Perhaps a weird question

[Jeff Paxton]

I am hoping someone might help me. I have a radio that I listen to when I work in my shop. Most of what I do is turn on the lathe. The radio plays fine when the lathe is off, but when I turn it on, there is so much static, I can't hear it? Are there filters that will reduce this. It doesn't seem to do it with other tools like my scroll saw. My lathe is a PM 3520B running on 220, and the radio is obviously 110. IWhen roughing a bowl, the lathe might be on for 5-10 minutes at a time, which gets pretty annoying. Any help?

Jeff

[alex carey]

I had the same thing happen at my high school wood shop. The teacher told me it was because they run on the same frequency but he never told me how to fix it if it's even possible. I assume it is.

[Jim Rimmer]

I'm not sure about this but try plugging the radio in somewhere else or use a battery radio. The static causing frequency is likely traveling through the wiring.

[Jason Clark2]

I have the same problem in my shop, but only when I have the radio on the AM dial. FM is fine. I recently swapped out radios to one that has a dock for my ipod and it has the same issue on the AM dial while my lathe is running.

I'm about 90% sure it's due to the power inverter on the lathe, not sure what (if anything) can be done about it.

Jason

[Jeff Paxton]

Mine too is messing up on AM, never really tried FM. I usually listen to talk radio on AM while turning. I have tried other outlets with no luck. Tomorrow I am going to try a surge protector.

Jeff

[Ken Fitzgerald]

You are picking up the frequency of the 3-phase inverter. I use a cheap AM/FM/CD player given to my by one of my kids. All I listen to is FM and I don't have a static problem. In fact, when I'm turning and grooving on some old 60's rock...I'm in heaven!

[Jim Koepke]

If you can try a battery radio, you may find you still have the static. If this is the case, a filter may not help. Neither will a surge suppressor. If you do not have a battery radio, can you get your car close to the lathe and see if the noise is also on the car radio?

Is the lathe using an inverter to run on 3 phase? A lot of electronic equipment makes electromagnetic noise that can effect AM radio. It also can be dependent on the radio's tuning system, superheterodyne as opposed to phase locked loop.

If this is the case, the inverter may be broadcasting. A Faraday cage may be the solution.

If the battery radio has clean sound, then it may just be noise on the line. This does not sound like the case. Radios have filter capacitors in their power supply that will usually remove this kind of problem. I have things in my shop that have to be oriented in just the right way so as to not mess with listening to AM radio. It is especially bad for me as my shop is about 60 miles away from the stations I like to listen to and I am in a valley.

I am not real familiar with lathes. Mine is an old Craftsman that runs faster than I like. Someday my intent is to buy another set of pulleys and slow it down. At one time though, I was an electronics tech. So there is a little knowledge of radio noise.

jim

[Robert McGowen]

I have a Jet 1642 running on 220. It is in a completely separate shop from the house, but the power does come off of the same main box at the electric pole. I have been forbidden to turn on the lathe from 11am - 2pm by the wife, as Rush Limbaugh is on at that time on an AM station. She has told me that the radio goes completely static whenever I turn on the lathe instead of doing "actual work" out in the shop. :rolleyes:

[Burt Alcantara]

Perhaps, not the solution you are looking for but I use remote speakers hooked up to my DirectTV so I can get the XM stations. Usually, I just put it on World Music but they rarely change the playlist so I began hooking it up to my computer and using various internet radio stations.

In all cases, I do not get any static or interference. I'm not fussy about sound quality so I can't comment on how good the quality is but I don't have any complaints about the quality.

The downside is I have to go upstairs to change a station, usually not a problem as the music is just background "noise."

Burt

[Brian Brown]

Maybe you could hire a live band to play in the shop!?? Or possibly Karioke and happy hour. With a bit of creativity, you can turn this into a paying proposition! :D Well. OK... It was just a thought. :rolleyes:

[Bernie Weishapl]

You are picking up RFI (radio frequency interference) from the invertor. If you try a battery radio and it is still there it is coming in thru the air and if not it is coming in thru your power line. Most if not all Modified Sine Wave inverters share this problem to some degree. It happens because the units generate a square wave rather than a Sine Wive. A square wave generates harmonics, meaning frequencies well above the fundemental 60 hz. Yes it can go well beyond the AM broadcast band. The AM band is VERY sensitive to noise. Just listen to one when there is thunder and lightening in the area and it doesn't even have to be close.

[Joe O'Leary]

Hmmmm. Lot's of knowledge and analysis, a few wisecracks ;) but no solutions!C'mon guys, help this boy out (oh, and I have the same problem :D)

Joe

[Alan Trout]

In my shop I have 2 lathes My Nova DVR XP which is 220 with a surge suppressor and my Mini lathe which is variable speed. Before I got my DVR I was worried because I herd with that technology radio interferance was a big issue. My DVR causes no problems with my radio. Maybe because of the surge suppression it has filtered it in some way, but I am not sure of that. Now the Mini lathe causes horilble static no mater what circuit it is plugged into.

Maybe having its power fed to a surge protected circuit might be a filter. Like I said before no problems with my DVR and radio and they are right next to each other. Here is my surge protector. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_hi?url=search-alias%3Dtools&field-keywords=SDSA1175&x=0&y=0

Good Luck

Alan

[Steve Schlumpf]

Alan - I believe your lathe is variable DC power, in which case it will not generate RF interference. The surge protector is a good idea to help prevent current spikes but will not do anything as far as noise.

Probably the easiest thing to do is to go to Radio Shack, explain the type of interference you are experiencing and pick up a 'cheap' RF filter of some kind. Chances are nothing on the market is going to remove all the interference but one of the cheaper choke type filters may help.

[Jim Koepke]

Alan - I believe your lathe is variable DC power, in which case it will not generate RF interference. The surge protector is a good idea to help prevent current spikes but will not do anything as far as noise.

Probably the easiest thing to do is to go to Radio Shack, explain the type of interference you are experiencing and pick up a 'cheap' RF filter of some kind. Chances are nothing on the market is going to remove all the interference but one of the cheaper choke type filters may help.

Depending on how the variable DC power is derived, there could be a lot of RFI generated.

If it is a DC motor, there could be a lot of brush noise. This would tend to cause the static to change pitch as the speed is changed. This would be similar to a variable frequency speed control. A pulse width modulation control would have the static noise stay pretty much the same throughout the speed range.

A small battery radio may be of help to locate the source of the noise as to whether it is from the motor or the control or both.

There are a few other methods that could be involved. Being there are different FCC standards for different equipment which change as often as most of us change our socks, this may be compliant with use in an industrial area that would be noisier than a product made for use in a residential setting.

Before the questions can be fully answered, there is a lot more information that is needed.

jim

[Dewey Torres]

What is happening here is when the lathe is on the strength of the vortex increases and is causing EMI (Electromagnetic Interference). There is no work around except to turn the lathe off, thereby weakening the vortex just enough to let the tunes play again.

The Enterprise crew experienced the same thing. You might remember the mutara nebula.

[Bill Bulloch]

Back in the old days, they uses a condenser to stop this interferrence on the car radio. Remember that little "Round Cylinder" next to the "Points" in the "Distributor Cap"? Long time since you though of these.

[David Epperson]

As has been pointed out it's the RFI generated by the inverter/VFD. The only way to eliminate the radio interference is to reduce the strength of the interference at the radio antenna. The inverter shielding may not be properly grounded, or there may not be enough shielding at all. You might be able to increase (or provide) additional shielding by making a foil enclosure around the drive (Do not make contact with power leads) and ground it to absorb the emmitted RFI and drain it to ground.

[Allen Schmid]

Jeff,
I had the same issue with a portable radio/cd player, the fix for me was to place it across the shop and make sure it was not plugged into an outlet on the same circuit that also ran the lathe. My lathe is a jet, 110v with the 3phase inverter. Now I might just be lucky but that is what it took and all is well, am or fm comes in fine.
Allen

[Jeff Paxton]

Thanks for all the responses.

* I tried surge protectors, didn't work.
* I tried different outlets, didn't work.
* I called Radio Shack, they didn't have anything to help

Took a small battery operated radio and it worked pretty good. I would say that it cut down the interference 90% which lets me hear what is said on the radio pretty clearly. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't looking for a home theatre sound, just the ability to hear talk radio while I turn. So this will be fine. Interesting that it does not affect the TV at all. Thanks again for all the help.

Jeff

[Jeff Nicol]

Jeff, Go to this website and read about all the causes for AM radio noise, it may give you the insight you need to fix your problem.

http://www.radiolabs.com/Articles/amnoise.html

Also, Steve the 3520B is AC current not DC. It has the same as you have a VFD to make single phase to 3phase. You must have had a long day you would normally never miss that!! Just kidding!!

Have a great night all!

Jeff

[Steve Schlumpf]

Jeff - you are correct! I followed Alan's post and he listed his lathe as a Nova DVR XP and I just went from there. Sometimes it takes a day or two before the 'duh' sets in!

[Jim Koepke]

I have been forbidden to turn on the lathe from 11am - 2pm by the wife, as Rush Limbaugh is on at that time on an AM station.

Isn't that just a different kind of static? :cool:

jim

[Jim Koepke]

Back in the old days, they uses a condenser to stop this interferrence on the car radio. Remember that little "Round Cylinder" next to the "Points" in the "Distributor Cap"? Long time since you though of these.

Those were there more to keep the points from burning when the coil field collapsed. Resistor plugs or wires would help keep the radio noise down.

jim

[Mike Minto]

Rush Limbaugh?

[James Ley]

I see Jeff has found a solution that works for him, the battery powered radio. If anyone needs a better solution Oneway does have a RFI filter listed on their website. It is at the bottom of this page: http://www.oneway.ca/lathes/2436_access.htm

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Did you try to get an external AM antenna and get the antenna outside? Use shielded coax to bring the signal from the antenna into the shop?

I actually know nothing about interference, but I would think if you got a good enough signal, (from outside) the RF noise will be small in relation.

I listen to FM Hawaiian music and get lost. Ahhhh

[Jerome Hanby]

Mine too is messing up on AM, never really tried FM. I usually listen to talk radio on AM while turning. I have tried other outlets with no luck. Tomorrow I am going to try a surge protector.

Jeff

Nature of the beast in regards to AM. If you can physically relocate the radio, and run a remote speaker in your shop, you may loose the problem. Or...if you find that FM in not effected, you could relocate the AM receiver and use one of those little FM transmitters to relay it to your shop. Or maybe your AM station also broadcasts ove the Internet.....