Push notifications for Tool Changes and Other Alerts / Mobile App

[jferg1 (MooseInventor)]

I’m using my Shapeoko 5 Pro for production, and it would be really nice to get either a text or email notification when it’s time to change the tool.

UPDATE: I don’t plan on leaving my shop that my machine is in when running. The machine is within a 10 second walk. However, constantly walking back to see when the tool change will be is kinda annoying. I’m sure I could do a work around where I split the job into the tool changes, then just use an estimated job complete time to check. However, that’s still annoying.

[gdon_2003 (Guy Donham)]

You have incredible faith that something is not going wrong if you are not in front or close to your machine to hear it stop and ask for a tool. Leaving a CNC machine unattended is dangerous. It is your machine but not being within ear shot is quite dangerous. Parts come loose and the speed of spindles/routers can start a fire.

Since C3D recommends constant monitoring of your machines while running I doubt they would implement any kind of notifications. They and I would expect you to be in front of your machine monitoring it so there would be no need for notificaitons. On occasion of long jobs I have left the shop to take a bathroom break but I am only gone the minimum amount of time. That is dangerous enough but not being close enough to hear what your Shapeoko is doing could lead to a disaster. Good Luck with that.

[mhotchin (Michael Hotchin)]

Long cut times - any precautions before hitting go and walking away?

The time from “Huh, that was a funny noise” to “FIRE FIRE FIRE” can be, literally, less than one minute. Lots of people will tell “It’s fine, I do it all the time”, but it only takes ONCE for there to be a problem. It’s not fine, they are just lucky. [CNC Fire Video]

[Woodcrafter (John Matteson)]

I fully agree with the previous posts—I’m always there to closely monitor my CNC machines and never leave them unattended.

IMHO, accidents can happen in a matter of seconds and can not only ruin the work, but worse yet, damage the machine itself.

[jferg1 (MooseInventor)]

Yes, good points. I should’ve specified in my post that I’m not actually leaving my shop, I’ll just be in the office portion, which is like <60 feet away. I’m really more interested in the notifications for tool changes so I don’t have to constantly walk over to the machine that’s in the shop portion, which makes my time for efficient.

Although you make a good point about fire safety when not right next to the machine. I think some type of fire detection attachment to the spindle or gantry would also be a good idea.

[WillAdams (William Adams (Carbide 3D))]

We have had some discussion of that latter point:

Fire Extinguisher for CNC?

Wow did I fall down a rabbit hole. It started when I learned the phrase “clean agent fire extinguisher”, after hearing that if we used a regular “foam” fire extinguisher we would probably destroy our CNC machines. The claim was that the foam would most likely destroy the electronics, and possibly damage more since the foam leaves a residue that can’t be cleaned up. Prepare for sticker shock. While a foam fire extinguisher is under $30, this is the cheapest CO2 fire extinguisher I could find …

Shop Safety Fire Extinguisher

Since I often run my machine Lights-Out, I decided to go with an Automatic style fire extinguisher above my Shapeoko. Great peace of mind. (Available at that jungle place) [Screen Shot 2021-07-20 at 6.28.22 AM]