Turning off machine?

[eklug]

Is it necessary to turn off the shopbot while it isnt being used? Our operators in the shop close sb software and log off their computers but leave the shopbot on at the end of the day. Is this a good idea? Will it potentially cause problems?

thanks

emily

[paco]

You can either close every thing or leave it open. You may just want to manually close the PC monitor at the end of the day. If you close it all, you'll have to recalibrate (homing) the next morning... if you leave it open, you still may have to recalibrate!...

Neither one of the above cause problem; one can save you a few pennies each month on the electric bill...

I close my tool (both control box and PC) whenever I wont be using the tool for the next few days... which happen less and less!

[eklug]

i was just referring to the control box. The large red on/off switch on the side of the control box. And I meant if leaving it on all the time would cause problems for the machine. I notice when I do turn off the spindle it seems to relax a little. So I thought if cutting off the power to the machines was a good idea bc it let them go into "rest" mode.

[richards]

Emily,

I always turn off my control box whenever I'm out of the shop. That also means that I run the C3 routine to 'home' the machine with the proximity switches when it is first powered up; but, it also means that there is no possibility for the machine to move under its own power when I'm not around. (I leave the computer turned on at all times - except for maintenance. All fourteen computers in my home/shop are left running all the time. History has shown that they last longer when the components are always at a constant temperature.)

[harryball]

I leave PC's up and running 24/7. They last longer as Mike said and I don't have to wait for them to boot. With windows you do need to reboot periodically.

I would not feel comfortable leaving my control box, spindle cooling fan, VFD and stepper motors energized while I'm not present. I don't believe sitting and idle would cause any damage but bad power or a thunderstorm could cause serious damage to powered up equipment. When I'm present and working I can shutdown for a storm or if the lights go dim and stay dim or flicker constantly I can shutdown.

Now, what I don't understand is why you have to rehome. I home my bot and shutdown the software, then the control box. The next morning I power up the control box then the software and I do not rezero X&Y. I do glance at where it is parked to make sure no one moved it but it comes back up to 0,0 and I'm ready to go.

Robert

[fleinbach]

I guess I will reconfirm as Mike and Robert have stated I have 8 Computers running night and day. I have worked with electronics all my life and like Mike stated solid state componants last longer if they remain at a constant temperature.

As for the control box I do shut it down at times when I know I won't be cutting for several days. Although I do wish I could turn off the fan on the spindle without cutting the power to the control box.

[handh]

Frank,

Why can't you just cut the power to the spindle and leave the control box on. I have a disconnect right next to the ShopBot for the spindle. I'm like you I don't want to leave the spindle fan running all of the time when not in use. I don't know if this would hurt anything but looks like you could just disconnect the spindle power and leave the control box on.

[bob_lofthouse]

Our machines are currently running from 6.30am to 4.30pm then a second shift of 6pm to 5am. We completely close down the shopbots between shifts for 1 1/2hours to let them have a small chance of cooling down; however we always leave the laptops on. We have found the laptops start up is pretty slow and this tends to lead to communication failure with our machines.