Vacuum Time

[kubotaman]

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can "time" my dust collector system, while doing 3D, to be one for approximately 3 minutes and then be off for maybe the same amount of time? I want to time my system while cutting at nite. There is no need to have the dust collector on all the time for using a 1/8" bit. I just want to time it for multiple times while I am asleep. I have looked at timers but the best I have come up with is 20 on times and 20 off times. The problem is the timer is only rated for 8 amps . I would like one to be able to with stand 10 amps. Any suggestions?

[bob_s]

I would just like to add a caution. Running times for 3d can be very long, and it would be easy to let them run at night, but fire is a very real danger. Add the air circulation from a vac, sawdust, and a spinning tool, I wouldn't want to sleep in the same building. I do a fair amount of 6 hour cuts, but I run them during the day. If I am out of that part of the shop, I use a baby monitor to keep an eye on the progress. Then I just run the dust collection for a minute every fifteen or 20 when I check the progress.
If you do run at night, please investigate some really serious smoke detection system to at least make it a bit safer.

[ken_rychlik]

Pay up your insurance.

You can have a small power handling device run a dust collector with a simple relay to carry the load. The small device turns the relay on and the relay handles the big current. Any local electrician can help you.

Have him put some smoke detectors in while he is there though.

Kenneth

[cip]

Running a CNC unattended is asking for disaster.

Example: I was no more then 15 ft. away from my machine and a power glitch happened. Before I could get to the machine the spinning bit had set the spoil board on fire and I had to pour water on it to put it out.

[tmerrill]

I agree with everyone else that you shouldn't be running your machine through the night unattended.

As for running your dust collection during the finish path, I stopped doing that a long time ago. If your roughing pass was set up correct and your finish pass is just removing a few thousandths of material I just run a vacuum around it a few times as I check progress. The chips are very small and most stay within the model you are cutting.

Depending on the specifics for your dust collector, you could be using more electricity and creating more wear and tear by repeated starts then if you left it running.

Tim

[ed_lang]

First, do not run a CNC without being there.

The ShopBot relay board is perfect for this.

You can use the Switch Output on and off command to start and stop anything via software.

I have run my cyclone and vacuum hold down just this way.

[adrianm]

I wouldn't want to run my machine for more than a few minutes without it being visible directly or via camera.

If I really had no choice I would invest in an automatic extinguisher along the lines of those used in boat engine rooms at the very least.

[myxpykalix]

I run my bot lots of times cutting 3d files with a 1/8" or 1/4" ballnose for hours at a time and don't use the dust collector unless it is mdf. I usually do it during the day and have my camera turned on to monitor it while i'm inside watching football.

The amount of dust generated by a 1/8" ballnose is minimal and isn't worth the electricity to clear it, i just brush it away.

As is the consensus here i wouldn't run the bot while sleeping (althoughy i've been known to nod off while in the LAZYBOY!)

[navigator7]

Wow!
Walking away from a machine and going to bed?
This idea never occurred to me.
I spent 20 years at sea and the closest I ever came to getting killed was by devices installed in my tug by bean counters to be "Automatic". Automatic.......was another way to reduce crew size. The practice more resembled homicide.

On the other hand....GPS is waaaaaay better than Loran A or shooting stars with a sextant.

If I were to walk away from a machine what are some of the things I'd want to know?
Be nice to have all these details come across a cell phone???

o Amp draw
o Sound
o Real time video
o A change in shop ambient temperature.
o Loss of power
o A motion detector....not for the machine but for neighbors seeking to sabotage my night ops.
o Murphy's Law Compensator
o ?????

Any others?

In the early 90's, we had a temporary dock for aggregates transfer. It was an area exposed to weather. We were able to program a weather station and sea state meter to call a list of phone numbers until the machine talked to a live person.
The idea was to prevent the temporary dock from being damaged or the barge from being destroyed.
The idea was good...so was the money repairing the dock and re-floating the barges.


8231

[kubotaman]

I need some help, guy's! I am taking up a collection for myself to help pay the doctor to help remove the "Stupid Stick"!! Your points are valid so I guess I won't do as I intended. Didn't even think about the consequences. Okay, so am I to assume if you are working late and want to finish a project by doing a "finish cut" that you would then wait till morning to finish it? I was think that some finish cuts take hours and what other time but nite, since it is essentially down time.

[tmerrill]

Daryl,

I wouldn't be so hard on yourself. You asked an appropriate question and found the answer was a little more involved. The fact you recognize the issue as valid says you are pretty intelligent if you ask me.

When I am going to perform a long finish path run I normally set everything up the night before and then start the machine as soon as I can the next day. If I have to go somewhere during the day, or get the common thunderstorm during the summer months, I'll stop in the middle of a run, shut the router off and let my laptop just sit there. When I get ready to start again I'll start the router and click on Resume. So far this has served me well.

Tim

[navigator7]

LOL @ Daryl,
I was hoping you would say you've slept soundly for years while letting your bot run at night!
;-)
What a dream job, eh?
Nobody has answered your question so here is a quickie 'splantion:
You could even get fancy and make parts on your bot.

8232
This is a conglomeration of ideas.
For the life of me, I can't remember what I pulled this motor and gear box I'm holding in my cold weary hand. It's a 120V 3 watt pancake motor that ironically has "Murphy" logo on the side. ;-)
The output gear spins ever so slow.

ON the left is a microswitch. They can also be magnetically operated. The one shown in DC but a rely can fix that.

The spoked array is simply a way to turn on and off micro switches. Cam is another word. Long before CNC became common, boaters in Portland and Seattle would use the holidays as an excuse to go out boating. People spent days even weeks with a jig saw and plywood fiddling around to make timers to show off Christmas decorations.
Really elaborate stuff. Quite competitive. St Nick flying in space with reindeer. Santa disappearing down a chimney. Snow flakes flying. A flickering candle flame are a few I remember.

They'd make cams out of plywood, insert them on a motor driven shaft. Somewhere on the contraption was a bank of switches that worked off the cam turning stuff on or off giving the appearance of movement.

At the time, most boats were 12 VDC. The older ones were 32VDC. Some even 120VDC.
They simply didn't have the power to keep all the lights running
Nowadays 12VDC and 120AC is common and LED's make the load go down to nothing.

Mebbie your idea for a vacuum switch might lead you to some fun stuff?
I've been possessed to make a UFO prop out of ice. Made to look like it crashed into a bank in front of my house.
Lights and weird colors etc.

Until you asked the question....I had forgotten about this primitive method of making light and gadgets tun on and off.

[Gary Campbell]

Daryl...
To answer your question, Yes. Email me. EMA in profile
Gary

[curtiss]

Seems like a small computer cooling fan that does not draw too many amps could keep the dust off the work by blowing contantly or setting up some lightweight vacuum system that would not have to be turned on and off.

You can buy them for a few dollars at a computer store and "stack them" I think, just a theory though....

[frank134]

I wouldn't run my machine at night with out me their.. but for your question. go to ww grainger and got and electronic timer to control a relay with 20anp or more contrat. they have then that will turn and off as many time as you want. OR you could put a bed next to the bot.

[bcondon]

To automate Dust Collection to the Shopbot, use the Shopbot relay to control (on/Off) and then find a relay that can handle the heavy amerage of the dust collector:

--- here is an example: ---


I use X10 Controls on my dust collector. I have a recepticle (220V 20A) on my dust collector in a closet. From a touch pad control or key fob, I can hit the button and the recepticle puts power to my dust collector:


http://www.smarthome.com/2021/X10-Heavy-Duty-220V-Appliance-Module-HD245-or-PAM04/p.aspx

I have not yet done this but would connect the following sensor to one of the Shopbot Relay blocks so that when you issue a Relay 5 ON, this would close relay position 5 which is where you would have the sensing relay of this device wired. The device would then issue an X10 ON command to the dust collector and it would be on... At the end of the sbf file, you would issue a Relay 5 OFF which would have the decide send an X10 OFF command and shut the dust collector down...


http://www.smarthome.com/2450/I-O-Linc-INSTEON-Low-Voltage-Contact-Closure-Interface-1-In-1-Out-/p.aspx

No timer needed.

I use the X10 controls because I have the basement and the back room in the garage that needs to control the dust collector. I have two key pads with on/off switches in each location plus a fob I can put in my pocket if I am moving around where the power tools are.

Everything simply plugs into the wall and it sends the X10 commands over your house wires so there is no additional wiring.

[kubotaman]

Bob, I think your idea may be a winner! I also have some X10 items and I must say they work quite well. If a person was to use Relay #5 on my ShopBot do I have to buy anything from ShopBot or just hook it up to the terminal? In other words is Relay #5 usable from the factory?

[bcondon]

Daryl

All the relays are usable. If you do not have enough relays, they make an expansion board which I purchased when I got the machine.
I use the X10 for outdoor lighting for safety and I use it in the shop for dust collection. You can define a different "house" for the shop
and our home.
On my shop side, I use one circuit to control the dust collector from the basement and from my shopbot room which is on the back of my garage. there is PVC between both spaces to run the dust collection pickup.

I need to buy the closure interface and play with it but I think it just needs to be wired in.