Lights arch 2 feedback required

Just an update after some comments on the lights in arch 2.
The lights are split into banks of three
1 front woodshop… from table saw to entrance door,
2 rear woodshop … workbenches and Cnc to doors to metalwork.
3 metalwork area

These are turned on with three sensors and turned off after 5 minutes of inactivity to save money.

After getting reports that they were not working I found that items from the old woodshop had been placed in the view of the sensors.
Two wooden cupboards had been piled up in front of the spindle moulders and the metal work sensor was completely obscured.( Where the waste wood is stored)

I have moved these and placed the metalwork sensor into another position.

I will be looking at getting another 3 -4 sensors one for the snug, one for the lathe area and one for the pottery room and possibly one for inside the Cnc enclosure so the entire arch 2 lights are totally automatic and energy saving.

If any lights are not working as you like, please give feedback and I will sort it.

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Hi @lewisss,

The big cnc doesn’t need sensors for the lights. It could actually be a safety issue if installed as they can go off while the machine is working and people would tend to go close to it waving their hands to turn them back on. With the door coming in the issue won’t solve ( they will go off anyway if the sensor is installed).
As part of the induction, the members will be instructed to switch them off when finish using the cnc.

I also think it’s an issue in the wood lathe area… Example… The lights always go off when I’m in the woodshop, even if I move around a bit ( i think i mentioned a couple of times), so if you imagine standing still while working on the woodlathe and suddenly everything goes dark…
I’ll leave this to the @woodlathetechs obviously.

Thanks
Federico

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Hey, just to give an idea - now this kind of things exists: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204253093903?var=504820865525
It is not PIR but 24GHz radar instead. This sensor is detecting micromotion, and doesn’t really care whether you move or lie sleeping on the floor (as long as you’re breathing).

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It doesn’t solve the problem for the CNC ( if i read the description on eBay correctly)… Still think the cnc is good with just the switch.

Thanks
Federico

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I agree, I would think of the lights are kind a part of the machine, not general lighting, users will turn it all off after use, but there is no point in making it motion sensitive…

Looks interesting, get on and we can see if it works

It does, I kept an eye on the tecnology for a while, it uses radar technology and it can basically sense breathing and heardbeat and it’s tuned on this frequency, it’s very sensitive but it can be tuned.

The real question is, how is it going to deal with the trains? is it going to switch the lighs on every time a train cross the arch?

We won’t until we try

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That will be a neat experiment to be honest, probably the first time it’s been tested :smiley:

Could this be connected to the big tools so if all the hard wired tools are on, no movement wont shut the lights off? How hard is this to wire up? @joeatkin2

Are we overthinking the matter?

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Welcome to the SLMS :joy:

Or perhaps tool control?

No i was serious… Think about that… Over automation will bring “laziness” ( please allow me the word) and risks… “I don’t need to think about switching off the machine… It will automatically go off when i leave…”

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And complexity, oh the lights don’t work because tool control is down… etc…

Every side has pro and cons, if well done automation would be transparent and stable…

Stable… Mmmm. trasparent maybe but i stand by my previous post

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Actually let me clarify… Generally you are right, but in this case i don’t think it fits

Just tried to solve the ‘lights go off when you’re turning a bowl situation’ (which hasn’t happened to me yet.

What I’m saying is that maybe the system it’s not perfect, but that doesn’t mean can’t be fixed and doesn’t have to be scrapped because it need works, that’s not how innovation works in general and neither engineering.