LCD frame causing short circuit when in contact with metal

I am in the process of learning and I have continued to see a problem with a project I’m working on. I have installed a 16 bit LCD frame attached to a circuit board thats primary function is to make environmental measurements. When I touch metal to the black frame on the outside of the lcd, it will cause the read out on the lcd to change its letters to random symbols (See attachment). It has happened with multiple 16 bit lcd’s but doesn’t always happen. It only happens when I touch the left side of the black frame with something metal. What exactly is happening here? Is it short circuiting? Is there a way to prevent this? Why is the frame of the lcd metal? Thanks!

Hello stevenl.

Not really sure what’s causing this, but it appears that something is corrupting the data you send your display when you touch the metal frame. It might be ESD, or possibly some RFI but there’s no way for me to tell for sure without being there to see the whole setup.

I’d make sure the display is grounded and if that doesn’t help, insulate the metal frame from whatever metal it’s touching to prevent contact.