I noticed on a carve the other day that when i lost internet connection during a carve, that the machine stopped, and returned to home. This gave me a thought about remote stopping my carve (i sometimes walk into the house and have a camera on it to check progress). I know i can get on my wifi router and cut of internet to specific devices. Seems like it might make a functional e brake, But i’d love to package the same concept into a companion app to estop from my phone.
Any thoughts?
I have an Alexa-compatible outlet for the x-carve; I can turn off the entire power-strip in an emergency either by using the Alexa app or calling out to any of my Alexa devices “Alexa, turn off x-carve”.
Works within a second.
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Mathews method or something similar is the way to go for remote stopping.
a pure software stop is better than nothing, but you really want something that will interrupt power.
I do like that idea. I had been a little worried about running a power strip off of the smart outlet, for both the xcarve and the router, but i do like the hardware interrupt especially for bigger emergencies.
You should ALWAYS have a hardwired E-stop that shuts off everything IMMEDIATELY! A few seconds of delay do matter if things go awry.
I cannot be clear enough about that. Wireless solutions and the like are very convenient but are not 100% foolproof.
Safety and convenience usually don’t play well together.
Also, an E-stop should not home the machine.
Use them complimentary, not one or the other.
@anon68752607 that is a fair point i certainly would not want to mislead anyone to bypass proper safety. I was just musing on some issues i have had where i notice an error and would like to stop the machine as soon as possible (belt slips, bit breaks, or something), and i think the power interrupt mentioned would be more ideal for scenarios that a remote shutdown is happening.
I don’t think this should happen. The internet connection does not control the machine.
Personal opinion ON:
There is no such thing as a remote E-Stop. You can have all manners of remote control switches for power on/off etc. on your X-carve/DIY CNC machine but E-Stop is a special switch whose characteristics are fairly uniform, with some license taken here and there.
If you cannot physically press the E-stop by moving less than six feet - it’s not an E-Stop.
Personal opinion OFF.
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You can use one of this remote switches after E-Stop to cut the power off remotely. But again, suggestion is to stay with the machine, don’t let it along, because it’s a live waiting for you to leave to make crazy things.
I actually just had this happen to me 20min ago. It was carving away and, like a fool, forgot to turn off automatic updates on my laptop. Well, it updated and as soon as the internet connection was severed, the machine went home.
Easel does not need an internet connection to control the machine. You could turn on and off your connections all you want once you have your design ready to carve. Something else happened.
it’s possible that windows closed or interrupted all active connections as part of it’s update procedure
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