My X-Carve Experience

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First of all I would like to thank Inventables for such a well made kit, the 1000mm X-Carve. I wanted to share some of the tweaks I have done with my X-Carve to make it much easier for me to maintain and use. All of these things were done over time since July of 2015 when my X-Carve arrived. Everything I have done to my X-Carve has been documented by some of the great users here on the forum.

-  I built an enclosure for the electronics...I brought all the wiring to busses and used crimp spade 
    connectors on everything.  
-  I began with the Dewalt DWP611 Router as my spindle.
-  On the motor wires I used 4 connector XLR quick disconnect connectors.
-  On the limit/home switches I used 1/4" headphone connectors.
-  I added a 1/4" headphone connector to my Z-Axis zero plate to easily connect and disconnect the plate.
-  I connected an IOT Relay to start and stop my Dewalt with G-Code.
-  3 buttons were added, Green-Cycle Start/Resume, Yellow-Feed Hold, and Red-Reset/Abort.
-  I added an emergency stop button that kills power to the spindle and the G-Shield.
-  I reversed how the wiring exit the machine, I wanted the wiring to exit the X-Carve from the back to easily 
    connect with my enclosure.
-  I replaced the eccentric nuts with eccentric washers and nylock nuts.  I have not needed to adjust the 
     eccentric washers once since I did this.
-  I added the 3/16" steel bar between the X-Axis MakerSlides and secured with furniture bolts, this made an
     enormous difference reducing chatter to almost nothing while cutting fast on hard woods.
-  I made a dust shoe, there are so many different versions pick one that makes you happy.
    -  I added an aluminum angle brace halfway down the Y-Axis on both sides and secured to the wasteboard, 
     this completely eliminated any flex on the Y-Axis.
-  I added a dust shield that runs from front to back on both sides that keeps any loose dust and chips out of
     the makerslides.  I run with no dust collection at times so I can keep an eye on things and the shop-vac is loud.

Nothing I have done was terribly expensive, the Dewalt being the most expensive but I was going to run a router from the beginning so I never looked at this as an upgrade. Nothing I have done was very time consuming. I took everything in small hunks and did it piece by piece as I continued to use the machine. The X-Carve is a very capable machine and I have been able to make quite a few things that have been given away as gifts, used around the house and even sold.

I truely enjoy using the X-Carve! Again, thank you Inventables!

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Can you explain how you added the start hold and resume buttons, as well as the E stop?
My X carve is arriving tomorrow and I’d like to add these from the start.
Thanks!!
John

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I used these buttons so I could use the 24 volt power supply for the illuminated buttons.

Each button has five connection points that are clearly marked, you need 4 of them to make them work properly.

2 pins are marked: “-” and “+” - these are for the 24v light to keep them illuminated. I used a terminal strip inside my enclosure to break out all of the voltages for easy access. But, just as easy to add a wire from the pos and gnd of the power supply.

The three center pins are marked, “NC” - normally closed, “NO” - normally opened, and “C” - common.

Make a connection between the “C” - common connection of the button and Arduino GND pin. (Again, I used terminal strips inside the enclosure to make wiring much easier)

Make a connection between the “NO” - normally open connection and the:

A2 Arduino pin (Green Button- Cycle Start/Resume)
A1 Arduino pin (Yellow Button- Feed Hold)
A0 Arduino pin (Red Button- Reset/Abort)

For the E-Stop I used the one oat the inventables online store:

https://www.inventables.com/technologies/e-stop-button

I wired the E-stop so it cuts all power to the powersupply and the router IOT relay. Basically as the power comes into my enclosure the E-Stop is wired first, then power goes to the switch on the back of the enclosure, then the switch on the front of the enclosure and then onto the powersupply…this way all three switches have to be on for power to reach the machine.

Here is a picture of the front of the enclosure and the machine:

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Doing this to mine, for sure.
Thanks

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