Chassis grounding methods.

[Benjamino]

Hello,

First time poster here. Hope the community is doing well. Just had a quick one about grounding the enclosures of my pedals. I have noticed that grounding the enclosure reduces noise and interference considerably, so I wanted to see some of your favourite methods of achieving this. The reason I ask, is that I am using some of these PCB mount style 1/4 inch jacks which do not make metal contact with the enclosure when using the plastic spacers, and thus, the jack can not act as the grounding point. Below is a picture of the style jack I am using for reference.



One more side question: I have also read that having two ground points creates a "ground loop". What are the negative impacts of this, and why do I see so many people using regular switchcraft style 1/4 inch jacks for both the input and output, which make metal to metal contact with the chassis? Wouldn't this be creating this multi ground point situation that people are advising against?

Thanks a lot!

Ben

[EBK]

Welcome! Grounding in guitar pedals is often more religion than science.  We follow many practices and ignore others without creating any audible difference. 

Ground loops almost never make a difference in pedal circuits.  What can make a difference is not relying on the metal enclosure as a ground current conductor.  You won't have this problem with your insulated jacks because you always have to run a wire to the sleeve terminals, but sometimes in an effort to avoid the "dreaded" ground loop, builders will ground only one jack and rely on the enclosure to ground the other.  During a gig, I discovered the hard way that my Peterson strobe tuner was built like this when the input jack worked its way loose, resulting in a loud popping whenever I tuned. 

What I do in my builds (and I might be the only builder on the planet that does this) is to ground both jack sleeves but isolate the input jack from the enclosure using some insulating shoulder washers.  That way, there is only a single ground connection to the enclosure, i.e., the output jack sleeve.

In your case, when using insulated jacks, you could use a ring terminal big enough to slip around the bushing of a jack, switch, or pot, or you could add a screw to the enclosure and attach a ground terminal there.

[Bio77]

Check out the build reports of cooder.  He always uses those type of jacks and has a little lead wire that gets sandwiched in the enclosure when it closes.  It looks pro, I always notice it.

Here's an example: https://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=30801.0

[benny_profane]

I've used the serrated lock washers from 3PDT switches. I wire the sleeve to the washer, then place the washer between the jack and the enclosure while assembling. The VFE switching board document has additional info there (that method puts the chassis ground at the bypass switch, though).

[Aentons]

EHX uses a little spring against the inside wall. The pic is a Deluxe Memory Boy