"Broke" in my x35!

I have a few weeks of cut time under my belt, so I surely know what I am doing now. I loaded up my toolpath, probed my XYZ, hit play… ran over and turned on shopvac, returned and hit continue. A short second later I hear a loud pop and something flew past me. I forgot to turn on the router and snapped my mini jenny like it was a twig. It was kinda cool! (It was not cool and freaked me the hell out). Gonna miss my mini jenny, she never did me wrong and did not deserve that.

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I feel like this is a rite of passage. I broke two bits within a week of having my machine. Both completely my fault. I attribute it to “I’m super excited and just want to cut something” syndrome. I have learned to slow down and double check everything.

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Hey Bern,

you don’t like your eyes, eh? Good way to ged rid of them.

:warning:
Don’t use a CNC without encapsulation and make sure the milling motor is stopped when enclosure door is opened.

I don’t have the space to make an enclosure, I always wear eye protection or a face shield. It does show how fast the sh!t can hit the fan. I wonder what damage I can do with a 15W laser?

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Hey Bern,

Then I’m reassured for you :slight_smile:.

Personal Safety

  1. Use personal protective equipment. Always
    wear eye protection. Protective equipment such
    as dust mask, non-skid safety shoes, hard hat, or
    hearing protection used for appropriate conditions
    will reduce personal injuries.

– Source: Makita RT0701C Instruction Manual

To your eyes, a lot.

The safety precautions for your laser should be described in your laser’s user manual.

Laser safety #Damage mechanisms

But think of the fact that even a blue LED (not a laser) can damage your eyesight surprisingly fast (and white LEDs contain blue)

LED #Safety and health

I do believe he was being sarcastic with the laser comment…

Hey Dean,

Possibly.

But I think all people who clamp a hand router into a CNC can do with a lot of warning :wink:.

  1. Do not leave the tool running. Operate the tool
    only when hand-held.
    .
    – Source: Makita RT0701C Instruction Manual
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You don’t stand there with one hand on the router during the operation of the CNC? I’ve been doing it wrong :wink:

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For additional safety (which I recommend), of course only with two hands :slight_smile:

YES, I was being sarcastic.

Hey Bern, hey all,

I also agree that it is part of the process that at some point you break off a milling cutter. Rite of passage - why not. But I think it’s better if it’s at least because you’ve programmed a wrong speed or feedrate and not because you’re using an inappropriate milling motor that will crack your ears and melt away or burn away if you start to seriously load the CNC with work. A hand trim router is only made for short periods of use, it is absolutely the cheapest piece of technology able to hold a milling cutter that could be made. And here the milling cutter only breaks because the milling motor isn’t even able to be turned on and off by the CNC. I encourage anyone who wants to skip the hand router step. Anyone who has done it has never looked back.

I like to joke too, but the stuff we work with here can cause nasty injuries. That’s why I think it’s logical to already have as much security built into the technology as possible and above all to avoid that the chosen technology itself is the source of errors.

And it’s not about switching to high-frequency spindles alone (which necessitate a VFD and therefore an electrician for installation, not doing this well can be a safety problem too). There also exists serious milling motors for 24/7 industrial use, allowed for use in stationary machines like CNCs, run-in by manufacturer, and all for single-phase household electricity (no VFD necessary). Suhner, Kress, Mafell… a lot. Alone the Onefinity manufacturer prevents their use, by not offering a corresponding 43 mm mount.

Hey Bern,

Bern_profile_image

Sorry. From your profile image, I should have known that you always wear protective glasses. But you don’t fear your coat be caught in moving parts? :slight_smile:

I ordered an IOT relay and a DB25 breakout board last week. I am planning on plugging my router into that and connecting to the controller, this way I can at least stop the router at the same time I hit that e-stop button. When the crap hits the fan, hitting the e-stop and stopping the router is a tough manuever.

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Hey Bern,

you can connect a relay to ‘tool-enable’ (pin 15) and it will be controlled by the g-code.

But be aware that new Makita model will prevent to be turned on again remotely after being turned off - finally they implemented safety (router is prevented to start to run if power is plugged in), now you need a hardware hack to disable this safety measure and make it able to be switched by a relay again.

But this will not work with the big red hardware button on top of controller box (explained why here), this will work only with a hardware emergency stop button wired to pin 23 (estop) or with the virtual estop button on the upper corner Onefinity controller application display.

As for the rest, I adhere to alldaysammyj opinion