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Thread: Grounding A Laser

  1. #31
    Quote Originally Posted by Walt Langhans View Post
    Hey guys! Well it's been a while since the original post but I never grounded the machine (other than it's normal ground thru the wall socket) Since then I've blow a few fuses, and killed a power supply, but have been shocked or not had a fuse fail when it should have, or anything else along those lines and everything has worked fine.

    However...

    I was having a conversation with my tech from China about the controller display freaking out from time to time (it will just revert back to chinese, or half of screen will shit down and the other side stays where it is) and he said that it was caused by noise and if I grounded the machine (directly to the Earth) it would fix that. But I still haven't gotten around to it.

    That screen problem sounds pretty terrible. I don't think grounding will fix that.

  2. #32
    My display pad does the same thing and my machine is grounded directly to earth.I think mine has a lose wire to the pad . some times if I tap the pad with my finger it straightens out, some times I have to reboot the laser. I can't seem to find the loose wire tho.
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  3. #33
    Quote Originally Posted by Matt McCoy View Post
    That screen problem sounds pretty terrible. I don't think grounding will fix that.
    Meh.. not really. It only happens once ever couple months. I just turn the machine off and then back on and it's fixed. Just yet another chapter in the book "the fun of owning a chinese laser"
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  4. #34
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    Chinese stuff isn't built to the highest standards always like you pointed out a reset fixes it. Might just be a glitch in the software running the control panel.
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  5. #35
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    The Grounding bit has pretty much been driven into the ground (pun intended) The Chinese are pretty much clueless on US wiring standards and how they get UL approval is probably a matter of who gets the bribe. If I was guessing about your random LCD failures I would guess poor design and perhaps static electricity.
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  6. #36
    ? Bill do you think magnets would have a effect on the display pad. I keep several stuck all over my machine. Never gave it a thought till just now.
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  7. #37
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    Bert,

    I use N52 Neodymium magnets all over my Chinese laser but as a rule, I don't keep any near the LCD display and keypad. I use them to hold things down on my honeycomb (steel with an aluminum frame) and to hold notes and tools on the frame and top (but not on the lid just because) FWIW. The effect of the magnets will fall off with distance.

    I just ran out and looked. The nearest magnet to my display and pad are about 2 feet away.
    Last edited by David Somers; 12-10-2015 at 4:48 PM.
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  8. #38
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bert Kemp View Post
    ? Bill do you think magnets would have a effect on the display pad. I keep several stuck all over my machine. Never gave it a thought till just now.
    Magnets, no... but poor grounding will easily cause display issues. Without a solid ground to work from, digital lines have a tough time knowing if they should be a zero or a one. Digital logic in general does not like a noisy ground, and plenty of bad behavior is easily traced to ground bounce.
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  9. #39
    Dave I've been using them for the same stuff ever since my first laser.

    Dan my machine is grounded directly to an 8 ft copper ground rod
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  10. #40
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    Here is something to think about on ground rod driven vs main service ground. When I was in Ham radio I drove a 8 foot copper ground rod for it and so my long wire antenna would have a ground plane. Just for fun I used my Fluke ohm meter and measured between the green ground wire in the outlet box and my driven ground. There were several ohms difference and that is where the term ground loop comes into play. One can be a ground and the other can to, but between the two there can be a low voltage current flow and that can cause problems with electronics.
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  11. #41
    so you think I should unhook ground rod and just go with outlet grd


    Quote Originally Posted by Bill George View Post
    Here is something to think about on ground rod driven vs main service ground. When I was in Ham radio I drove a 8 foot copper ground rod for it and so my long wire antenna would have a ground plane. Just for fun I used my Fluke ohm meter and measured between the green ground wire in the outlet box and my driven ground. There were several ohms difference and that is where the term ground loop comes into play. One can be a ground and the other can to, but between the two there can be a low voltage current flow and that can cause problems with electronics.
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  12. #42
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    Are you 100% sure your outlets are grounded, if so that's all I have ever used. I do my own wiring so I know its done right.
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  13. #43
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bill George View Post
    Here is something to think about on ground rod driven vs main service ground. When I was in Ham radio I drove a 8 foot copper ground rod for it and so my long wire antenna would have a ground plane. Just for fun I used my Fluke ohm meter and measured between the green ground wire in the outlet box and my driven ground. There were several ohms difference and that is where the term ground loop comes into play. One can be a ground and the other can to, but between the two there can be a low voltage current flow and that can cause problems with electronics.
    Absolutely, which is why in older threads I suggested against a separate ground rod if the outlet you have available has a grounding lug on it already. The only exception was Rodney's shop as he has (had?) a relatively screwed up electrical setup.
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  14. #44
    Bert, as long as you're not grounded to both grounds, you should be fine--

    For some of these goofy display and other such issues, I lean towards iffy connections as the problem. And for good reason, WAY too much experience with it!

    In the past month I've had 2 machines go fubar on me-- first was the GCC laser. I thought I'd lost the power supply as it would start running a job but the laser wouldn't fire, then it would just stop. It would vector engrave fine, but not raster. And while this was going on, the display would fade away, then come back, until finally it was nearly blank. Yet when running troubleshooting tests, the display text was nice & black, and it every test passed...? I found a complete schematic for this machine online, complete with all required voltages and where to test for them. I tested everywhere, and all voltages were dead on...?

    --yet the machine wouldn't work. At times it wouldn't even boot, only the motherboard would light up. But it WOULD boot up the test routines...

    For lack of anything else to try, I unplugged every plug I COULD unplug, 2 or 3 times so the connectors would re-seat good.

    When I was done, the machine fired up, and has acted like a brand new machine ever since...

    Then last week, my V3400 cylinder machine lost the Z stepper, it started doing the 'can't figure out which way to go' thing while engraving a customers's stainless part. I called my Gravo rep and asked if he thought the stepper was bad or what, he said it sounded like a loose connection or broken wire. I traced the wires to their connector plug, which was pretty gunky after 20 years. I unplugged it, plugged it back in, and the stepper sprung back to life... From there I pulled every connector and cleaned them in and out with carb cleaner spray, and we're back to normal again...

    Back in the '80's when everyone started buying computer controlled machines, I got a couple of calls from my competitors asking if I could help them as their machines were acting up. I'd bring in a can of Radio Shack electronics cleaner, unplug whatever connectors I could find on the machine and cleaned them up, and they worked fine afterwards. The original Concept 2000's had 24v power supplies, which would overheat half the IC chips on the mainboard. Every 6 months I had to pull the mainboard and clean the carbon off the pins of about 20 IC chips. What a pain that was. Used to blow many a voltage regulator transistor on the XYM boards too, I still have a bag of spares pinned to my wall. Fred Schwartz's upgrade kit for these machines was a godsend!

    SO-- check your plugs!
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  15. I forgot to mention: I sleeved the trigger end with silicon and overlayed the Red Wire with a silicon tube. This prevents arcing.
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