Feeling particularly fond of GF after this weekend

So it’s only tangentially related, but I recently ordered an x-carve and spent part of the weekend working on assembling it. I’ve got it about halfway complete (I take lots of breaks) and the folks at Inventables did a great job on the build instructions, but it has still made me incredibly grateful that the Glowforge will be arriving assembled.

I didn’t even know that M2 split lock washers existed before this weekend and frankly, even after handling them, I’m still not convinced.

So @dan et al, take your time, because I want my forge built right and better you than me.

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I’ve broken 4 of the Z axis micro switches in 3 months. Get a 10 pack of cheap spares from China. It’s pretty easy to type in 1.0 inches instead of 0.1 inches or some such mistake. The Z axis V-wheel will break the switch every time. But it’s still fun.

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I want a larger format CNC router but I hate microswitches. I hope that by the time I do build it someone has worked out inductive or opto zero switches or perhaps I’ll work out a striker plate to zero all 3 axises off the bit.

LMAO - I have opto switches on my K40 and most of the people in the forums are trying to replace those with micro switches. :smile: It’s like “I want what I don’t have and don’t want what I do” :slight_smile:

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Right? We just know of the hassles of what we have. The best working thing I have experienced it the V2 of the handibot. It jams the axis up aginst a hard stop. What it does internally I don’t know, reads current flow? Anyway, they have completely eliminated switches.

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Those switches are worthless. I’ve busted the Z switch every time I’ve used Easel since it wants to home during the setup process. (watch your eyes - those things explode into a shower of tiny pieces)

Early on I moved to VCarve, so now the only time I’ve broken them it was my own dumb fault. My Z switch has sat broken for months yet I have a bag full of new switches in a drawer. That shows how useful they are,

No end stop detection at all, other than the funny noises it makes when it hits the limit of travel, on my little CNC machine. I have hit the ends a couple of times without any real damage, it just pushes everything out of square which, of course, is a right PITA.

I got my X carve last week (haven’t opened the box). Was trying to finish my 3d printer but hit a roadblock when I found the z-axis switch missing :anguished:. See if China responds… Maybe this upcoming 3-day weekend I’ll look at the xcarve.
You are sooooo right about the GF though - making it "user friendly’ is an unbelievable plus. When I hear them talking about cutting 30 minutes after opening the box :astonished:. ( Still fiddling with the K40 and it’s been months). Plus the fact that the members here can be an unbelievable resource for any issues or ideas !

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Oh, teeny tiny switches, how I hate you. I got it into my head that tiny reed switches were something I needed in my life, having absolutely no experience in anything relevant.

Turns out I’m really good at breaking reed switches and not really very good at soldering.

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Dump the microswitch style homing/limit switches to go inductive.

One in the long list of annoying ‘feature sets’ of GRBL is manually specifying a MC that it knows it should not goto and going anyway. LinuxCNC/Mach3 would approach the closest specified coordinate then just stop. Thou GRBL does support soft limits- it does not stop end-user goof ups.

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Sure, but I could just not make any mistakes, right?
… right, gang?
…why is everyone laughing?

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