Faraday cage?

[jeffie3]

I want to build a Faraday cage for a machine I have. I have aluminum and stainless steel. Does the cage have to be made of steel? Or would aluminum or stainless steel work? If so which would be better?

Thank you,

Jeff

 

[Alec_t]

Any metal would work for electrical screening. For magnetic screening you would need ferromagnetic material, e.g. common steel. IIRC, some stainless steels are ferromagnetic; others are not.

 

[Externet]

That discarded microwave oven behind the spider webs can serve well if fits the size. Disemboweling its components will leave a good and lightweight cage.

 

[FuZZ1L0G1C]

For visibility of your machine, an expanded-mesh wastepaper basket will serve as a good Faraday cage.

 

[jeffie3]

Thank you all for your answers. I need to isolate a toroidal power supply PS-N80N24R5 and 4 servo drives from each other. I should have given more detail in the beginning. The power supply 240 volts input, output is 80 volts 16.5 amps, 24 volts 2 amps, 5 volt 1 amp. The servo drives are AMC 30A8.

 

[BobK]

Tell us more. One does not normally need a Faraday cage for that purpose.

Bob

 

[jeffie3]

I am not that good with electronics. Most of my CNC machines has some type of Faraday cage around the power supplies. Also trying to make sure the encoders. which operate at 5 volts, don't pick up any stray noise. Most of the things I have read, say to make sure you use shielded cables for the encoders. The encoders feed into the servo drives. and to a board a Mesa 7I77 board.

 

[BobK]

A metal case for the power supply is a good idea, most that would be appropriate for a CNC machine tend to come that way. And using shielded cables is a good idea.

Bob

 

[kellys_eye]

Proper supply filtering (local decoupling capacitors etc) and good grounding, supplemented by shielded cables, is as much as even the professional equipment use.

The electronics, including power supplies, should be enclosed as a matter of course.