Grounding to the Enclosure

[Aleph Null]

This isn't really an issue with PCB builds, but with vero I find it difficult sometimes to get grounding wires to everything. I've been thinking about just using the enclosure as a ground plane—tying lugs to the back of the potentiometer, etc. Aside from possibly corrosion breaking the ground connection, is there any other reason not to do this? Does any one else do it this way?

[jimilee]

Naaa, that's not a problem, maybe difficult, though. I ground the DC jack to the input jack to the stomp.


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[mauman]

I repaired a pedal just last week that depended on the enclosure for in/out jack shield grounds, it was crackly whenever you wiggled the plugs.  A direct ground run fixed it.  I like to use a star ground to some convenient point like the input or output jack shield, with direct runs to important ground points (like charge pump grounds) and daisy chaining the others (like LED grounds.)  You can also add a ground row to the vero and tie everything there.  If you need an expander for the jack shield connector, I like this kind:

[jimilee]

Very cool.


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[Willybomb]

I repaired a pedal just last week that depended on the enclosure for in/out jack shield grounds, it was crackly whenever you wiggled the plugs.  A direct ground run fixed it.  I like to use a star ground to some convenient point like the input or output jack shield, with direct runs to important ground points (like charge pump grounds) and daisy chaining the others (like LED grounds.)  You can also add a ground row to the vero and tie everything there.  If you need an expander for the jack shield connector, I like this kind:

Looks like you're decoupling your effects from the power too.  I used to do that, but was getting weird results from any effects that weren't compression or distortion.

[mauman]

I repaired a pedal just last week that depended on the enclosure for in/out jack shield grounds, it was crackly whenever you wiggled the plugs.  A direct ground run fixed it.  I like to use a star ground to some convenient point like the input or output jack shield, with direct runs to important ground points (like charge pump grounds) and daisy chaining the others (like LED grounds.)  You can also add a ground row to the vero and tie everything there.  If you need an expander for the jack shield connector, I like this kind:

Looks like you're decoupling your effects from the power too.  I used to do that, but was getting weird results from any effects that weren't compression or distortion.

The power negative is tied to the star point (input jack shield) with all the circuit grounds, so everything is coupled.  The actual earth ground reference comes from the amp back thru the cable shields, since DC power supply "grounds" float.

[Aleph Null]

So it looks like a slightly higher chance of a flaky ground connection using the enclosure versus soldered wires....that makes sense. There are some builds that might be worth the risk.