any thoughts of possibly utilizing one of the AUX ports on the motor controller board to power the router on and off via a relay? Is this possible? I know it would require extra hardware for the routers power supply, but it would be something others may be interested in as well.
AUX1 can be used this way, controlled by the ‘M’ gcodes. There is a setting in Advanced - ‘Spindle Automation’ to enable the function.
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THANKS!! Just a noobie here, as I have not received my Maslow as of yet, but I’m ready to get into it.
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search the forum and there are some good posts on accomplishing what you are looking to do
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You should use a digital (or DC if you prefer) to AC solid state relay (SSR), rated for at least the current draw of your router plus a safety factor. It’ll be named something like the unoriginal ssr-25da. For imported ssrs of dubious origin that should be at least twice the actual full load draw, and possibly get two so you’ll have a spare. Add a heatsink for belt and suspenders, and don’t forget those exposed terminals will light up your eyeballs as well as the router (seriously, put it in a enclosure. Your dependents will thank, and life insurance beneficiaries curse, you).
That said, it will probably be cheaper than you expect. Don’t forget the box, aka exclosure
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I was going to use a SSR but after doing some checking you have to find a way to get rid of the heat that is produced by the SSR so I went with a Arduion relay off of eBay and it works great.
Here is the post that you want to check out for details on connection.
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I have one of these lying around that I’m going to attempt to use.
http://www.powerswitchtail.com/
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I added a bracket with a microswitch to the Z axis. When the router is all the way up the switch opens and turns off the router.
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looking at this relay board I do not see a low voltage power connector. Does the board just get it’s 5v power from the 3 pin wire coming off the AUX 1 connector of the motor shield?
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Yes you have to have the 5v power off of one of the AUX pins. I tried at first to just use the switched power and it was not strong enough. After using all three wires it works great and I do not have to worry about the heat from the SSR.
If you need me to look at the wiring I can post something.
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Am I ridiculous for having a switched surge protector near my chair at the computer that the router plugs into?
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Not at all - you’re the best power control, you will always know when to have it on or off. 
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Well, just think of all the rest of my challenges… God knows I don’t need to create extras!
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“If you need me to look at the wiring I can post something.”
Yes if you can post photo that would be great. Also where is a good place to buy the 3 pin wire already made with a female connector on both ends that is a t least a couple feet long?
Instead of paying $27 for the iot unit this should cost about $5 to make myself. I’ve used power relays before, but all the ones I’ve used required their own 12V power source.
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I got a crimper and kit of connectors/shells off eBay (Amazon has them too, if your country has one), think I paid around $20USD for both. They’re called Dupont connectors, don’t know why. You can crimp them with a pair of pliers but an actual crimper makes a better looking, more consistent, and more reliable connection - usually. I hate it when wires fall off. I needed them for one of those Arduino relay things, neighbor talked me into making a controller for his old traffic light and it’s a pain to solder to those pins, plus I didn’t really trust the relay to last and got a couple spares. The original worked for over 6 months of 24 hours a day switching 120V LED traffic light assemblies (no replaceable bulbs) before he gave it away to somebody left the area, but that was switching a few watt load.
Being a tool junkie I have a whole box of specialized crimpers, from different sized coax to RJ45 (plus RJ11 for phone wiring), powerpoles, wire ferrules (get the 4 sided instead of 6, clamps better in screw connectors), etc. We must love standards since there’s so many of them
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And that multi-connector flat gray cable is handy to have around. If you just need a few inches you can cut down an old PC cable and rip it to the number of wires you want. Like that floppy disk cable out of your parts box, probably won’t need too many of them again.
These 10a units are really inexpensive from china less than $1
Also found this one which is 15A, should be enough to run shop vac and router from it.
ebay also sells the premade 3 pin depont cables. also less than $1
I’d derate those, or any other eBay Chinese relay, by 50% or so. Not that any eBay claims are overstated.
Probably a good practice to not run any relay at it’s max rating, for longer life.
Mathias Wandel has a recent YouTube video of an SSR that let the magic smoke, and some flames, out on top of his water heater
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I’m going to use a palm router that is max 6.9amps, but will probabably run much slower so amps will be less. with an SSR, does it need a seperate circuit board? probabaly stupid question. all the mechanical ones I use have sound/light/ other sensors on a board, …or is it as simple as low voltage single wires on the input and high voltage leg on the output? I have only used mechanical relays in the past.
can someone verify these wires are hooked up correctly? Neither the green or red light on the relay board is lighting up, which I am assuming means the PCB is not getting power. All other relay boards I have used have at least one led on when wired correctly. The board does not control the router when used on my maslow either.