Smoothstepper problem when spindle is on

[Olafsson]

HI all
I have brought a Smooth stepper as I had problems some time with stop on X axis when mashining , as I use 2 stepper motors on X and both stops  I believe that its  Mach that’s make that problem. This config. have been running fine on parallel port.
I put in the smooth stepper and it´s running ok, but when I star spindle , I have one Chinese water cold with inverter, the Mach stops, I have restart computer in order to get it running again but its stops as fast as the spindle is switch on , I switch on the spindle manually.
I have breakout board but it´s not used for steppers as it won’t work with mi Gekodrives.
I have installed the smooth stepper inside mi PC with the connections on back as regular PLT port.
I use USB 5V for the smooth stepper and I have not grounded the smooth stepper.
The inverter is installed together with gekos, breakout board inside second PC cabinet.
Have anybody similar problem??.

THANKS I ADVANCE for any input.

Best regards Tomas

[Dan13]

Hi Tom,

Try grounding the Smooth Stepper GND pin (on the external power supply header) to the PC case.

Dan

[dar303]

Inverters (VFDs) are notorious for sending out interference, the better ones comes with filters to take away the interference. Check your grounding like Dan said and use shielded cabe between the inverter and the motor.

[Jeff_Birt]

Try grounding the Smooth Stepper GND pin (on the external power supply header) to the PC case.

A sure way to create a ground loop. Never do so unless it is the only thing that seems to work.

The inverter is installed together with gekos, breakout board inside second PC cabinet.

Installing a VFD in close proximity to other controls is just asking for problems. They are VERY, VERY noisy. Many commercial machines will place a VFD in a separate control cabinet to mitigate such problems. Using proper isolation, wiring and grounding techniques will help but sometimes relocating the VFD is the only option.

[Dan13]

Try grounding the Smooth Stepper GND pin (on the external power supply header) to the PC case.

A sure way to create a ground loop. Never do so unless it is the only thing that seems to work.

May be, but it did solve the problem for me as well as for many others.

Dan

[Olafsson]

Thanks all! I will test the grounding first. I will let you know the result.
Best regards
Tomas

[Olafsson]

I have grounded the Smooth stepper card to PC chassi and  it´s working fine now.
THANKS!!!! For all your help on this!!

Best regards
Tomas

[Dan13]

Glad you got it working, Tomas!

Dan

[Jeff_Birt]

I have installed the smooth stepper inside mi PC with the connections on back as regular PLT port.

I have grounded the Smooth stepper card to PC chassis and  it´s working fine now.

I've been pondering this for a few days now. I initially missed that the SS was installed in the PC. Since the length of the USB should not be an issue with this type of installation it makes me wonder 'why' bonding the SS ground plane to the case ground helps. The PC power supply is tied to the case via the power supply case but some switch type supplies will use a small cap or cap/resistor in series rather than a direct bonding which could cause the DC Common to float a bit above Earth ground.

Anyhow I'm glad it works. I'll have to do a few more tests on my system to try and figure out why.

[Dan13]

Yes, Jeff. Would be interesting to know. Please let us know.

Dan