Limit switches on a Widgitmaster Midi

Well I finally did it, I've put limit/home switches on the Midi.

After playing with EMC2 for quite a bit (BTW it rocks!) I realised half my setup was homing axises, and with limit switches this would be done automatically. So I set to work!

You can see that I've cut down the tang of a standard microswitch to fit in the small gap at the back of the Z axis. This works rather well. At the moment the switches are held on with super strength double sided adhesive strips but later on when I dissassemble the machine for cleaning I'll drill and tap some 3mm holes in the back of the Z axis. These will do however for the time being.

For the Z axis I cheated a little, I've only added a home switch. Again I've cheated by using a miniture reed switch and magnet for the switch. It's super simple and seems to work perfectly well. The only downside is I cannot home the Z axis with the motor running because the reed switch gets switched by the motor randomly it would seem. EMC notices the switch behaving irratically and will cease the homing sequence, which stops the machine from crashing. Again I don't see this really as a problem because you'd only home the Z when the machine isn't running the spindle any how.

Here are a few update snap of the cable managment and layout of the machine

This is the control box with three PICSteps and the double wound torroidal transformer I mentioned in another story. This little box works great! It was once a SCSI dual 5.25" drive enclosure, now it's a CNC controller, go figure! :) I still have to machine a new back plate to mount the Speakcons and Powercon, plus the 3 limit switch connectors and the DB25. That's come soon..... maybe. :)