Limit/home Switch Repeat Ability In Home Cnc

For home shop I would not use home or limit switches and instead put all the money and time you would have spent on that into the best positioning probe you can get. The probe will set the location for starting your cut and that is most important. You can start and stop the cutter somewhere convenient to get to but doesn't matter if it is .0001 of "Home" every time. And home CNC is usually one part at a time with you there to see it so you always have the emergency stop button if something is way off. Any type of eyes off CNC is a different story needing safety limits but if you are there they are not necessary. A really good probe is key though.
 
Cadillac STS said:
For home shop I would not use home or limit switches
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I agree about the home limits on a mill, but I would not run my machine without end-of-travel safety limits. If something goes horribly wrong, this provides an extra level of protection for the mechanical components. Plug in the wrong sign or slip a decimal point on a rapid move and you'll see what I mean. You can't get to the e-stop fast enough, ask me how I know;)
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I do have an okay probe, but I won't go without limit switches, I'm relatively competent, but I'm not going to risk a ton of work and money because I didnt feel like spending a few bucks on switches.

I feel like 6o bucks or so on home switches is a safer investment than many hundreds on a quick change that i'll probably want soon after having to constantly probe :)

I generally re-zero or edgefind all the time with my small benchmastermill, unnecessarily probably but it was good practice, if the BP holds location much better, which it should, it should be a lot less annoying
 
Cadillac STS said:
For home shop I would not use home or limit switches and instead put all the money and time you would have spent on that into the best positioning probe you can get. The probe will set the location for starting your cut and that is most important. You can start and stop the cutter somewhere convenient to get to but doesn't matter if it is .0001 of "Home" every time. And home CNC is usually one part at a time with you there to see it so you always have the emergency stop button if something is way off. Any type of eyes off CNC is a different story needing safety limits but if you are there they are not necessary. A really good probe is key though.
Click to expand...

Are you suggesting a 2 stage set of switches? Use the high quality positioning probe to set the accuracy, but add a set of cheap over-travel switches to protect the machine if something goes wrong. The over-travel switches can be wired in parallel (or series) and a single trip would shut down the machine. You could use an over-travel switch at both ends of each axis, so 6 switches for a typical machine with XYZ axis.

Steve
 
I agree with Jim about travel limits, I mean take my machine, with slow 100ipm rapids, BUT there is 12lb-ft of torque at that speed and about 4 hp on the screws
Most hobby or home shop machines won't have that much power but bet it will break something
 
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