ADDITIONAL TIPS (updating them as they come in): 1) If you suspect your vacuum has ingested sparks, check your dust collector and hoses immediately. Very fine dust accumulates in those systems and a fire could smolder for hours inside. 2) You can remote into Carbide Motion and control it using {your ip here}:8080 (i.e. 192.168.1.1:8080). The carbide motion interface will be displayed in your browser. [Thanks, DIY Engineering] 3) Know where your nearest fire extinguisher is. (You do have one, right? Seems obvious, but it's worth reinforcing ad nauseum.)

@MorRobots

5 жыл бұрын

Add overcurent protection to your spindle power. Plenty of ways to do this however its smart to have a way for this protection circut to hault the machine.

Another note, if you do end up having a fire and your insurance compony thinks your making money from your CNC and you don't have commercial insurance, you may not be covered.

Winston, I've recently left my job to work from home full time with my CNC being the workhorse. I now have a great outline on what steps to take to ensure my shop and cnc will be safe. Thank very much for sharing this lesson, we will all benefit from it.

Thank you. I always say it's important for makers on KZread and the like to document their failures _as well_ as their successes, if for no other reason than it shows new makers that nobody gets things right all the time... But in this instance, it's a _massively_ important lesson, because this is a possible life and death scenario we're talking about.

Since it appears that one of the main cause of these mishaps is the work piece moving on the table, it would be fairly easy to setup an alarm by having a contact sensor between the work piece and the table. If the work piece moves, it breaks contact and sends an alarm or pauses the system.

Great advice. A secondary fire extinguisher is important and inexpensive. The one thing everyone forgets is the dust collection it has to be grounded to prevent arcing. And if you have ever seen and heard a collector go boom you know that is a bad thing

I would consider moving the fire extinguisher ball to the center of the ceiling of your enclosure. I suspect by the time the flames reach that corner, your entire wood enclosure is going to be engulfed and it's unlikely to make a significant impact to a fire. Having it centered on the build platform where the fire is most likely to happen gives you a better chance.

I NEVER leave my machine more than 30 seconds at a time, and then I'm nervous! Thanks for sharing.

@BrianLeeWho

5 жыл бұрын

Same here. I have over 10 years experience with my CNC router and I watch it like a hawk.

I have a few small safety suggestions. 1) no metal clamps. Plastic, wood, double stick/carpet tape, all work. I found someone who uses plastic finish nails as hold-downs. Whatever works for you. 2) metal lined vacuum hose, not plastic. Preferably smooth rather than ribbed interior. It is pricy and hard to find, but it exists. 3) a little hardware hacking have a PIR or heat detector turn off a wired or ethernet or wireless power switch. This should turn off your router and secondarially electronics. Having it send you a text would be good too! 4) a 'big red button' emergency power off. They are available from Rockler and other places. Working in commercial data centers, I am used to having one near every exit. They do not power down anything gracefully, but they are important for safety. You don't need the commercial version, but consider it. It should be large, RED, possibly with ever on LED whenever power is available so it can be seen even in the dark, near/on your equipment and/or enclosure and optionally near the door to the house or building exit. 5) if monitoring remotely, see if you can incorporate a 'big red button' equivalent in your monitoring program (or ask your software vendor for an 'feature enhancement'). 6) This I just thought of, a 'high frequency' monitor'. For folks that are 'gracefully aging', like me, our high frequency accuity is not what it once was whether we like it or not. Having a 'high frequency' monitor could tell us if some bad things are starting to happen fast, including grinding metal. Have it at least issue a stop and power off the router, and send you a text message (or other appropriate alarm). Just a few thoughts. I already do #1 & #4, the rest are now on my 'todo' list.

@WinstonMakes

5 жыл бұрын

Metal clamps are pretty safe if they're non-ferrous, so the aluminum ones are okay to use.

@servant74

5 жыл бұрын

I still saw some sparks on your video. Non-ferrus (aluminum, brass, etc) is still better than steel, agreed.

@StepSherpa

5 жыл бұрын

servant74 bolts are mostly made from steel so that might explain some

@darrellhale3880

4 жыл бұрын

Line the inside of your enclosure with something that is flame resistant (such as thin sheet metal) so a fire cannot get directly at the wood enclosure immediately. It would minimize damage with a small fire, and slow down a larger one to give you more time to react with fire extinguishers, to evacuate the area, etc. Or replace the wood enclosure entirely with a metal one. Replace the plastic window with fire and impact resistant panes (usually seen in fire resistant doors in building stairways as glass with embedded wire mesh) which can withstand both the heat of a fire and to contain flying debris thrown at it. Of course the doors also need to be latching shut every time they close beyond just relying on the friction of the hinge to hold the doors closed if you really want to doors to stay shut if something unexpected is trying to get out of the enclosure. In addition to a smoke detector, look into adding a visual flame detector that looks for the light from a fire (since smoke alone can take awhile to buildup). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flame_detector

@davereynolds6912

3 жыл бұрын

A cheep way is a uno with sensors

Probably the most important video I've seen in a long time - well done Winston!

Thanks for sharing this Winston! It's a good reminder. I have been planning to get an camera so I can watch my cnc from another room in the house. I agree that being able to hear it is important too, because I can tell when it doesn't sound right.

Appreciate your transparency and willingness to post a mistake for the good of your audience. Top notch ethics. Thanks!

I have a nest fire alarm with a smart wall socket, I use ifttt with a rule that is set so smoke is detected everything is powered down. I am going to plum in an extinguisher with a solenoid for remote fire suppression at some point too.

@WinstonMakes

5 жыл бұрын

That IFTTT integration is pretty sweet. If you go the extinguisher route, test thoroughly to eliminate false positives. That could get messy...

@rbdesignsnh

4 жыл бұрын

@@WinstonMakes right? that would suck to be hanging out and it randomly go off and turn into the stay-puft marshmellow man.

@jearlblah5169

3 жыл бұрын

@@rbdesignsnh I am by no means knowledgeable on this, but i think inhaling fire extingusher powder might be *potentially* very harmful. Its entire goal is to block the fire's acsess to oxygen. If you get that in your lungs it could suficate you (maybe???)

@rbdesignsnh

3 жыл бұрын

@@jearlblah5169 it for sure is harmful to breath.

@timberwolf1575

3 жыл бұрын

@@jearlblah5169 Most dry fire extinguishers use a fine, dense powder that does not burn. Some powders are designed to expand when exposed to heat. The powder rests on top of burning material and prevents oxygen from reaching the fire. These extinguisher powders are not good to breathe, but are generally as inert in your body as for fire, so it is not massively worse than dust. After all, unprepared people are expected to use fire extinguishers. Where you can get into trouble really quickly and kill people or yourself quite easily is with liquid or gas fire suppression systems. Sprinklers and electrical systems (like spindles...) can create electrical hazards shockingly easily. Gas fire suppression, like CO2 and Halon, displace the oxygen around the fire to stop it. They will snuff humans just as effectively as the fire.

Wow!! this is scary - thank you for being vulnerable and sharing with us.

Great advice Winston. Well done. I have both a fire alarm and a fire extinguisher nearby. I babysit my laser because most jobs I do are in the 5 minute range and are often repeated over and over requiring me to switch parts. On the CNC job times run longer. It's best to find another task that can be done within eye/ear shot of the CNC. I haven't gone to the extent of a camera setup at this point.

Great video. Sharing the bad things is hard but the best thing to do. Having a trip on the power which you can set the amps on can help so it trips once things go wrong and also sound audible alarms. As a thought, a limit switch on the clamps or some positional switch might help to sound an audible alarm if stuff comes loose. I used to run industrial cnc and the easiest is simply don't leave them unattended. Sure, take a book or laptop and work next to it but never more than 5 seconds away as runs could always be paused if needed

I'm at a woodworking school and our rule is no unattended CNC use, ever! If you're running a job, you are sitting at the console ready to respond should something go wrong. If it's an 8 hour job, you're in for a long day sitting at the console. Need to use the restroom? pause your job. Maybe it's overkill, but it's saved us many times as jobs have gone sideways. Thanks for sharing this. Important to plan for the inevitable failures!

Thanks for sharing this important message, I’ll figure how to add some of these safety enhancements to my setup.

Thanks for this video Winston, definitely an eye opener!

Excellent words of caution Winston! Thanks

Great advice. As someone who is looking to get into CNC-ing, safety definitely at the top of my concern.

THANK YOU SO MUCH for this video! This is a video I am going to keep on hand. I am a student welder, which is WROUGHT with it's own safety problems to plan for, but also starting my own welding/fabrication/makerspace company I need to plan out being able to induct other people on safety in MY shop. I just received my SainSmart CNC router of which I dedicated some investment into for the ability to broaden my projects. However, had no idea other than common logical safety guidelines with it, so this video is a sobering expansion on my list of outcomes. I already have an Induction Plan for guests to my factory/makerspace involving welding, but THIS is totally going to be going along with it as an example for what can go wrong with CNC machines. Good tip with the WIFI power outlet - I will have to plan something like that for my shop, as I already have a Wifi-Webcam setup for it.

For power kill switches, I'd suggest the magnetically latched kind. They're not too expensive ($10 on Amazon for the POWERTEC 71054, which I plan to use when I build my enclosure) and protect you in another way: from having power tools come back on by surprise after a power outage, tripped breaker, etc. A magnetically latched switched is basically like a relay with the output wired back to the coil. You push a start button which temporarily provides power to the coil, which then activates the relay, which then keeps itself powered after the start button is released via the current fed back to the coil. When power is lost the coil loses the fed back current, so when power is restored the switch STAYS OFF unless and until you manually push the start button again. Even if you have a wifi controlled switch or some fancier kill mechanism, having a magnetic switch downstream is a good idea, as it means the wifi switch going haywire or getting hacked or whatever can only power your system OFF unexpectedly, never power it ON unexpectedly.

Phew, shock reminder about shop safety!!! Glad no serious damage

Thanks for the warning. I'm just getting into cnc and hadn't thought of this.

Fantastic video, Winston!

I've had this exact same thing happen on some 8/4 walnut. thanks for sharing

I'd thought I'd heard it all, but I've never heard someone call me a meat servo before, LOL. Well done.

Excellent video, a lot to think about , thanks for sharing.

Great video never really thought about it with my cnc until I saw it

When it comes to CNC safety, I think the most important thing is to hear the machine as it's working. Pretty much every time you can clearly hear when something goes wrong. I never walk away far enough so that I can no longer hear my machine working. And yes, having a fire extinguisher in the workshop is a must, regardless whether you have a CNC machine or anything else.

Thanks for sharing your video. Great experience!

Thank you very much for sharing the story and video. These things happen, to err is human, to share it is very respectable.

Thanks for this. Many of these ideas are also good for 3D printers, which we all tend to leave alone overnight

At work I use a MultiCam router with 20Hp vacuum. I was cutting 1/8” thick aluminum when the bit plunged thru a loose part causing a friction fire. The vacuum table made it 10x worse. Luckily I was there and was able to get the fire out in time.

I lost a laser cutter within 30 seconds of walking away. Laser got disconnected and fired full power without moving and caused the material to ignite and start a fire. Due to the window being on the topside of the machine, and having a really strong exhaust, even though I was only 6 feet away and facing the machine I didnt realize anything was happening until the top window melted and you could smell the plastic melting on the exterior. Bet the neighbors got a good scare from all the smoke billowing outside lol. Now I have one of the webcams with remote access connected and servo control with an ipad that I have within view the whole time, and I have added emergency stops on the main power lines to my new machine as well as invested into halon so that if I do have to use an extinguisher I wont ruin the electrical components of the machine. Having one of these mishaps is definitely eye-opening and Im glad your shop is still intact!

Wow, that was scary. Thank you for sharing

I once had a long plank of wood clamped through my Shapeoko2. I walked away, so the CNC tried to make a break for it. I returned to find the plank had come loose and shifted severely, the part was a little burned, and the Shapeoko2 was moved almost half way off the bench! Lesson was learned that day. Also I never leave my homemade 80W Co2 laser running unattended for obvious reasons. It also has its own dedicated fire extinguisher and water squirt bottle just in case.

Thanks for sharing this!!

Thank you for this video.

Great video. Had these issues in my own shop. Almost lost my garage to a major laser fire and my workshop to a cnc a corroded connection on the Z axis causing it to not lift back up while machining. All machines now have cameras and I'm thinking smart plugs for when I'm not in close proximity

Nice and thx for sharing I remember your Instagram post. I use Remote Desktop so I can remotely pause as well. It’s definitely worth the hassle of setting it up. The ability to hear it though I don’t but now I think I will!

Fire suppressant, monitoring and smoke detection systems aside, it seems that one of the failure modes common amongst these starts when you lose steps and the system no longer has an accurate relative position of the cutting head. Could this be aided by a device tuned to detect skipped steps, similar to the microphones used in modern engines to detect knock/pinking? Maybe something the stepper driver can detect through back EMF? Just thinking out loud really. Great video as always Winston. It raises some really valuable points that are often neglected in the hobby CNC/3D Printing/Laser cutting world. We had a minor fire on our 8' x 4' CNC router when a dull end mill basically primitive technology-ed itself a large hearty fire with a nearby gathering of chips/sawdust. Timed dead-man switches and various monitoring systems have helped since, but nothing is ideal.

Wow. Scary stuff I hadn't thought about.

I'm obviously VERY late to seeing this video. But as someone that runs a machine shop with six figure CNC equipment in it, I would also add one of the most important steps in preventing unplanned disaster. REGULARLY MONITOR YOUR TOOLING. Dull tools, especially in woodworking are going to be a massive hazard. I would add to that, don't cheap out on tooling. Carbide ain't that expensive anymore, and especially on high heat buildup applications like most woodworking stuff is, it's going to stay sharp a lot longer. Remember since you're not cutting metal, where a lot of the heat gets taken away by the chip, an overwhelming amount of the heat is going to be transferred into your tool. And that tool can easily get hot enough to ignite wood. Good airflow, proper maintenance and high quality tools are going to save you. Even with properly clamped stock, you could still drag it out of the clamps by the added force of dull tooling.

New to your channel, but I will be scouring it soon. E-STOP BUTTONS! They're cheap, they're fast, and they put a easy manual target on your power feed. That's the first modification I'm making to my machine, in line with the router power. Things go bad? Mash big red button.

One rule i use with my Cnc, Never let it without surveillance

I would recommend having several types of extinguishers on hand as well. My goto first for electronics these days is Co2. They do require the ability to control air flow into the effected area. But they are far easier to cleanup post usage. Without destroying electronics or requiring a significant amount of cleanup time. Halon is not a good choice for home/small shops not to mention the cost and additional safety concerns. While its the other go to for electronics, and works. The chance of suffocation and the environmental damage means its a liability and restricted for sale. But I still keep a powder based extinguishers on hand. As well as a water based one. With them Labeled and accessible.

That why we are using in the industries flame detectors, spark detectors and smoke detectors. The best is to watch the processing by your self.

Thank You!!

I have stepper closed loop system on my lathe controlled by Centroid Acorncnc. The drivers a default built in and shuts drivers down, if there is to much torque.

Thank you for bringing this matter to the attention of the CNC community. It's easy to overlook matters of safety because they're predicated upon rare events but this is a very important issue. I'm currently embarking on a production using CNC that will run 24/7. I have not yet addressed these safety concerns but I will. I'll install a remote video monitor. I'm thinking of hacking a smoke detector that's inside the enclosure so it can E stop the machine. My typical crash breaks a 1/16" router bit producing essentially no risk of a fire from friction but this sort of hazard mitigation must necessarily include the extremely rare event.

Most line AC mains smoke alarms communicate via a shared line that puts out a 9 VDC signal. Fairly easy to cuts AC power to CNCs and 3D printers and trigger other actions with this signal.

I had a similar experience were the chips that had collected in the enclosure luckky I caught it in time and put it out. There was no major damage it just melted the wires to one of the y axis stepers wich were easily repaired.

line your enclosure with drywall . It will give you a buffer as drywall is very very fire resistant. It is used as fire breaks in multi unit homes and my father used it in walls to block the flame when he was soldering copper pipe. You can put a torch straight on it and it will not catch fire. The paper on the surface will but the underlying gypsum will not.

Yikes, great reminder and tips!!!!

Checklists like we use in aviation. Smoke detector. Sound feed with your camera.

I've heard of also using a smoke detector where the speaker also triggers a GFCI outlet and cuts off power to the whole system. Might be a bit too late for a cnc with a bunch of mdf and sawdust in the enclosure, but for a 3d printer in a cheapo enclosure, it might be a valid safety step

I am always looking to my cnc and currently I’m working on 4 cameras and 2 thermal cameras that will monitor everything in working area with recording and measuring power consumption. So when something happens, then I can watch those records and see what happens.

suggest a Nest Fire Alarm. Further I suggest investing in the fire alarm first, even before the camera. In the Maslow community I have had exhaustive discussions of Estop switches, the need for a fail off not on in your electronics plan. The one thing I wish to point out is that while I have lots of remote desktop and camera employed, my plans include the very real possibility of WiFi interruption as a given. Technology tends to fail at the most critical moments. Proper planning for them is what made the US space program. Also I think it important to point out a Fire Extinguisher is a must have for any shop environment. I personally learned a lot not in a shop fire but a gas station when my car burst into flames and the employees didn't know they had a Fire Extinguisher, after calling the boss, a unreasonable delay, they had no clue how to use it. For those that don’t know there is a release pin that must be removed before using most fire extinguishers. I strongly suggest taking a fire safety corse as well. Saw dust, wood chips and airflow all add potential. My first CNC experience was lasers and fire happens there on a regular basis, greater positive air flow usually over comes it. Be safe , have fun. Thank you Winston for this.

@coreyperez13

5 жыл бұрын

B Lee, Do you have any further insight on the methods used to interface all these together? I've researched after reading your post. I see the Nest detector can shutoff the heater, but no real information about shutting down an auxiliary 120v outlet.

@blee3275

5 жыл бұрын

Corey Perez You could use Ifttt but that was not my point. Shutting off Electricity after the fire has started is tertiary. My point is being alerted to take action should come before watching it happen.

Did you mention to keep a traditional fire extinguisher nearby? Seems obvious but I’m guessing a lot of people still don’t have one in their shop.

@WinstonMakes

5 жыл бұрын

Kind of took that for granted, but yes that is absolutely worth mentioning.

@AntiViGames

5 жыл бұрын

Not to mention that they expire as well and a lot of people don't know that or even care.

Never thought about team viewer to remote control the cnc coputer.

the oops clamp never seen it coming

I've been using 23gauge pin nails to hold down my work they are small enough if you hit one if cuts right through it. So far no problem.

I have had fires twice both times caused by bad CAD software and dull bits. Cad software Vectorworks creates complex curves as thousands of tiny straight lines and my post processor works it way through those curves excruciatingly slowly, enough the bit heats up and starts the wood on fire. With a downdraft table and dust collector the fire is invisible as all smoke is drawn down into the table or up the dust collector. I now make sure complex curves are smoothed by my post software first, and avoid Vectorworks drawings at all costs.

You may not be able to use teamviewer free for that for very long. I just got kicked off of teamviewer (account removed) for the second time due to "suspected commercial use" because I was using it to watch my CNC machine, etc. Now that you have shown it on your channel which you make money off of "commercial use" you will probably get in trouble unless you pay for an account. They are not very friendly. But TightVNC is a good free alternative if you can handle a few more steps and not as nice front end/GUI applications.

@WinstonMakes

5 жыл бұрын

Good to know. Really they should be paying me since I'm plugging their product... 🤔 But since DIY Engineering mentioned remote access to Carbide Motion via IP/Browser and there are options for full PC control I think I'll be fine. Thanks for bringing that up.

@datalorian

5 жыл бұрын

Yeah, for anyone playing along at home I would still give teamviewer a shot for as long as you can if that fits into your workflow. As you mentioned there are many alternatives and different ways to accomplish the remote monitoring. Thanks for the reply, Winston. Great video as always and this is a topic that I think needs to be revisited once in a while to keep it from being overlooked. We are all guilty of becoming complacent over time. Cheers!

What is the app called you are using on your iPod? Thanks

Thank you very much for sharing this! Workshop safety is not discussed anywhere near enough! Thankyou for sharing both some mishaps and possible solutions. As soon as I got myself a cnc laser cutter, I purchased a fire extinguisher and fire blanket. The machine still requires near-constant supervision, but it means I have the tools to bring a disaster back to safety if needed.

New steppers drivers with missed step detection ? The new trinamic can be used as the old drivers but you can plug in an Arduino, and if your machine misses a step have your arduino send something to the control board or a relay to shut everything down

Get commercial insurance to protect your machine and your home. I am paying around $500 a year for a 25k insurance (I have 3D printers, CNCs and tons of filament) and its so worth it! It also covers any damage to your machines and materials.

Look up I octoprint it’s a raspberry pi Gcode streamer. It connects to the internet and has a camera live view.

Very sensitive smoke alarm triggering a power off sounds like it would be easy to setup.

Not sure if mentioned before but a Mortoise Compression Tool would have given you a chip free finish

It would be nice to have a smoke detector enabled kill switch? Does anyone know of such a product?

Looks like an opportunity for a cnc companies. Which ever hobby company implements a safety feature will take the market.

@WinstonMakes

5 жыл бұрын

At first glance yes, but it would cost a significant premium for a company to put their name on the line like that. Huge liability. Look at the price of a sawstop vs regular tablesaw.

What are people's opinions on cheap dry powder fire extinguishers vs more expensive CO2/Halide/Halotron tanks? I was under the impression that dry powder extinguishers were corrosive and would pretty much destroy your machine if used, but now everyone's using these balls that AFAIK are essentially the same dry powder materials set to automatically dispense. I would like to not spend the extra money on exotic fire extinguishers but also would like to be able to put out a potential fire without destroying everything.

A closed loop system would have saved so much more

@AndrewFrink

5 жыл бұрын

Santosi came here to say this too. On closed loop if you miss to many steps it shuts down. The controller also needs control on the spindle on/off. Monitoring current on the spindle and setting a maximum threshold would also be a good idea. It's a shame these hobby CNC machines are missing some basic features for their industrial cousins.

@servant74

5 жыл бұрын

Most hobby / non-commercial systems are open loop. CNC and 3D printers could all benefit by closed loop systems, but it doesn't seem to be on the horizon saddly. I would love to see it!

@ipadize

5 жыл бұрын

it is also not expensive anymore like a few years ago

@AustinChopra

5 жыл бұрын

servant74 actually I do believe that it is on the horizon, I am more into 3d printing than CNC mainly because of the noise and space for me, but Prussia 3d has a mode where it misses a step or the head gets moved it will re home.

Right, dust inside the dust collector can become explosive, I remember reading an article about it on wood working magazine, wey back when there was no youtube 😒

@MorRobots

5 жыл бұрын

These enclosed cabinets are kinda scary as your right, a good dust mix and a spark from say the spindle brushes, can cause a really bad dust explosion. Good dust evacuation is a must for a cabinet setup.

I have a question. I am debating purchasing a shapeoko. The location where I plan to have it set up is in my detached garage with out ac. I live in Louisiana. Summer time is stifling. How does it hold up let say in a shop or garage that is not climate controlled?

@WinstonMakes

5 жыл бұрын

Ive heard of people periodically having to check belt tension and whatnot with large temperature swings. My bigger concern is personally humidity in the context of wood/MDF movement over time, particularly with the wasteboard. I have not quantified this though. It all basically boils down to a shorter maintenance/checkup interval. But the machine itself should run fine.

Has anyone thought of grounding the bed holes to a touch plate like zeroing sensor so if the endpoint touches a metal clamp it interrupts the program to go to failsafe?

@WinstonMakes

5 жыл бұрын

The touch probe system requires electrical continuity through the endmill, and that's typically done via an alligator gator clip to the the endmill. If you can get it to work by clipping to the casing of the router or something not spinning there's a chance. Otherwise not likely.

Is there not a CNC router equivalent to 3d printings' Octoprint? I can send my files over the network, fully manually control, pause, monitor and power on/off from my office pc, in fact it is possible to set things up so I can do all that from anywhere in the world provided I have internet access (not that I see much point in that to be honest) All it took was a RPi 3b, a cheap relay and an old usb webcam. I would have thought CNC, being a much older and more established technology would have had something similar. That all said - all the advice in your video still stands regardless, I'm just surprised there isn't something similar available.

@WinstonMakes

3 жыл бұрын

You still have to be at the machine anyway to load material.

@ste76539

3 жыл бұрын

Absolutely. I'm not suggesting quite the same level of remote operation, I just would have thought there'd be a similar setup for monitoring and control should the need arise. Maybe use an ESP32cam board, with a simple web gui that can control a relay via one of the GPIO pins. So if you have to leave the machine you can keep an eye on it and immediately hit the brakes remotely should something arise without having to get back to the machine to shut it down, potentially reducing any damage. Imagine if the worst happens during a loo break! Shut it down with your phone there and then, and pick up the pieces when you're 'done'!

Oh goodness!!! That could have gotten way ugly!!

Pausing doesnt seem like a good enough procedure, enough heat to combust will probably build up in 30 seconds and by that time its a bit late to press pause?

One thing I almost never see on these hobby grade machines is over curent protection on the spindle and steppers/drive power supplies. If your steppers stall out or exceed a preset tourqe your machine should kill the spindle, and rehome against the limits. If your spindle suffers an over current, it should trigger the same response. This type of behavior is easy to implement using a current clamp on the spindle power and a number of stepper drivers have current sense as a feature.

@AndrewFrink

5 жыл бұрын

the spindles on these hobby grade machines are just palm routers typically. No ability for the CAM to control the spindle speed or in most cases even the on/off of the spindle. I mean, come on, a 20A 240V opto isolated relay for the port for the router isn't that hard... You'd still have two cords to plug into the wall, but at least the CAM could watch current or at very least kill the router when it stops.

First get a brushless water-cooled spindle, have a fireproof enclosure, have IR heat detectors connected to the emergency stop loop and fire suppressant system, have your internal CNC wiring checked by a professional.. And even then, you won't let your CNC alone.

oh snap!!!!

Wyze now makes a outlet that can be turned off from your phone and they have the cameras to watch it with

If your cnc controller computer is running windows, just use remote desktop, it's built in.

One clamp by itself does not have enough holding power to withstand XY torque from even a light cut taking place more than a couple of inches from the clamp. Therefore, two clamps = single point of failure. (DarwinGarage also had only two clamps, according to the video comments.) Four-point workholding should be your default, and IMO anything held at

Glad your situation was not worse. The fireball seems like a good failsafe. Too many people think they have entered the big leagues with home CNC and lights out manufacturing. These units are essentially toys with very few or no safeties in place. So while everyone is boutiquing America producing knickknacks, many owner/operators have little to no fabrication skills using basic hand tools or manual machines, much less CNC. The proliferation of "santa claus" machines have given some people the idea they are machinists when nothing could be further from the truth. While these machines have made many affordable and capable tools available to us as well as helped stimulate innovation, they are still not commercial grade intended for continuous operation 24 hours a day without being monitored. Be aware of what you have and its limitations. Remember that very few devices these days are truly "off" without being unplugged but just on standby (printers, TV, appliances, etc.).

If you use a dust boot and have sparks your also risk a dust explosion

Yikes!

"Vintage iPod"

use a smoke detector connected to the emergency button connection. can't get wrong with that. a bag of sand mounted above the CNC with a special contraption that spread the sand over the burning part should be another idea. sand can be cleaned, the marks of a fire cannot.

Whats the purpose of an automated machine if you can't leave it alone for 1 minute

There should be an encoder to check that the bit is where is supposed to be according to gcode. If it's not out it should stop immediately. Hobby cnc machines don't have such features.

@MorRobots

5 жыл бұрын

MySchizo Buddy those are industrial servos and they cost an arm and a leg next to a NEMA stepper. However your correct, most hobby machines dont have current sensing implemented or even as a feature of the stepper drivers, so they can't detect a head crash or lost steps.

@HobbyistMaker

5 жыл бұрын

I've seen closed-loop NEMA steppers now too; although I haven't tried them. If I recall correctly, a 425oz closed-loop stepper, with the driver comes in around $110 US for each pair; not cheap, but not completely outrageous.

@Z-add

5 жыл бұрын

Hobbyist Maker any way to update the shapeoko with these nema motors.

@HobbyistMaker

5 жыл бұрын

MySchizo, I don't know. I don't have a shapeoko. I have a couple of openbuilds-based machines.

@MorRobots

5 жыл бұрын

Hobbyist Maker yea they do exist. From what understand they require the machine to have that loop handled in the driver board. At 100 a pop they aren't insanely priced but still not cheap, the real cost adds up when you factor in a driver capable of utilizing the encoder data.

It's far from my forte, but I feel like machine learning would be a great solution to the, "gee, something doesn't sound right, should probably turn this off five seconds ago" problem.

@servant74

5 жыл бұрын

Good idea. The sensors are not quite there as far as I could tell. But even simple Arduino or Raspberry Pi would have enough power to do the monitoring.

IR camera+Arduino+killswitch+phone alarm.

I recently bought this switch as a worst case way to reset our work email server remotely. It has 2 outlets (though 10A shared to both) but I was impressed at how many methods it has to control. There's a web interface to the device but also works via skype. I don't recommend leaving the house while it's running, but if one were going to do so being able to control it w/o being on local wifi is there. 3gstore.com/products/21_connected_switches.html

add a smoke detector!