Controlling Vacuum and Unattended Work

[garyr6]

My experience with my desktop has been "i was never fast enough to save the wood or bit when the BOT decided to do me wrong" ( ok maybe it was operator error of some kind). So it comes down to is, " Are you willing to trade the possibility of some kind of damage for productivity gains". This trade is something we all do at some time, whether its CNC or anything else which involves risk (ie insurance).
Most of us picked BOTS cause of reliability..... don't mean they will never do you wrong.
My issue with BOT farts had to do with power surge when the air unit kicked on and off in the house (the two power circuits sat next to each other in the Main Power box). Moved them and almost all of my issues stopped.

[bearcat]

The DeskTop is solidly 24" x 18" and a bit more. I see consistent cut quality across the entire work envelope with plywood, acrylic and HDPE.

Personally I do not run a ShopBot unattended, and when working with clients I strongly recommend the operator stay at the machine. I am not concerned about machine stability so much as unexpected / unplanned events possibly causing catastrophic failure.

Ed

[ron_moorehead]

Insurance, I talked with my agent last week and asked about if a fire starts while I am not around the machine would I be covered, his reply basically was if the industry has a standard, like not to leave a CNC machine running unattended, then no I would not be covered. My fault. I think the ShopBot manual says not to run your machine unattended.

Talk with your agent.

[bobmoore]

In my opinion running any mechanical device remotely is a recipe for trouble. Accidents come from unexpected places (hense the name). A power outage or spike. A piece of material leaning against a wall, a car crashing through. Talk to someojne who has manged plants or safety managers and it is sobering what strange things can go wrong.
Bob