I've finally finished my LEAD CNC with BlackBox, and I can already see that having a physical emergency stop button, but haven't been able to find any wiring ideas for how to approach this.
Don't catch on fire (: - also known as "what happens when you leave CNC unattended" [pics] is how i know and why for years i have stood by thr statement that an emergency stop should cut power to Everything
That's why my system is on a single power strip with the switch easily accessible (and not very close to the machine). I see a difference between stopping the system and full power cut. I use my EStop for the former.
Mob 1810, I think I’m more of a newbie than you. Do you have any pictures of what you ended up doing? Cheers
Here is a safe off the shelf solution to fitting an E Stop before your power strip Safety Power Tool Switch
Assuming the e-stop is just wired to kill the power to the controller, would the software not continue once the e-stop is released? Does it not require for the reset button on the controller to be pressed?
The e-stop is there for when something catastrophic is happening. At that point, the project is most likely ruined. You could pause the controller after hitting the e-stop. Then - if the project is salvageable - you could see what line of code it is on and just to be safe, go back 50 or 100 lines, re-home, re- zero, and start the project from there. It may air cut for a little while, but after that it should work. If I were just cutting a simple flat part, I would just start it over from the beginning.
There are 2 levels of stop - Feed/Hold and EStop. (3 if you count chopping power) You should use F/H to pause your job to, for example, adjust your clamps. Then Cycle/Start can be used to resume the job. EStop is like Giarc said - pretty much job trashed. It is really important to have an EStop button but C/S and F/H buttons are not far behind IMHO. The gnea/grbl 1.1f (grbl classic) builds that I have used seem to lose Z axis positioning on EStop, making restart difficult. Not sure if that is common for all controllers out there, though. In grblHAL, EStop retains axis positioning so a restart is easier. Also, Feed/Hold works from the Sender app (I have trouble with that in grbl classic using Grbl Panel).
Z-Axes dropping under gravity because of the high helix leadscrew, when the motors deenergise seems more likely the reason for that
I don't have the machine wired with grbl classic anymore so can't test it but the physical spindle on Z didn't move, it was the sender/grbl changing Z. You could see it in the DRO. To restart, I was forced to rezero Z. I had a mental note to investigate this but didn't before I moved to the 32 bit controller.
Thanks guys! Appreciate the input. I have my new LEAD 1010 arriving on Friday so I want to make sure I have what I need to get setup and started properly. My worry here is that if I don't set it up with all these things in mind from the start, I'll get complacent and never go back to get set up properly. Right now, my plan is to set it up so that the e-stop will kill the power to a power strip, which will be used to power the controller and IOT relay for spindle and vacuum. Any other suggestions are welcomed!
Yeah, that style kill switch is a good idea - I have 4 of them in various uses in my shop. Note though, the Rockler one is not magnetic meaning that if power was cut to the switch, the machine will run when power is restored. A magnetic switch will require an off/on cycle to get the machine running. This is important if you blow a circuit breaker (or you loose power to the shop). Not a show stopper but worth understanding the difference. I have a magnetic one on my 5HP table saw that can in the right circumstance blow a breaker. Definitely don't want that baby coming back on until I've cleared the problem. I would wire the switch up to an outlet that you plug your power strip into or even better wire to a quad outlet at your CNC machine's table and skip the power strip. Rockler regularly has that switch on sale, btw.
We mention that in the documentation too - see docs:blackbox:connect-coolant [OpenBuilds Documentation] - usually a vacuum + router exceeds the rating, so we recommend
E-stop is a must. Don't get complacent. I wished I would have had one on my new lathe build yesterday. I am new to OpenBuilds control and discovered if you click and hold on the X axis in continuous jogging, then let up after it has moved 790 of the x axis 795 mm it just keeps going. By the time I hit the abort I had to disassemble my z axis and rebuild it again because it hit my tailstock. Those High torque steppers are just that - high torque. It was totally my fault. 1) I didn't read documentation on how OB Control works. As a male, I feel that instructions are only to be read after I fail or break something. It is genetic. 2) I had not yet hooked up the limit switch. I took my spool of shielded wire to work for a project there and so I did not have any available this weekend. I was trying to line up the head stock and tailstock at the extreme ends of the x axis before finishing the electronics. A big fat E- stop would have been handy. And yes, I NOW know that all I would have had to do was re-click the X axis and it would have stopped. I also learned a valuable lesson about 15 degree engraving bits. They work great for lining up the point part of the tailstock and with the v bit I had chucked into the head stock to be sure the two are aligned with the X axis, but if you reach under them (router not on) and lift your hand up to quickly, it can be a bloody mess - literally. Sadly, it took me three times to finally remove the bit when I did not need it in. What can I say, I am a slow learner.
Well, continuos sends a Jog Cancel command as soon as you lift off the key/button, but of course you need to allow some space for deceleration Nope, key or mouse down starts the jog, key or mouse up, stops the jog. Clicking it again would start another jog.
Actually it happened twice. One time it kept running for over 100 mm after I released the mouse button. When the crash happened and it kept trying to run right though the upright support until I hit abort.
Also, PC up to spec, not EMi corrupting serial stream, clues in the Serial log, etc. Havent had other reports about that (there is a different known bug related to very fast clicking multiple times ) so somethings not right
Interesting! Well, will investigate in a couple days. @Giarc Releases · OpenBuilds/OpenBuilds-CONTROL has all the old versions, if you want to give older ones a go and see if it helps pinpoint a change point (maybe between 1.0.250 and 1.0.251? - had a bugfix for aborts/stops in there) Keep an eye on the serial log (is it sending the move again, or just not sending the cancel-jog?)
Interestingly, I updated on Monday before I started using it. But, I can't remember if I had the issue previously. I am new to OpenBuilds Control with this lathe build I am doing. I noticed on the previous version that if I clicked too fast it would keep moving. I am used to Estlcam where I hold the mouse button down for as long as I jog the machine and my brain reverted to that. I was using a wireless mouse and I was about 6 to 8 feet from the laptop. This was because my battery crapped out this weekend so I left it plugged in over at my CNC router.
OK so running 1.0.251 I am unable to replicate it (continuous jog mode on, clicking GUI buttons with Mouse) Keep an eye on it, see if theres a specific pattern, or cmbination of Grbl settings, etc that causes it? Did find a different bug (If Soft limits enabled, and you jog beyond the soft limit, CONTROL sent a feedhold that puts Grbl in HOLD status - fixed in 1.0.252)
I figured it out. I was thinking about this at work today because it beats thinking about work and I just tested it. If you hold the button down on the mouse on whatever GUI axis button you want to move, and then move off the GUI button and release the mouse button the gantry keeps going. When the crash happened, I was watching the axis move not the screen when I let off so I did not see the cursor had moved off the GUI X axis button. It does this on all axis. I believe this happened to me on the previous version too. This is probably not an issue for a normal user, but like I said, I was focused more on aligning the X axis with the tail and head stocks and my laptop screen was 8 feet away. Therefore, I did not see I had slightly moved the mouse.
I had exactly this with a wireless mouse a couple of years back. I have been using a wired mouse ever since without issue.
@Giarc - that is exactly what Mobile Jog is for. Go to Wizards and Tools menu, Mobile Jog Wizard in CONTROL to set it up
