Please recommend an E-Stop and home switches for Gecko G540

[CNC Lurker]

I ordered the 3-axis electronics kit from Fine Line Automation which includes the Gecko G540: 3 Axis Electronics Kit : Fine Line Automation

I'm unsure of which emergency stop or home/limit switches to get for a 3-axis router.

By the way, I've heard the terms home and limit switches, I'm not sure if they are the same item with different names or if they serve different purposes.

Any recommendations would be appreciated.

[zenstatez]

Can't help you on what to get cause looking for an answer to the same question is how i found your post but the difference between home and limits is that a home switch is used to tell an axis it's home.. like my home is setup as front left of the machine... limit switches are more so that your machine doesn't try to ram into the sides or so your z doesn't try to go to high ect. at least thats my understanding..

[Jeff-Birt]

'Limit' switches are placed at the end of travel of each axis as safety to keep a run-away or misprogrammed controller from trying to drive an axis past its limit of travel. A home switch/sensor provides a fixed reference point so that the routers control and locate the switch and reset its internal position. (So it knows where it is at.)

Some CNC control programs will allow you to use one switch as both a home and limit. For small machines, those that are not fast enough to cause a risk or personal injury or self destruction I like to suggest just fitting home switches and using Mach's 'Soft Limits'. This makes for a simpler machine over all and provides about the same functionality.

For an E-Stop, I like to wire a real industrial E-Stop switch in series with the AC going to the stepper power supply, and in small controls it also cuts off AC to the spindle motor output as well. That way when you hit the E-Stop all the moving parts are stopped.

[CNC Lurker]

Thanks, but I'll have to admit I double-posted. I posted this in the Gecko forum because I bought a Gecko drive. Since I didn't get any responses for a few days, I posted this in a more active forum and got responses that same day.

I was pointed in the right direction and already have the steppers bench-tested: http://www.cnczone.com/forums/diy-cn...ko_g540-2.html