The modern tools we use are pretty heartless. They will do pretty much anything we tell them to do... no questions asked... even if what we told them to do was dead wrong. They simply don't care.
Today I set our marvelous MultiCam into motion on a big project, like I've done a thousand times. Except this time I cheated a little and set the 1/8" router bit a long way out of the chuck so it would reach down to the bottom of the 2" thick Precision Board I was working on. I've done that a bunch of times too.
Only this time it seems I didn't get it quite tight enough. The rough cuts using the big bit ran with no problem. The machine changed the tools like it should and then machine ran for 3 hours into the finish cut with no difficulty. I checked everything before going into the house for a break...
But sometime shortly after that the bit musta worked it way loose and started to cut through the material into the spoil board slicing our workpiece not so neatly into pieces. The good news is it didn't cut into the bed of the machine... and didn't break the bit either.
Just before I came back into the shop the bit had worked its way back into the chuck stopping the damage. I checked the progress and stopped the machine.... tightened the bit, re-registered everything and was ready to do a proximity restart... and perhaps save a little of the work... but as I was set to go I accidentally hit the emergency stop button... and in the process wiped out my all settings on the machine...
Oh well... it would have been a lot of work to piece together the remnants anyway... much easier to start from scratch.
Another lesson learned on the MultiCam in Yarrow...
-grampa dan
[ March 23, 2007, 11:20 PM: Message edited by: Dan Sawatzky ]
Posted by Ken Holden (Member # 5653) on :
Dan, machines are worse than children, never leave them unattended.
Ken
Posted by Terry Colley (Member # 1245) on :
(((---photo not coming likeness close enough
Plus point of a cnc router It does exactly what you tell it to do Minus point of cnc router It does exactly what you tell it to do
As for leaving the router and going to the house I would not, I have seen 4 fires start in 10 years of routing, usually when cutting timber based stuff the extraction can get blocked then you have a motor spinning + lot of dust = very quick fire Cheers Terry
Posted by Raymond Chapman (Member # 361) on :
Dan...you make me feel so much better.
Not long ago I did the same thing. The bit came loose in the collet and everything went downhill from there. Luckily, I was in the office and heard this strange sound and was able to cut off the ShopBot before it did a lot of damage. It did break the bit and made a small crater in the HDU and into the spoil board, but it was all repairable.
It also did something to the collet that made the next bit off balance and very rough sounding when I started it up...so the collet went in the trash and a new one took its place, with no problems.
I've left my ShopBot running all night several times, but may reconsider turning it off or pausing it while I'm gone from now on.
Posted by Mark Tucker (Member # 6461) on :
Yep, I've had the same thing happen. Bit worked loose and TRASHED a HDU sign while I was in the house doing whatever I was doing. Unrepairable. I started to fire my ShopBot, but then I realized I still owed it $178,000.00 in back wages and 3 months vacation, so I just tightened the bit, grabbed a fresh sheet of foam, and started over. Posted by Dan Sawatzky (Member # 88) on :
I wouldn't leave a router running unattended in wood and some other substraits... especially materials I wasn't familar with. But with the large files we run in HDU that would be almost impossible. The file I currently have on the router covers a 4 x 8 sheet with high detail 3D work and will run for 20 hours in total... and I'm not staying up that long.
The MultiCam has sensors which automatically shuts off everything instantly if any of the drives or motors bind or overwork, including the spindle.
I will check everything twice from now on and do watch each file well into the jobs to make sure everything looks right.
Like Raymond I know every sound the machine makes when its running right and when I hear a wierd sound from my office I come running to check when that happens. I may just install a camera too with a monitor in the house to keep an eye on things when I'm not there.
The file I started yesterday evening ran fine through the night and I expect it to be finished by suppertime tonight... while I do other things.
-grampa dan
Posted by Raymond Chapman (Member # 361) on :
Twenty hours?....that's a lot of wiggly lines.
You could just pay Donna to watch it while you are away.
Posted by Dave Draper (Member # 102) on :
hmmmmmmmmmmmmm,
Let's review the manual under operation safety...
NEVER LEAVE THE MACHINE UNATTENDED WHILE OPERATING!
[ March 24, 2007, 03:03 PM: Message edited by: Dave Draper ]
Posted by Ray Rheaume (Member # 3794) on :
I've always had a different approach to machinery. These days, they are pretty smart, but still have a limited vocabulary. The trick isn't telling it what to do, but knowing what it won't do and not asking it to.
I seldom babysit my plotter. I tell it what I want, it says OK, and I feed it properly before hitting the cut command. If it goes wrong, I blame the one in charge...me.
I learned to speak THEIR language, not try to teach them mine. That's why I like slinging paint...it understands me better. Rapid
Posted by Raymond Chapman (Member # 361) on :
Manual? They come with a manual?
Posted by David Harding (Member # 108) on :
Manual tool changer.
Posted by Raymond Chapman (Member # 361) on :
We have a tool changer, but his name isn't Manuel...it's Ray.
Posted by Bryan Quebodeaux (Member # 48) on :
Been there and done that! I've learned to operate with my ears as well as my eyes. Years ago when I was working in the refineries, it was important to operate with your ears. I guess it kinda set me up for what was to come.
Posted by Jamie Nicholson (Member # 6690) on :
Been there....Done that.
Had the very same thing happen on my cnc. I usually always babysit my machine, but I stepped out for 10 minutes and came back to disaster. Never again
Posted by Sam Staffan (Member # 4552) on :
quote:Originally posted by Bryan Quebodeaux: I've learned to operate with my ears as well as my eyes.
How true never thought about it until Brian said it. It's amazing how you learn to listen to the different sounds.
I used to set up my engraver to do long runs and then go home for the evening, an hour or two later I would call my shop and get the answering machine and code "monitor on" and listen for it to be quite, if so I new it was time to run back over and change bits.
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