Start Button

[mnrite]

Can I change a shopbot file so that I do not have to push the start button to start the router each time I run the file? Or can I move the start button to the control panel next to my computer where I plan to mount switches for the dust collector and vacumn pump? Also is there a command to re-run the last file instead of reloading it each time?

Thanks
Mike

[bjenkins]

One easy thing to do, Mike, is just create a program loop inside your sbp file. The program reference gives examples. If you don't end the program the router will stay on. Of course you need to have a pause in there to allow yourself to change the material. I put a prompt at the pause to end or repeat. Obviously, you need to be careful if you are moving material with the router still running. I actually have one job programmed to loop and I programmed a move of the router to the far side of the table while I'm loading material.

[jsfrost]

Pushing the start button was initially an iritation for me, but I believe it is there for safety. I wish it were a soft switch on the PC rather than a physical switch that may be inconvient to reach. (OSHA may have influenced that choice?) Two relays , one controlled by the green button and one controlled by S1, must close to power the router, thus the router is extremenly unlikely to start accidently. Use the prompt as a reminder to visually check the table and area one last time before making sawdust.

It is possible to reconfigure the control box to bring the switch outside. This would have safety and warantee implications, and is probably not a good idea. You can also choose to run the router on it's own circuit, independant of the control box, with switching of your choice, however you won't have the double relay reliability.


Jim

[Ryan Patterson]

Mike,
I had talked to shopbot on how to do away with the start button. I thought you might just be able to bypass the switch by tying the two wires that go to the swicth together. Shopbot told me it would work but I might burn out the relay. ShopBot suggested to use one of the other output switches with a relay circuit to control the router. If you where to use another output switch then the E-stop will not stop the router when hit unless you wrote code in the begining of each part file. If you find a way to get rid of the start button, I would like to know.

[Ryan Patterson]

Mike,
I had talked to shopbot on how to do away with the start button. I thought you might just be able to bypass the switch by tying the two wires that go to the swicth together. Shopbot told me it would work but I might burn out the relay. ShopBot suggested to use one of the other output switches with a relay circuit to control the router. If you where to use another output switch then the E-stop will not stop the router when hit unless you wrote code in the begining of each part file. If you find a way to get rid of the start button, I would like to know.

[fleinbach]

Mike,

Moving the start button is very simple. I moved mine to the front panel and didn't even need to extend the wires. Of course you could move it to any location you would like even next to your keyboard. It is only a simple two wire low voltage switch.

[Ryan Patterson]

This is just a thought. What if you wired the green switch to output 3 and add this code to the beginning of the part file.
so,3,1
so,1,1
so,3,0

[lto]

We are using a loop in an .sbp to speed up a repetitious job. It seems to allow six cycles, after which attempting to resume for the seventh loop, it returns an error that forces the shopbot control program to shut down. Our solution so far has been to always restart the file before we reach the limiting number of repeats. This works fairly well as long as we don't lose track of where we are in number of repetitions.

Has someone found a better way around the six repetition limit?

Thanks,
Louis

[paco]

Louis,

post you loop code here so we could have a look at it...

Do you have the latest SB3?! I only encounter this in a old release months ago.

[lto]

At the end of the code we have an FP to call up the same file again. Using version 3.4.16.

Example;

running MYFILE.sbp
MY CODE HERE
FP,MYFILE.sbp

[paco]

Louis,

3.4.16 should be fine (3.4.19 is released).

I'm not sure I understand your way...

This is how I code such looping...

---

...

MS,2.5,1.5

JZ,2.000000
J2,0.000000,0.000000

LOOP:
J3,4.117698,11.472374,0.188000
M3,4.117698,11.472374,-0.065000
CG, ,4.157567,11.502941,-0.034231,0.085933,T,-1

...

J3,4.250067,33.187816,0.188000
J3,25.000000,24.000000,4.000000

INPUT "Continue? ANY KEY to continue or N to end" &cont
IF &cont = N THEN GOTO END
GOTO LOOP


END:
'Turning router OFF
SO,1,0

---

The INPUT and the IF allow me a pause between each runs to change blanks... you don't want the tool to choose when it's time to move on! You can add a counter if you wish/need it...

[bill.young]

Louis,

It's hard to tell too much from that small sample but it looks like myfile.sbp is calling itself...is that what's happening? There could easily be a limit to how deeply files can be nested that way...I'll see what I can find out.

*) It also looks like you are letting this run forever and stopping it manually. As an option you could put a "label" line at the beginning of your file that might be something like this...

REDO:

and then at the end of the file instead of your "FP,MYFILE.sbp" line you put a line that says

GOTO REDO

When it gets to the GOTO line it will go to the REDO: line and run from there. You can read more about labels and the GOTO statement in the programming handbook in the download section.


*) A much cleaner way of doing it might be something like this..

&count = 0
&numreps = 20 ' the number of times you want it to run
REDO:
FP, myfile.sbp
&count = &count + 1
If &count < &numreps THEN GOTO REDO
END

..and then take the last "FP,myfile.sbp" out of myfile.sbp

Feel free to send me your code and I'll see what I can find...I may have the wrong idea about how you're doing things

Bill

[bill.young]

oops...Paco posted while I was typing!

[lto]

Thanks Paco, your Loop example worked great for us today.

Bill, I will need to familiarize myself with all that is possible using the various commands.

[paco]

Great!

No oups here Bill; in fact you've included the count limit which is another ice way to control this kind of loop. I've (above) suggested a count that print and you've suggested count that can limit the number of loops. One could program an INPUT at start to inquire as to how many time to loop without having to hardcode in the file...

Louis,

let us know if you need help with this.