High Frequency shielding for CNC Plasma

[Gadget]

For CNC plasma cutting I would always shield regardless of the torch start.

[Arcamm]

Shielded it is! Better to be safe that sorry. Electronics can get expensive.

[Herba4]

Hey Guys,

Getting ready to build my own CNC Plasma/Router table and I came across this link some time ago that I am going to use so that i don't have to buy another Plasma Cutter since I already own a Forcecut 60............ Enjoy!

http://www.randyray.com/TMC/rf_shielding.htm

[Xalky]

Man, this is no joke. I tried just firing my torch and my computer locks right up. it fires for a split second and then I have to do a push button reboot on the computer. I guess I'l be shielding and grounding the piss out of my equipment if I ever want this to work..

[brucer]

Man, this is no joke. I tried just firing my torch and my computer locks right up. it fires for a split second and then I have to do a push button reboot on the computer. I guess I'l be shielding and grounding the piss out of my equipment if I ever want this to work..

what plasma cutter do you have?

[Xalky]

I have the 256pi multipurpose machine. I must say that nothing has been grounded or shielded yet. I was just doing a dry run torch firing from mach3 to see if my controls are working. The torch fires if only for a split second. It's so bad that I can't reboot from the screen. Here's the thing though. I have another PC running right next to it and that one was fine,. The torch and plasma are closer to the pc running mach but not by much. It must be coming thru the control wires.

[brucer]

could it be a grounding issue?

[Xalky]

Yeah, it probably is a grounding issue. I think I have bigger issues now though. I think I fried the THC board. This gitting real frustrating. I'm not a happy camper.right now.

[acourtjester]

HI Xalky
Not to worry I have a Everlast PM2656 Multi-unit (tig, stick, and plasma). I made some test cuts today cutting metal less then 8 feet from my controller. I have the motor wires in shielded cable grounded at the controller end. Limit switch wires in shielded cable grounded at the controller end. I was having a problem when the plasma shut down so I put a ferrite core on the input power and that stopped. The only problem I had was a limit switch signal was stopping the run mode every so often. I am using magnetic limit switches and will change to micro switches and re-test. I don’t know what cables you are using but it seems shielding will help you out.

Have fun
Tom

[Xalky]

Yeah I'm in the process of shielding and grounding now. I drove the ground rod in today, I drilled a hole right in the floor of the garage and drove the rod down, thats not an easy task in this rocky Connecticut dirt. My table is about 3ft away from that rod. I'm also gonna ground my plasma machine to a different rod. I think right now my biggest concern is getting my PC station well shielded and grounded, I think I'll run a third rod for that. One of the reasons for all the separate ground rods is just so that I'm not tripping over ground wires all over may garage, but the second reason is better isolation.