"Relay" Switch

[alton]

I too just built a relay switch. I realize SB
does not suggest doing this due to safety while
changing bits. So I added a safety switch to the
incoming hot wire. I also added a bypass switch,
bypassing the relay, so I can control it manually,
with or without the computer on.

I felt I needed to build it after burning up my last
router. I had a 3 hour cut job, went into the
house, fell asleep, woke up 9 hours later,
no router. Hate it when that happens :-(

Hope this works well, so far so good.

Alton

[srwtlc]

Snooze Ya Lose ;^)

[kodama@austin.rr.com]

I have thought of putting a magnetic switch to control the router and a relay on the z axis to turn the router off with a z movement. The magnetic switch would require pressing the start button to start the router thus meeting the safety concerns.
Wayne

[waynesutter]

I also built the switch and use it. It quickly became evident that you should also put a switch in series with the router so you can turn it off for safety on bit changes, air cuts and the like. (I hate the noise) It takes a little getting used to programming the SO 1,1 (on) and SO 1,0 (off)but the automation is well worth it.

[jkforney]

Thought I would post this here instead of starting a new thread.
If you don't have the proximity switches sold by shopbot call and order them. They are $150.00, easy to install and take so much guess work out of cutting. They are also in short supply so order soon.
I have set them up on 4 machines and they raise the bar for Shopbot. Now if a machine skips steps, or is moved with the motors off, a simple command gets you back to xy zero. In conjunction with the z zero plate (see shopbot forum) the prox switches give a level of "exactness" that I only dreamed of before. Well worth the money and hour they take to install. (Well an hour after my 4 installation).

Also take the s_home.sbp and the zzero.sbp (I think the file names are correct but check in SBParts directory) copy them to the shopbot main directory and rename them "cuscut1.sbc or cuscut2.sbc or which ever Custom Cut number you want. Now (on my machine) when I want to rezero my x&y I simply type c1 and to rezero my z c2. You can of course rename any sbp file you use often to cuscut with a number behind it (up to three I think) and just run it as a "c" command.

If I have only one complaint about shopbot it is that they put in these great software commands and don't call each of use personally to tell us. Kidding aside, maybe some of the rest of the people that only lurk on this forum (I know you're there, I met a lot of you at the Vegas sign show.) would share with the rest of us some of your favorite ways of completing tasks. Otherwise, we have to read the docs. Don't do that to us.

John Forney

[srwtlc]

Nobody has answered the main part of Pauls question back in September 2000 of how exactly to wire up the relay switch. I too now have the listed Radio Shack parts in hand and could use some further explanation and or diagrams as to how to wire this up. Also, where are we placing the assembled relay, plugins and bypass switches? I like the idea of the bypass so you can do an air cut or just cut a quickie without the SO commands.

Thanks, Scott