Hello, going back to anything i changed past week with my machine messing up cuts.
My 220 ext cord used to be on ground, and ran behind back of table on ground.
I was tired of worried about tripping over it, so i mounted it overhead. The cord is about 8 inches from motors now because I mounted to wall.
Could this be an issue?
show a picture further away, showing more of your arrangement. I dont think your 220 cord is to blame but i have a feeling that plasma power supply is way too close to everything
Based on this pic showing the cutter next to the gantry I suspect @DnKFab is right that your cutter very well could be causing the interference. Are any of the plasma cables coiled up? That can create interference as well.
From pic you see, cord goes up to ceiling where i have it secured.
So where should cutter go? I have made quite a few successful cuts. This just started yesterday
Having made good cuts is just a function of luck with that setup in my opinion. I assume that’s your usb cable to the left of the plasma and that you place your laptop to the left of your cutter when you’re operating the system. Your plasma lead looks coiled up hanging in the table where it can induce electromagnetic pulses into everything on that corner. Your plasma is right next to the machine control box and your laptop and ur usb. I would say you’re very lucky it has ever worked consistently at all. You need the torch lead not coiled up anywhere near table electronics or usb cable. You need usb cable all by itself headed to your laptop. With as much distance as possible from plasma torch , plasma work cable (ground).
@Jjfablab like @DnKFab stated just lucky it worked but electrical interference can be moody at times. Move it as far away as you cables will allow and definitely dont have the cables coiled. When they are coiled think of it as a coil in an electric motor it is going to create strong electromagnetic fields and electronics just dont like interference like that.
Ok, but wires on control box from crossfire to the little black box on plasma are only so long. I will uncoil plasma torch lead today.
1-My shop isnt really big, what do you suggest? Put cutter under table?
2-Do you think the 220 cord on wall is ok there?
3-USB is also only so long, just move laptop further away?
I had my ground cable coiled like that and i was having issues.I uncoiled it and been trouble free since.
Do you move your magnetic work clamp to the workpiece when you cut? What happens when you cut aluminum or stainless steel?
My thoughts are the usb cable is the most sensitive to rf noise. Next is laptop and control box. I dont recommend putting plasma under table just for risk of flooding it with table leak. The little box that handles voltage for thc I think is just as much a problem as the main leads coming out the front of the plasma. When you think about it it has the same drastic voltage changes pulsing through it as the main plasma leads. Order of most important I think is get lap top and usb away from cutting table, and all other leads. Don’t coil your ground or cutting lead coils anywhere on your table. I think your power lead on the wall is probably fine. I only have one small concern there and it’s a bit of a reach. If you have your electrical I. The wall directly behind it you could be inducing noise into your line inside the wall. That is a very long shot. Ultimately you probably will have coils but they need to be away from the laptop, the table and the usb cord. That usb cord needs to be completely by itself. They do make longer double choked usb cords you can get on Amazon. The double choke is imperative.
I have not cut alum or stainless yet. I would use a normal ground clamp for those
Thank you for the help
Ok, i will look at those usb! Thanks!!!
But you didn’t answer my first question.
Yes, i put magnetic clamp on workpiece
I would move your tool box with cutter to the opposite side of the table.
get extension cables to extend the torch on/off and thc cables. that way nothing is crossing over each other and the cutter is farther away from the control box.
i use 2 of these. you could get shorter ones, like 5 ft.
