Do you bother with limit switches?

[SpookyDad]

When building your own woodworking machine, do you install limit switches?
Is this overkill?

[chronon1]

i got mine without and i havent put them in yet, i watch the thing real close though even though i am more familiar , having used it many many hours now ... because my screws are connected to the motors with rubber gas hose and hose clamps - when the limit is exceeded the screw 'spins out' inside the rubber and it is a real BIxch to take the mechanism apart and undo it by twisting with your fingers .. besides each time it happens, it loosens the bond in the rubber a little more .

i saw that a limit switch can be as simple as 2 paper clips to make a real dirty switch.

[sendkeys]

Man i couldn't live without home switches

I have my home setup as limits 9 birds with 3 stones

[chronon1]

i'm not sure what 9 birds have to do with 3 but 2 birds in the bush are not as good as a bird in the hand .

i imagine you spend many more hours per week with your machine as well as you leave it unattended for longer periods while its operating....

[sendkeys]

hehe what i ment was you can setup 3 switchs (3 home 6 limits) To me the cost is low and time saved with homing/safty of limits was worth it.


Chronon1,you're setup with the rubber safety sounds good but i wonder how big of a machine he is talking about. Could be a 100 dollar hobby/test setup or a 10,000 dollar router

what i would do

low cost machine, low speed , forget it.Rubber safety sounds good
mid cost machine ,mid speed , it's worth it.
high cost machine high speed, no brainer

[chronon1]

Hey Sendkeys - I doubt he is on a machine more than your mid level category ( mine is in the mid level) -

I noticed you bumped up your low cost machine from 50 to 100$ ---

I guess your talking about i little miniature with like the 5.25" floppy or dot matrix printer steppers and maybe even a home made Uni-polar stepper driver ( low amperage) - and probably some teflon and pipe/shaft or drawer slides for linear motion -- I think someone was building a mini-mill for just over $100 but had to fight for cost -- like the scraps (recycled or saved from the Gman compression) and extras or giveaways ( salvage the steppers from an old printer/drive) ...

My unit is a 10ipm deal and i should be able to add some kind of switches by picking them up surplus store - the limit is more valuable than the home ! (do first) .

I think the limit is most important when your a beginer ( least likely to have them on o cheap beginner machine) ---

The 'stones' mean they dont really move once set -- and i suppose the birds mean more that adjustment is going to occurr on a more frequent basis ..