Laser left on

Ray Scheufler

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Jul 20, 2016, 7:08:14 PM7/20/16

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I came in this evening to discover that the laser power strip and both switches were left on by the last user. Please turn these off. Turning off the laser power supply switch makes it less likely that someone will get shot in the eye / burn the place down. Turning the motor power supply off makes the motor happier. They get rather warm to the touch if they are left on for an extended period of time.

Ray Scheufler

Nabil Hanke

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Jul 21, 2016, 11:30:03 AM7/21/16

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I suggest we build a control panel that better informs the operator and is easier to reach the inputs. It's awkward to reach the switches as currently set up. And there is insufficient feedback to indicate power is on.

Thank you,

Nabíl

On Jul 20, 2016, at 6:07 PM, Ray Scheufler <dr.bob....@gmail.com> wrote:

I came in this evening to discover that the laser power strip and both switches were left on by the last user. Please turn these off. Turning off the laser power supply switch makes it less likely that someone will get shot in the eye / burn the place down. Turning the motor power supply off makes the motor happier. They get rather warm to the touch if they are left on for an extended period of time.

Ray Scheufler

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Ray Scheufler

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Jul 21, 2016, 11:35:15 AM7/21/16

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I had installed some rotating lights that were powered off the laser power strip to make it more obvious that the laser was on but that was deemed too obtrusive.

Ray Scheufler

David Champion

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Jul 21, 2016, 11:38:40 AM7/21/16

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We could have a watchdog device and hit it with monitoring.

Anyone want to set up Nagios?

-dc

Ray Scheufler

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Jul 21, 2016, 11:41:07 AM7/21/16

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I also had a button that required that you pressed it every 5 minutes to ensure that someone was paying attention to the laser. That was also deemed too obtrusive.

Ray Scheufler

beernutz

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Jul 21, 2016, 11:42:46 AM7/21/16

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I like the button press timeout idea. Would it make sense to just change the time from 5 minutes, to like 2 hours? What is the normal run time of a laser session?

Ray Scheufler

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Jul 21, 2016, 11:48:46 AM7/21/16

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I should have been more clear. The button that you had to press was to suppress a buzzer, it did not interfere with the laser operation at all. I don't want a complicated run to fail because someone was not feeding the watchdog. The buzzer was an attempt to solve the issue that people would start cuts and then wander away (I am also guilty of this) without paying attention and making sure that the laser wasn't burning the place down. If you are using the laser is is rather important that you are at the machine and paying attention so that we don't have a fire.

There is no "normal run time". It really depends on what you are doing. If it is a relatively small and simple cut it can be ~ 5 minutes. If it is a large etching job it can be an hour.

Ray Scheufler

beernutz

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Jul 21, 2016, 11:53:30 AM7/21/16

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Please take this with a grain of salt since I don't use the laser:

It seems like if you are meant to be actively watching/near the laser, that a 2 hour automatic power cutoff after a buzzer has been making noise for awhile might still be a good idea. If you ruin a run, maybe that is an acceptable "cost" improper use of the laser?

Tim-S

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Jul 21, 2016, 1:33:14 PM7/21/16

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I do not believe the buzzer was deemed "too obtrusive". It was definitely annoying, but that was its intent. I thought it simply broke and we never fixed it?

Nabil Hanke

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Jul 21, 2016, 1:40:46 PM7/21/16

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It wasn't obtrusive. It was ineffective. They weren't bright enough to compete with sun.

Thank you,

Nabíl

Ray Scheufler

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Jul 21, 2016, 1:41:54 PM7/21/16

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It did break and I never fixed it because people complained about it.

In light of this thread, I am planning on building a new and better buzzer. Now with status LEDs to indicate before it goes off.

Ray Scheufler

On Thu, Jul 21, 2016 at 12:33 PM, Tim-S <t.she...@gmail.com> wrote:

I do not believe the buzzer was deemed "too obtrusive". It was definitely annoying, but that was its intent. I thought it simply broke and we never fixed it?

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Nabil Hanke

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Jul 21, 2016, 1:42:23 PM7/21/16

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That was my recollection.

Thank you,

Nabíl

On Jul 21, 2016, at 12:33 PM, Tim-S <t.she...@gmail.com> wrote:

I do not believe the buzzer was deemed "too obtrusive". It was definitely annoying, but that was its intent. I thought it simply broke and we never fixed it?

--

Bailey Mader

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Jul 25, 2016, 1:00:48 PM7/25/16

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Thanks for getting the new warning system set up. It is.... very effective.

Ray Scheufler

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Jul 25, 2016, 1:06:26 PM7/25/16

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I was going to send an email about this.

There is a new warning system. Every five minutes you will need to press the reset button otherwise there will be a very loud buzzer go off. There are countdown LEDs to make it more obvious that the laser is on and needs to be monitored. You can reset the timer before it expires if you are properly paying attention to the laser and don't want it buzzing at you. The button is a bit stiff so just watch the LEDs to make sure that it has reset.

Ray Scheufler

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