Limit switches - no clue what to do with them

So i am pretty much 100% new to CNC. When i bought the X carve 1000 mm I got the limit switches with no real idea on what they do. I know they limit something =). Eitherway i put my machine together with the youtube videos for help and everything is working great but now i have some limit switches sitting in a box. Are there any installation videos? instructions? what do they do? do i need them?

I’m not sure if they are shown in the videos, but they are shown in the written instructions.

And so it doesn’t get confusing, by default the Easel setup will configure them as HOMEING switches not limit switches. What they will do is zero your machine when you go through the Carve menu.

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@AaronJones. @rusty is correct. On the X-Carve they can be called homing switches.

When the controller powers on, it does not know where it is in 3D space. The machine does know which direction the homing switches are so it can drive in those directions to find them. Once it finds them, it knows where it is in 3D space.

You could manually perform the same thing by jogging to a known location and telling the machine via commands where it is. The switches automate that.

The other feature that works with the homing switches is called “soft limits”. If the machine knows it is at X0 and it knows the size of the X axis, it does not need “limit” switches. It can prevent moves that would crash into the ends in the software.

Thanks for the replies i guess ill just leave them off.

I left them off initially, and finally installed them last night. They’re really useful for homing, more than I thought they’d be. Well worth doing, and while you’re at it do a touch plate too (it’s just a couple wires).