Advice needed for controller box layout

[cncJim]

My preference would be to have all parts in the case and not mounted to the door - Is there enough room to mount the powers supply on its side? Might give more room/options?

http://literature.rockwellautomation...m001_-en-p.pdf
This document makes an interesting read if you want to focus on handling electrical noise in a system (thanks EddyCurrent!)

Jim

[Bustercnc]

Hi Jim,

Thanks for the quick reply.

I did look at mounting the power supply veritally but the lock on the door hits the top of the PSU on one side and on the other there is a bar which sticks proud of the door panel visible in the second picture next to the gounding wire, which also hits the top of the PSU meaning I have to move the PSU more to the centre of the case.
Besides, being lazy I wanted it flat so I can easily access the screw terinals

Cheers
Dave

[Bustercnc]

Thanks Jim,

I just remeasured and the lip on the door clears the PSU by 1mm.

Looks like your suggestion is the better one and it does give me a lot more space. I origanlly wanted to keep the PSU flat for ease of access to the screw terminal but I can live with it this way, how many times should I need to access these anyway, famous last words.




Cheers
Dave.

[Clive S]

Have you thought about safety relay, estop, fuses etc

[Bustercnc]

Have you thought about safety relay, estop, fuses etc

I bought a EMI Panel Mount IEC Filter 10A from cnc4you to plug the power lead into thinking it was fused, just checked and its not.

I have a red panic button and proximity sensors for the estops.

Not sure what you mean by safety relay

[cncJim]

Hi Dave, looks good. I'm sure the extra space will soon get eaten up with wiring and other goodies like clive mentioned.

I would maybe swap the drives and the bob though and to try and keep the "clean" signal cables away from the "dirty" mains/drive power cables as much as possible?

I think most people would consider safety relays a step too far for smaller machines. They have features monitoring to detect if the contacts have welded shut but many don't worry about it. Really depend on your personal view of safety :)

I picked up a nice one for about £20 on ebay and it also has timed shutdown on one of the contacts which is nice. Can be quite large though and the ones I have seen are all din rail mounted.

Jim

[uli12us]

The parts, they produce most heat should be top. On the bottom side your box is open, you should close it with a dustfilter, similiar to the parts used in aquariums. And the heat must can flow out of the box, so you need another hole on the top or upper side of your box.

[Bustercnc]

I would maybe swap the drives and the bob though and to try and keep the "clean" signal cables away from the "dirty" mains/drive power cables as much as possible?

I think most people would consider safety relays a step too far for smaller machines. They have features monitoring to detect if the contacts have welded shut but many don't worry about it. Really depend on your personal view of safety :)

Jim

Cheers Jim,

I am going to mark up and drill the holes tomorrw, I will orientate the drivers so the power connectors are closer to the PSU and route the stepper cables in the other direction.

Im glad you said that about the safety relays, I can see the importance of them but that will only complicate my build at this stage.

[Bustercnc]

Have you thought about safety relay, estop, fuses etc

Safety relay, I get it now. I hadn't thought that deepely about it, I assumed the estop and circuit breaker would be good enough.