Hi all,
Joe Atkin and I have been working on completing the separate power tool control via RFID fob for the metalwork shop and welding area.
I’m sharing here the work I’ve done so far to draw what needs building under his guidance, as he is the electrician. I am an electronic engineer; mainly of analogue audio amplifiers, so I know a bit but am learning as I go with this project.
I’m attaching my current-version drawings for your information and in case anyone has any strong feelings about the design.
The apparent complexity stems from a desire to create a foolproof, safe system. Not all internal switches are shown (for instance within the safety and other relays), and so far I haven’t made the time to use all the correct schematic symbols (for contactors, for instance). But the idea is clear enough for now.
The basic drawing is made in Adobe Illustrator, across five artboards including one of text. In case that is not legible to you I have also exported it as a set of .png files (update: and today 21/05/25 as a .pdf)
If anyone knows how easily to scale the .png files so they match up when printed please tell me.
SLMS power control boxes v3 by Niall.ai (2.0 MB)
In Illustrator just make sure your artboard and file settings are set to mm then save it as a PDF (that format perserves your format settings) png/jpg does not - When people send me their files for printing I always insist its a PDF.
As a mechanical engineer, it is very nice to see the excellent work being done on the space also being documented in drawings!
@Dorine Thank you.
I did once try export as pdf but didn’t notice that it preserved scale so will try that again.
@CriticalTolerance Thanks for your positive feedback.
I find drawings help with projects like this 
Now we just need to buy the bits and build it.
Here it is again as a .pdf file to preserve scale (thanks @Dorine_Flies ).
SLMS power control boxes v3 by Niall.pdf (594.2 KB)
I met with Joe last evening re: this project. He gave me a few final corrections to mistakes I’d made in my diagram (see attached version 4) and I left the ball in his court to arrange the purchase of the components we don’t already have.
I’ll chase this up in between doing my own projects there.
Lastly we began discussing how the actual wiring within the two control panels will be done when the time comes.
SLMS power control boxes v4 by Niall.ai (2.1 MB)
SLMS power control boxes v4 by Niall.pdf (592.9 KB)