Hello fellow CNC’ers,
I believe I’m encountering an issue with some sort of electrical interference/ static interference or something similar. I am underqualified in the electrical world, so please try to have a bit of patience with me.
I’ve had my MK2 for +/- 18 months now (basic longboard controller, Makita trim router, Windows 10 laptop).
I’ve completed hundreds of projects and never had any issues until this week.
My machine is “freezing” mid project at inconsistent places in the project. I am running toolpaths that have been completed successfully before; so, I don’t think it’s a toolpath issue. gSender gives every indication that it is still connected and running, though it is not. Trim router and dust extractor remain on, but machine is stuck.
I’ve seen others describe what seems to be the same problem in these forums and the solutions seem to vary but all come back to either: improper cable/connection, power saving functions on laptop, interference from other electronics on same power circuit, or improper grounding.
I am working my way through those potential troubleshooting options.
I don’t have any power saving or USB port power saving settings enabled on my laptop. I am not currently running a USB hub of any type, as I have enough ports available on the laptop.
Its worked great for 18 months with the existing USB cable; can they go bad and cause a project to completely stop in the middle of it?
I’m hoping that someone could educate me a little bit as I work through the rest of the potential solutions…
Ultimately, if the laptop, longboard controller, trim router, and dust extractor are all on the same circuit is that a recipe for this sort of issue? If so, what would be the most ideal configuration? Each on their own or which would be able to share a circuit safely?
Also, ideally, which components should be on a surge protector?
As far as the grounding issue, I am going to follow the steps outlined on the “Noise, EMI, & Grounding” page of the online resources. I hope that following those steps to ground the system will solve my problem, but it I’m hoping to also gain some knowledge of the proper power circuit layout for the components (laptop, longboard, router, dust extractor) so I can have confidence going forward that I won’t ruin an expensive piece mid-carve.
Thanks in advance for any help.
-Max
Hi @maxbarret - sorry to hear what’s happening, I know I had the same thing happening to me. I found that moving my shop vac to a separate circuit solved the problem for me. You might also want to move the router to that circuit (the philosophy being keeping the longboard and PC on the same circuit, and the other “noisy” devices on a different one).
I was investigating other solutions, but they generally involved spending money on equipment -and what I did instead was eventually go with the SuperLongboard, and connect via Ethernet, which took care of everything permanently.
Short version - put your router and vacuum on a separate circuit, it will help, at least in my experience.
hi @elbarsal - thank you for the quick reply, I appreciate it. I will move the router and vacuum to a different circuit tomorrow. Do you have/recommend surge protectors on either circuit?
Is the Super Longboard with an ethernet cable considered a superior type of connection?
Hi @maxbarret - I don’t have any particular surge protector recommendations, aside from just not going super cheap on them.
Regarding the SuperLongboard - my understanding (and experience) is that the new design is much more robust when it comes to USB signal shielding and interference, and also that using an Ethernet cable eliminates that issue entirely.
I had issues conserning stalls and resolved them all by replacing the USB cable that came with the machine with a shielded and filtered one.
I have not grouded the machine and the router is virtually running on the same circuit though seperated with it’s own breaker.
A low cost solution might be to replace the usb-cable with a real one. After that you can look into other more costly updates, but why go there if you might not need to?