Headsets have been tested by the manufacturers and meet the current ANSI/IEEE standards for RF safety, the same standards that the Federal Communications Commission enforces under the Telecommunications Act of 1996. These standards place limits on the specific absorption rate (SAR) of radiofrequency (RF) energy in the body. Recent inflamatory articles in British press were not substantiated by testing in ISO-accredited testing facilities at Motorola. Manufacturers of cellular phones are required under FCC regulations to assure that their products meet the SAR limits on both hand-held and hands-free units. Further information may be available from the FDA or from the FCC. Ron Petersen, Lucent C.K. Chou, Motorola

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HAVE THERE BEEN ANY STUDIES OF POSSIBLE RADIATION DANGER FROM HEADSETS USED WITH HANDSETS CORDED TELEPHONES? I A TELEPHONE BATTERY-POWERED HANDSET. THIS HANDSET HAS JACK FOR HEADSET, SO YOU CAN WALK AROUND THE HOUSE AND YARD ON YOUR BELT WHILE TALK INTO HEADSET. EITHER OR HEADSET GIVING OFF RADIATION, LIKE CELLULAR PHONE? DANGEROUS AMOUNT RADIATION?

There has been a cell phone base installed in the fire tower. The panels are vertical and located about 75 feet at the top of the tower. Unlike some towers I have seen there are no round disks and no beaming lights. At night, the tower and cell phone material are dark. Does this make any difference in any related health issues with RF exposure and is it possible the tower is a receive-only transmitter ?

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THERE HAS BEEN A CELL PHONE BASE INSTALLED IN THE FIRE TOWER. PANELS ARE VERTICAL AND LOCATED ABOUT 75 FEET AT TOP OF UNLIKE SOME TOWERS I HAVE SEEN NO ROUND DISKS BEAMING LIGHTS. NIGHT, TOWER MATERIAL DARK. DOES THIS MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE RELATED HEALTH ISSUES WITH RF EXPOSURE IT POSSIBLE RECEIVE-ONLY TRANSMITTER ?

Considering enlarging the machine, might have its down sides do to the structural integrity of the scratch build machine. Primarily by making the width longer it will start to sag in the center, which will lead to having to redesign the gantry to be more structurally rigid to support the added length. Which then will increase the weight and height of your gantry to support the add size, which will always end up to creating a larger CNC.

We usually do not recommend modifying the scratch build CNC, due to the very limited capabilities, and the structural design of the scratch build. We also do not recommend using longer than 48" ACME screw/leadscrew due to the increasing chance of warping and bending in the ACME screws/leadscrew in the given length.
We do recommend modifying the CNC machines we sell to accommodate the added requests that some of our customers desire, but you will be limited to the width of the gantry with our machines.

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I've read your book and I'm looking to purchase the hardware kit with DVD as well as an electronics kit. I would like my machine to have a working area of at least 24" wide by 48" long. Can I just make the bed (and gantry) wider to accommodate larger priceslike 30"x60"? If so what electronics kit would you recommend?

It's a question of signal strength. Interference has been observed only very close to transmitting antennas where there is strong signal strength. Interference has been observed in some medical electronics due to hand-held cell phones. Roof-top antennas are some distance away from any susceptible electronics. In addition to proximity, the directionality of the antennas is important. Most rooftop antennas have strong gain in the forward direction—towards the horizon—and very low gain in the vertical direction. Finally, there are layers of building materials shielding the interior areas from the rooftop antennas. Proximity, directionality, shielding—all go towards reducing the signal strength inside a building due to the antennas on the roof so that interference is not generally an issue. This does not mean that you cannot receive the signals from the roof top antennas inside the building; it simply means that the received signals are not strong enough to cause interference. Gary H. Zeman, ScD, CHP

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HOSPITALS DO NOT ALLOW CELL PHONE USE DUE TO POTENTIAL INTERFERENCE. LAST WEEKEND I WAS IN A HOSPITAL WHERE THE TOP OF BUILDING STUDDED WITH TOWER ANTENNAS. WHY IT THAT PHONES WOULD CAUSE INTERFERENCE, BUT ANTENNAS NOT?

The blackFoot uses the same electronics and motors as the blackToe (2'x4') machine. The only parts that change are the gantry horizontal structural parts which may be relatively easy for you to change. We can send you those parts if you are interested in a smaller unit.

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I have a Blackfoot that was purchased in 2017, after the purchase we moved and I haven’t been able to find room for it... would you be interested in buying it back or trading for something smaller. The Blackfoot and computer have never run but I did purchase it assembled. Thanks in advance, scott

See the question on our "Ask the Expert" question-and-answer list on cellular towers under nonionizing radiation for a discussion of RF safety issues associated with cellular radios. The technology underlying cellular radios and base station antennas is similar around the world, but there are differences in systems design and RF safety limits in different countries. For a summary of cellular radio RF safety issues with attention to international differences see the excellent Web page, Cellular Phone Antennas (Base Stations) and Human Health, by John E. Molder, Ph.D., from the Medical College of Wisconsin. Gary H. Zeman Sc.D., CHP

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I LIVE IN ITALY AND WISH TO KNOW MORE ABOUT RADIATIONS CAUSED FROM MOBILE TELEPHONES. TELECOM WOULD LIKE PLACE A WIRE-ANTENNA THE HEARTH OF MY TOWN, I'M AFRAID IT. WHICH KIND RISK HEALTH COULD IT CAUSE? THANK YOU IF WILL SEND ME SOME INFORMATION SCIENTIFIC ARTICLES THIS PROBLEM!

These connectors are not necessary and they are not included in the kits anymore. I have revised the step to reflect this change. The connectors are actually an undesirable addition since that is a point at which the hoses can be disconnected during the machine operation and cause water to drop into the driver electronics.

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In the Blacktooth instruction 90 A pair of coolant hose connectors are to be installed. These didn't come with all the other parts, and aren't on the packing list. Are they really necessary? Could not the tubes just exit through these holes and go to the pump, bucket, or water container?

To verify, you are still getting the laser tube to fire, but the laser beam is weak and cannot cut or engrave any materials correct?

Have you checked your tube's tungsten post terminals to make sure they are getting good contact?
The Laser tube and laser power supply both have manufacture warranty, please email customerservice@buildyourcnc.com for further assistance.

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Hello, I have a blacktooth laser cutter, the machine has 10hrs of work, suddenly in the middle of a job the laser beam lost all power, I can still se the purple plasma beam but with no power or intensity, the tube is fine, water is running through and there is no arcing to the chasis or some other part. I think it might be a faulty PS how can I test it, Do I have a warranty on it?

Polabs prepared step by step user guide for PoKeys57CNC and Mach4 to try answering such questions. It is available in our downloads section: https://www.poscope.com/wp-content/uploads/downloads/Pokeys/LibrariesAndPlugins/Mach4 and PoKeys57CNC - step by step guide.pdf

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I need your assistance... I have two items left to setup on my Pokey57CNC and Mach4, Home switches and Spindle Speed. I have watched the videos, but they are for Mach3 and the screens are different in Mach4. Can someone please explain the setup of these two items in Mach4?

You will need to look for the parameter that controls the run frequency. The frequency can be controlled bu the panel, external terminals, or the RS485 TX/RX terminals (UART protocol). You will want to change that parameter so it uses the panel. If you are referring to the maximum panel dial frequency is only allowing 200-300 rpm, then look for the parameters to control the frequency.

For 200 RPM:
Hz = 200/60 = 3.33 Hz

For 300 RPM:
Hz = 300/60 = 5 Hz

Conversion to RPM:
If you ever find yourself yearning to reverse-engineer the process, the formula is as follows:

RPM = Hz × 60

Look for values that match somewhere between 3 and 5 in your frequency parameters and replace them with 400 to give you 24,000 RPM max.

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[77] Hello. I’m interested in buying a water cooled spindle and VFD. I have an Avid Pro CNC and would love to control it using Mach 4 but I keep hearing it’s difficult to integrate. Also, is the water pump 120 or 240? I’d love any advice etc. eBay is a web of confusion with all of the options. Thank you.

Sure, the USB interface has a place for 4 axes of limit switches.

Each axis can have two limit switches: one for the ++ (positive) end and one for the -- (negative) end. The positive end would be the limit switch at the end of the machine that, say the machine has a 4'x8' area, reaches a bit after the 8 foot mark. The negative end would be the limit switch behind the 0 foot location behind the origin. If the origin is in the middle, the negative would be at a little more than the -4 foot end and the positive would be at a bit more than the +4 foot end. Note that you can have more than one switch on each pin where the NC is connected in serial fashion and the NO is connected in parallel fashion (this can be seen on the diagram in the multiple limits switch section). The software configurations for the limits switches are under File -> Settings -> Limit.

A typical limit switch has three connections on it. These connections consist of COM (common), NC (normally closed) and NO (normally open). The COM would generally go to GND and the NC or the NO would go to the pin. If the NC is used, then the the switch is constantly connected until the switch is pushed (engaged) then the connection from the pin to gnd is broken (open). Use the settings in software to set whether in NC or NO configuration.

Let me know if this information was helpful (or not) by adding information to this question. Thanks.

User response:
Thank you very much for this helpful information. I'm still a little fuzzy on how the 6 limit switches physically connect to each other and to the USB breakout board. You've stated one switch (home) goes to positive and another switch (limit) goes to negative. Are all the GND prongs from all 6 switches connected to each other and going to GND on the breakout board, or no? And the NC prongs, how exactly are they connected to each other? And to the board? There has to be a diagram somewhere shows this visually, no? I don't know how to wire the switches in series or in parallel. I have already physically installed all the switches on the machine and ran the wires to where the board is. Now I just need to know where to plug these wires into the board. Also, taking into consideration that I'm using the Planet CNC software, the only settings I have pertaining to limit switches is "Enable/Disable" for each axis, and the actual limit for each axis. Nothing about NC or NO. Is that only in Mach3?
Thank you.

buildyourcnc response:
On the USB interface, the COM on the switch connects to GND and the NC or NO connects to the input pin (i.e. x++, y--, etc.)

Limit switch configuration is rather difficult to understand, especially with series and parallel. You can think of series as a single wire going from GND to the axis letter input terminal (i.e. X++ or X--). If the wire is broken, then the circuit is open (or the switch is engaged in a normally closed scenario). Normally closed is like an actual wire, and when engaged, the switch "opens" (breaks the wire). This is why we recommend in some systems that you can put many switches in series on a single pin. When one of the switches is engaged (breaking the connection) then the entire circuit of switches is broken and the machine stops.

In a parallel scenario, the state of the circuit is always broken until the one of the switches is engaged and the circuit is then closed or connected. The topology looks like a ladder. All the switches connect to both sides of the ladder and the switches are like the runs of the ladder (the horizontal bars that the feet are placed while climbing). Imagine all of the switches broken in this scenario (normally open). It would be like the ladder could be split in two, but if one of the ladder runs (switches) is closed by engaging it, then that run would connect both sides of the ladder and the two sides of the ladder would have a connection.

There is a diagram on the USB page of the various limit switch configurations. If you need more information (visual and/or otherwise), please let us know and we will immediately add that information to benefit everyone.

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I have nearly completed the CNC machine from the book, but I am using it with a USB breakout board, and have no idea how to wire the 6 limit switches to the board. I'm having difficulty following the diagram on the USB breakout board screen. Can someone please help me?

If you have received a part that does not work as advertised, or does not function properly, we will ship you a replacement. Please contact customerservice@buildyourcnc.com to make these arrangements.

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I would like to re-order another breakout board, but I would like each output tested beofore shipping. I have recieved a breakout board where the mist coolant doesnt work, and the y-axis sends a 1.5vdc signal voltage. They should all be 5v as you know, or the driver will not read.

In all CNC electronics configurations, you will need the motor paired with its own driver.

If two motors/drivers are intended for a single axis and the motors need to turn at the same rate and in the same direction, then the two drivers for these motors should be connected to the same signal wires from the breakout board (step (CP) and direction (CW)) signal wires.

If the motors need to turn in opposite directions, then either one driver will need to have the direction signal inverted, or resolve the opposite direction through a change in the mechanical drive train (i.e. flip the rack on a rack and pinion configuration, or in a roller chain setup, have the chain ride along the opposite side of the drive sprocket).

How do I go about purchasing a redleaf system with 4 drivers, where the (y) and (a) driver are connected to the same signal from the breakout board? I'd also need them to rotate in opposite directions.

The redLeaf webpage contains a purchase option for an extra motor and driver. We can setup the redLeaf system uniquely so it conforms to your application (i.e. motors running in opposite directions).

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I've built a machine where the y axis has (2) 425oz motors, x axis has (1) 425oz. motor, and the z axis also has (1) 425oz motor. Would it be better to purchase a redleaf system with 4 drivers? or can I just connect both y axis motors to the same driver for a total of 3 drivers?

The Mach3 USB will not work with Linux CNC. You can use our parallel breakout baord instead (if you have a computer that has a parallel port available).

Here is the link to that interface:
https://www.buildyourcnc.com/item/electronicsAndMotors-parallel-breakout-relay

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Hello. I'm currently building my first CNC router, and I'm powering it with a 3 axis electronics kit that was purchased through your site. I chose to get the Mach 3 USB Breakout board, but now I'm wanting to try to use Linux CNC to work with the computer I have available. Will that work with this board?

Not sure what you mean by the statement "I don't know when you answer". Please explain. I answer all of the incoming emails until my inbox is completely empty and all phone calls to the company go straight to my cell phone and I answer all of the calls, and if I don't answer, I call back immediately.


Additional Information:
I just searched my email and found no emails with your email address associated with the email listed with this question. I cannot answer questions if no correspondence was provided by you.

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Please send an email, I am giving up on buying a machine from you because I don't know when you answer. I was asking about getting just the working parts and rails sent to Fiji. You sent an answer and some questions, but I have no way of knowing if you responded again.

This would totally work for that application. This cable carrier is used for any object that needs to move and carries some electrical or tubing within it. This cable carrier is great for cable management where you want to make sure the wires and tubes are in a position that you set, not where the wires and tubing want to go.

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[311] I am looking to use this type of thing with a pipe for theater. Where the pipe can be lowered and it would have electrical and signal cable inside. Is this good for that or should I look at something else?

It's Mach3 USB Interface Board, I forgot to mention that!

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I'm having an issue with the AVI PWM output on my board the PW low is about half the voltage of PW High, so if I use 5v I get 2.5 v on low or if I use 10v I get 5v on low? I traced the signal back with my Oscilloscope and found that I get a PW low of 0v on the base of what looks like a smd transistor opposite the DCM connector, do you think I have a got a faulty board?

If you purchase the greenLean, you will get everything you need except a router, computer to operate the machine, and software to control the machine. You state that you have a computer. You can use this computer, but you will need to determine if it has a parallel port, or if you are going to need the USB controller option. As for the software, there are too many different options for you to choose from. We would not be able to tell you which to get, and how much it will cost you. This is a matter of preference. I can tell you, however, that you will need 3 types of software to complete a CNC project. You will need CAD software to design your design, CAM software to add tool paths and convert the design to g-code, and then control software to take the g-code and operate the machine.

Additional Information:
20

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I am building a wet plasma table for my shop that is 8'x 16'. I will need hardware and software. Please heko me wuth the list, My phone is 9124273734. I would like to talk with someone if possible. Thanks, Rus

You will need PlanetCNC software for the USB breakout board and when plugging in the USB the computer should automatically recognize the board, however you can go into device manager to see if the USB terminal is working correctly.
The parallel breakout board; the USB is not a connection terminal rather than a power source, and the parallel port will be the communication terminal.
The items you will need for a water cooled spindle would be: water pump, silicon tubing(length desired by customer), a extension cord(from a hardware store(orange))(1 same gauge wire/length as extension cord).

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I am making my own CNC setup using all the electronics from your website and I have many questions. Please advise how to have my computer recognize the USB connection from my breakout board also I would like to use a water cooled spindle but I need to know the parts required for a 4x10 bed area used for woods and plastics