Limit Switches for a Novakon Torus Pro!
I posted this in an existing thread but didn't get any response. To be honest, I should not have cluttered up the gents thread!! My bad but oh well.
Anyway, anyone have any information/interest?
Hey XXXX;
Been following your thread in anticipation of learning more about my Pro. Thanks for posting.
I do have a question for the general Novakon gang and hope you don't mind me squeezing it in here since it's on topic. Is there an existing pro thread where the fabrication and installation of hard limits has been covered to give us a hint of the task involved. I seem to recall it being mentioned before but can't remember who addressed it. I could use the forum search engine, but I'm assuming that the bulk of the pro drivers are following your thread and will share any information without my having to dig through hundreds of non-related posts. Again, thanks for sharing.
Bill
:)
I recently hit a hard stop when my machine had another spaz attack due to a faulty BOB. I'm still waiting for the new board to eliminate this frequent problem but I'm afraid I'm going to break something in the meantime, thus my interest!!!!!!!
Thoughts anyone!
Re: Limit Switches for a Novakon Torus Pro!
The simplest approach is just buy some water-proof mechanical switches. You can get these from E-Bay, Automation Direct, and many other places. If you want to get fancy, you can build waterproof enclosures for optical or HallEffect sensors. These can also be used to replace the inductive home sensors, to improve accuracy and repeatability.
Regards,
Ray L.
Re: Limit Switches for a Novakon Torus Pro!
I was thinking of using these
APS4-12S-E-D | Rectangular Inductive Proximity Sensor (prox switch): NPN, 4mm range
I was going to mount them behind the current home sensors on the sheet metal bracket. Then make a second set of "flags" that avoid the home sensors but can trip this sensor.
Re: Limit Switches for a Novakon Torus Pro!
I would recommend almost anything but inductive prox switches, unless you fully enclose them. Prox switches will trigger from a surprising small pile of chips on them, even aluminum chips. I disconnected mine due to the many false triggers. Go with mechanical, optical, or Hall Effect (which alllalso require complete enclosure to operate reliably).
Regards,
Ray L.
Re: Limit Switches for a Novakon Torus Pro!
Those type switches work fine for a lot of different machines, but a milling machine is not one of them. I had a little trouble with one on the Torus too. It takes work to keep them clean enough to be trouble free.
Re: Limit Switches for a Novakon Torus Pro!
I just had my limit switch on the x-axis start shorting on me a few days ago. Ended up unplugging it.
I highly recommend going with mechanical switches. The inductive proximity are grey for non-Metallic pieces, but with the originals even a few flakes of AL are enough to trip it
I had rigged the bars up differently so I could use the homing switches as limits. Saved my butt a few times already. Will upload video from that soon. I need to redo this with mechanical switches after I install my new stand.