itself.  The ESD should be able to go into the front panel, travel down the length of the screw, and into the wire.  The point where the screw connects to the front panel is the bottom surface of the screw head.  To ensure that the screw head makes a proper electrical contact to the panel you may need to remove the screw and sand away some paint from the front panel.  If you find that the viki screws are countersunk rather that the style that appears in the picture below, you may find that the screws themselves have paint on them that needs to be removed.  The goal here is to make sure that the underside of the screw head can make proper electrical contact with the front panel.

        - Once you've done the above, preform the continuity check from step 2 again.  You should now test positive for continuity here.  If you have been able to restore continuity here, preform the continuity check again from step 1 again.  Confirming continuity from step 1 here means your printer is now properly grounded.



3 - The third continuity test you'll do is between the viki wire and the pair of wires at the corner of the Rambo board in the back of the machine.  If you detect continuity here you can move on to the next step.  If you don't detect continuity here, you will need to contact us for RMA as a break in continuity along this particular segment of the pathway is not user-serviceable.  


4 - The fourth continuity test you'll do is between the pair of wires at the corner of the Rambo board in the back of the machine and the top right corner screw that holds the power supply in place.  If continuity is broken along this pathway, you'll need to remove this screw and sand away the paint from the panel.  Refer to the second picture below for how much paint removal is necessary.




Replace the power supply screw and test for continuity from Step 1.


5 - Your back panel should be grounded to the grounding pin on your AC power receptacle.  Test for continuity between these two points.  If you do not detect continuity here, preform the procedure described in step 4 where you remove the power supply screw and the paint from the panel.  After you reinstall the power supply screw, test for this same continuity again from power supply screw to AC receptacle.  If you detect continuity here, confirm continuity from step 1 to ensure proper grounding.