Jim Stewart wrote:

I've had one inch sparks from the belt
to my hands while using it. Any suggestions?
It's chassis is connected to the power
plug ground.
You get sparks ONLY when sanding something? The belt
is charging up the item being sanded! You need to ground that,
too. (Just a guess...)

Is this a hand-held or table-mounted sander?

And, yes, a belt sander really LOOKS like a Van de Graff,
so the problem is not too surprising.

Jon