Possible Timer for a break

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1

I was thinking about a timer to allow the cnc to run for a while and then pause to cool down. The only problem is shutting the router off. I know this has been something bar didn’t want to do.

2

Take a look at the G4 gcode. It’s not currently implemented, but might not be hard to do. As you say, it doesn’t manage the spindle, but there are M codes that are intended for that.

3

a few points,

  1. it shouldn’t need to ‘cool down’. if the router is moving through material properly (ie: not too much material and at appropriate speeds (rpm and xyz) is shouldn’t need to cool because it shouldn’t be generating too much heat. if its generating heat at the tool tip its either cutting too much or too little or moving too fast or too slow.

  2. it would be excellent to have a machine smart enough to know how to power on and off the spindle (accounting for time to get to full speed (and torque) while turning off the spindle while traversing above the work surface. this could be hand coded now using the Aux4 signal, but would involve diving into the .nc file and manually editing…

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4

I want talking about the tool. I have heard people talk about the motor boards getting too hot. I also thought about a small bar that is connected to the router base and then rest up against the power button. If the z axis is brought up high enough the bar would grab the power button and kill it.

5

the issue of overheating the chips on the Shield board should be solved with active cooling, or better heatsinks. Also the double sided tape that comes with the kit isn’t the best option for attaching the heatsinks to the chips. unfortunately ICs like those don’t really ‘wear’ they just break when they’re too hot so ‘pausing the machine’ or ‘cooling down’ isnt really as good as strategy.

I thought you were referring to either the router, which should run, at load, trouble free for hours and hours and hours, or the bit contacting the workpiece which can generate enough heat left unattended to start a fire, and is always indicative of improper operation and can be solved with better planning.

6

I’ve created PR#425 in Firmware to implement a G4 gcode.
Dwell pauses the command queue and waits for a period of time. Prints ‘dwell time XX’ to the display. The Hold and Stop buttons remain available during the dwell time.

Usage:
G4 [P< time in ms >] [S<time in sec>]

Only one or the other is allowed, Sxx is ignored if Pxx is present.

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