Babysitting the machine

[magickpurple]

I know that I have read and heard in tutorials more than once that we shouldn't leave our machine running unattended but really.... When a job takes a couple hours, how many of you actually sit there and babysit it? I'm just curious.

[steve_g]

David…
If I’m not close by doing something else, I keep tabs on it with a IP camera while I’m in the office working… Yes, I have occasionally left for a quick lunch… I don’t have a vacuum hold down and any catastrophic events I have heard about have involved drilling with down cut bits while vacuum fanned a flame!
SG

[myxpykalix]

I never leave it when i'm doing a roughing pass, say on a 3d carving, but when i'm doing the finishing pass like with an 1/8th inch ballnose it is taking so little at a time and doesn't make deep plunges that i don't even use dust collection and will turn on my security camera and go in and watch football while i keep an eye on it for hours.:eek:

[David Iannone]

I am within hearing distance on long machine times. Better to catch something sooner than later. You can sometimes hear a problem just from the change in bit chirping. I do plan on installing a camera like Steve mentioned too eventually.

[gc3]

longest run for me has been just over 32 hrs...after 6-8 hrs of the noise you gotta go somewhere quiet

[myxpykalix]

if you don't you might go Deef:D Many times you don't realize how loud it is until you turn it off!

[adrianm]

I generally set my work up so that the 'bot is like another worker in the shop. While it's cutting something I'm sanding or doing edge work on the last part it cut.

When that's not possible I watch it via a camera and audio feed from the office.

I never stand and just watch it as I couldn't bear to waste that much time!

[shilala]

I'm always with it when I'm roughing, but when I'm down to 1/8" or 1/16" bits, I'll go in the house if I don't have any more work in the shop.
I check on it constantly because I can't stand not to. I never thought to put a camera on it and watch it on my phone. I'm glad you brought this up!!!

[magickpurple]

I'm going to install a camera too. Good idea. Thanks guys.

[Burkhardt]

I usually do one-off projects and inevitably there is something to go wrong, mostly programming mistake or clamps not holding or cutting into the vacuum pods. Therefore I dare not to leave the machine alone except for long time 3-d surface cuts where I am reasonably sure nothing will happen.
I tried a WiFi camera and while nice, the run from my home office to the shop will take maybe 30 seconds which can be very long in case of a problem.

[myxpykalix]

Get yourself a good quality video baby monitor. It will come with it's own video monitor (usually about 5") plus the newer ones will let you hook it into your wi-fi.

I like the ones with a monitor that you can simply put next to the tv and just glance down at rather then having to call up an app on your iphone just to check up on it.

[scottp55]

Google "shopbot crispy bot".
I've hit screws that I could smell burnt metal! and guess where they get sucked into- a nice pile of sawdust with a wonderful fanned oxygen source.
For finish passes or rerunning a file I'll turn off DC but always leave door open so I can hear it, although there's almost always sanding, finishing, cutting new stock etc.... to do.
Before we got the UPS had Wonky power that more than once in 3.8.4 left the bit spinning in the cut--movement stopped.

[adrianm]

Whatever camera system used make sure it has a reliable audio feed. I always have the audio running on mine as as hearing a problem doesn't require constant vigilance to the display.

I used to just leave mine running unattended and I had a program that would send me a text when it had finished running or needed a tool change. Worked great until it plunged into the table one day and sat there with the collet hard up against the material at 18000 rpm. Fortunately I was outside the shop and heard the strange noises. I make sure I'm never more than 15 seconds away when it's running now.

[khaos]

...Google "shopbot crispy bot"...

I got the marshmallows!! :rolleyes:

[scottp55]

Sorry Joe, Just can't seem to resist bringing that up, can I. Indelible impression I guess:) Like your redundant smoke alarm unit:)

[Brian Harnett]

As Adrian said I treat the bot as another worker, I figure what I can take care of on other equipment before I run it unless it is very short cycle times.

Take advantage of the work being done and get more accomplished thats why I bought a bot.

Now if I just had an industrial vacuum the shop bot.

[cowboy1296]

Guilty of not standing by the machine for hours while running, but I do check it periodically. Even if I was standing by the bot when it messed up. I dont think that i could save the wood/project. I dont use screws but i do use clamps. I do a test profile of about .01 of an inch deep of my project before starting it up. This will let me know if i am to close to the clamps

[Xray]

Like others, I stick around for the roughing but for finish work I do other things or flat out walk away for hours on end all the time. To me thats part of the beauty of CNC, doing other productive things while the automated work is being done.
Don't have an IP cam, I do have a fire alarm that calls me if it goes off. I figure about the worse that can happen is a broken bit or router stops working in the middle of the job, in those cases the results would be about the same as if I was right there.

[Bob Eustace]

Well on our TV news tonight we saw a factory burn down at 9:30pm Saturday night. The cause was an unattended computerised router worth $150,000.00. Worth thinking about for those of us doing overnight stuff.

[ken_rychlik]

3 fires on my machines in 6 years.

Qne computer glitch on a bot and it stopped in the wood with the bit running.

One piece of metal hit in a sheet. also on a bot.

Last one was on my new "non bot", I ran a dull bit longer than I should have and it got hot enough to spark. You know, just a few more sheets. :rolleyes:

Each time I was lucky and close. I have had to pour water on the spoilboard and rebuild it, but "so far" nothing tragic.

[Burkhardt]

I had an "almost fire" tonight. Maybe I am lazy but I wanted to save removing the tabs on a complicated cutout of several smaller pieces with 1/8" EM from 3/4" plywood and left the tabs away. Normally that works for me because the chips pack the narrow slot and hold the pieces in place. However, not tonight. The bit grabbed one of them and pulled it up to the collet. Now it started smoking in seconds and spewing little glowing embers into the dust collector.

Never happened before but fortunately I was nearby and noticed. I shut the machine down, dragged the dust collector bin outside and extinguished the smoldering bits. Whew....

[Tim Lucas]

i had an "almost fire" tonight. Maybe i am lazy but i wanted to save removing the tabs on a complicated cutout of several smaller pieces with 1/8" em from 3/4" plywood and left the tabs away. Normally that works for me because the chips pack the narrow slot and hold the pieces in place. However, not tonight. The bit grabbed one of them and pulled it up to the collet. Now it started smoking in seconds and spewing little glowing embers into the dust collector.

Never happened before but fortunately i was nearby and noticed. I shut the machine down, dragged the dust collector bin outside and extinguished the smoldering bits. Whew....

good save!!

[scottp55]

Too close G.! :(
I've been glad twice that Dad ponied up for the steel version of the DustDeputy. Screw once, a Gremlin misplaced a decimal point in zero the second time.
WHAT!, No Halon 1301 Emergency Dump switch on that Beast of yours?:)
Good Catch! And a good caution for Newbies to buy some extra CO2's and keep their Cyclones on casters if size allows.

[Burkhardt]

.....Good Catch! And a good caution for Newbies to buy some extra CO2's and keep their Cyclones on casters if size allows.

You bet. I did notice the next fire extinguisher was way too far away. I WILL buy another bigger one and store it next to the machine.

But it was quite a show seeing the stream of sparks flying through the flexible dust collector hose. That whirlwind makes them burn pretty bright and most burned out before they reached the dust collector. The collet and the stump of the broken bit kept rubbing and ripping wood chips out until I shut it down.