Well, that was interesting

I was running a project just now, from Photo V Carve. I use a laptop to run my machine out in the shop.

I had come inside the house to do something while it was carving away, came back and it was stopped midway through the carve. Then I looked over and the laptop was off. Not sleeping, OFF. Apparently the plug came out of the back and I didn’t notice, so it shut down when the battery drained.

Luckily, it remembered it’s xyz just fine and I was able to restart it and save the piece. I got lucky. That’s what I get for leaving the shop I guess.

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Use a bump stop and G28 and you won’t have to worry about every losing your X and Y zero. If I had to sit in my garage and watch every project while it carved then I would never be able to interact with my family, especially weekends.

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Yeah, I have a bump stop in place. I always reference it from Home. But having the thing power down in the middle caused a little concern, mainly for the Z depth. But it all worked out. Guess I’ll be checking that power cable from now on.

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Is that what I am supposed to be doing with the family? I usually just grunt and point at the fridge when I do make it upstairs… :slight_smile:

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Get a camera setup. I am using an old phone and can see the machine on my iPad. I don’t leave it long but I feel a lot better if I can see it

In time, i probably will do something to allow remote monitoring. But this was just a freak incident. I usually let it run 20 minutes or so at a time unsupervised and have no troubles.

The camera idea is a solid idea. I looked into wi-fi enabled video cameras that weren’t to expensive $100 or so. But then I came up with a solution that cost me a couple bucks. Go to that drawer you have full of obsolete computer cables and accessories, find an old web camera. Since you have a computer sitting next to your machine you can purchase for a couple bucks an iphone or android app to monitor it over your home wi-fi network. Works awesome . Even has audio if you feel like irritating your spouse.

My setup is free. An old iPhone on a tripod that I already had. The app is Alfred. I view it on my iPad. The app is free. This has been discusssd before on this forum. That is were I got the idea. It works great

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Nothing better than sitting in your warm house while watching the X-Carve do it’s job… :slight_smile:

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@RonSabourin well…that’s interacting with your family! lol

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Camera in action. Just took picture while upstairs for a moment

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Howdy guys,
My sympathy goes to all of you. Wives can be difficult when it comes to our hobbies, but I think I’m the luckiest man around.
Don’t need no cameras to watch my cnc, enjoys the noise and dust as opposed to the criminals of the day job and the best part… wife will gladly join me with her knitting as well. (oh, I’m in Law enforcement, if you catch my drift)
No better vacation than a few hours in the workshop.

Now, put that in your pipe and smoke it.

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I looked briefly at the alfred app just now, I am a bit confused as to how it all works. Do I leave my phone in the shop as a camera? Granted it was a brief look at the app.

I have a old web cam that connects to my shop laptop via usb.
I would like to utilize this to see my machine on my android smarty pants phone so i can virtually baby sit my machine while on a long carving session.

@AlwynVanDerMerwe when I see someone post “put that in your pipe and smoke it” I only picture glass pipes…and mini torch lighters. Ahhhhh…been one of those weeks at work and its only Wednesday lol

“Put that in your bong and toke it!” used to be an expression we used back in the day…

Why do ppl worry about babysitting their Xcarves? I start it,make sure it’s going according to plans for a few minutes, Routinely I set it for a few hour carve, and go off and do other things, Last night I set it up, went and made dinner for my family, ate dinner and came back and it was done. Not bragging just confused if and why people are having non passive failures on the xcarve that I should be aware of for my self… Ive had it for 5 months, Ive run hundreds of carves on it and it just does its job. After every carve, I double check the belts for tightness and any fraying, and double check all the screws on the machine then, I vacuum the machine and use the compressor to blast the dust off and out of the spindle.

Because there’s nothing to worry about as long as things go right, but if you are not there when things go wrong, well, then really bad things can happen and I hope that you have insurance.

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Try drilling holes with a downcut spiral bit or lose your clamping pressure and jam the bit. You will find out why quickly. I always stay close by and if I have to leave for a minute I have a camera installed that I can see and hear on my phone. Sound is actually a better indicator of a problem than video in my experience

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