Automated Dust Colleciton & Router Control

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I wanted to get the maslow to start and stop the router. At first I considered placing a relay in line with the router so the Maslow could control it. But I also wanted to get my dust collection to activate with the router. Knowing that aux pins are limited, and that I want to use one for a zprobe (great writup from @Andith Instructions - How To Make And Set Up A Z-Probe On The M4), I tried to see if the serial line on the Maslow would kick out some messages about starting or stopping a job. Hooking up to the serial port next to the aux port I found that it is not sending the same messages as the serial provided via the USBc port. It seems to only send boot messages.

Giving up on the serial port I decided to use Aux1 since Aux 2 currently has an issue with a double assignment.

In the maslow.yml I set it to use a relay spindle on aux 1. Holding off on the inline relay for now I ended up running aux 1 into a Pi PicoW. When the Pico sees the pin go high (spindle on) it will then send a command to two TP-Link Kasa outlets on the same wifi. One for the router and one for the dust collector. When the pin goes low it will send a command to turn both off. I am happy to report that this works well.

Its hard to see but I am clicking play on a simple file to start the whole process. I have the Maslow board disconnected from the machine for testing.

If anybody is interested here is the Python that runs the PicoW

Hopefully, Aux2 can be resolved so it can be used for the zprobe.

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Brilliant! Thanks for figuring that out!

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At the theater where I do most of my work, they have a plug box designed to turn on a shop vac—plugged into the “VAC” outlet on the box—whenever a tool (compound miter saw, table saw, etc.)—plugged into the “TOOL” outlet on the box—is powered up.

So if you plugged the router into that and controlled just the router with the Maslow, it would have the same outcome. I dunno if it would be simpler…just different.

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I had thought about that, but I had all these parts lying around which is why I ended up doing it this way.

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One small caveat to this approach is that your entire dust collection system is now powered on and off via the kasa plug. Whether that is a boon or a drawback depends on the individual.

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100%. For me the plug is right next to the switch I normally use to turn it on and off (2 gang box, switch on one side, normal outlet on the other), so not much of a change. For other concerns like power draw, the collector uses 13 amps and the outlet can do 15. As for network access, the outlets and pico can be isolated from the rest of the network and only be allowed to talk to each other and nothing else including the internet.

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