Am awaiting arrival of my machine, but I have a question - I plan to power the spindle via an IOT relay, and would like to know if using the Emergency Stop button will also kill power to the spindle.
Hello @ColonelClarence, welcome to the group.
What machine did you order and which board does it have LongBoard or SuperLongBoard?
I have a LongMill Mk1 with the LongBoard. I use this IOT relay and I have a router not a spindle. When I hit the E-Stop it doesn’t turn off the router.
The problem is that the router is not directly controlled by the LongBoard in my case. Another problem is when I hit the E-Stop it cuts power to the motors so the machine stops moving but because the Arduino on the LongBoard is powered through the USB port the G-code keeps running and I loose the position in the carve. So I tend to stop the machine with the pause button in gSender if possible because gSender can send the code to stop the router with the relay.
Of course if it’s a real emergency I would use the E-Stop, that is if I don’t freeze like a deer in headlights wondering what to do!
Also I believe there is a newer E-Stop that has some other buttons that I think you can assign macros to. I don’t have that one so I’m not sure if that changes anything.
Depending on how far you want to go I know someone on this forum, can’t remember who, had a light switch which would kill power to all outlets that the machine uses. I think he even put one next to his design computer so he could turn it off from there. I think his design computer is in a room close to the mill and he uses a camera to monitor the mill. Maybe that person will see this and elaborate.
1 Like
Have ordered MK2.5 12x30.
I guess the best path forward will be to assemble the machine and see how it behaves. It would be nice if someone could come up with a USB E-Stop button that would talk to gsender.
The Longmill will replace a small NextWave machine that didn’t come with any E-Stop facility whatsoever - it wasn’t a problem to configure a switch to kill power to the whole system.
It seems to me to be a design flaw to have an E-Stop switch that doesn’t stop everything.
@ColonelClarence This section of the slb manual may address your concern.
“Each SLB comes with an E-stop and pre-made wiring to keep you safe out-of-the-box when cutting. When pressed, the E-stop is designed to cut all power to your CNCs stepper motors and also send a signal back to the MCU to disable all other accessories that your SLB controls. This includes turning off the spindle, IOT Relay, and anything else that’s triggered by M3/4 and M7/8 commands. Use the E-stop when there’s a hazard during carving and you need to immediately stop the machine.”
As an aside, are you using UGS to send code? You have put your question in the UGS category, but mention gSender in your post.
3 Likes
Mememememe!
My E-stop situation is like @_Michael . Longboard with a simple E-stop that doesn’t kill the router. So I have a switch away from the machine in my office to kill the beast when it’s on the verge of escaping its cage and I am no longer willing to risk my life getting near it.
I would want this escape switch with the SLB too, because sometimes it’s just no longer safe to go near the machine if it’s on a rampage. The SLB does a better job at killing things though, as @gwilki stated before, but it is not a totaly hard one that is guaranteed to work no matter what.
1 Like