I am having an issue right now. Glady, I’ve been engraving a nice amount of tumblers and stainless steel bottles,
Sometimes, I need to engrave the same design on every item, so I just replace the bottle, hit start and wait.
However, sometimes I have to engrave a different name on each bottle. Sadly, more than what I’d like to admit, I get so used to the “replace + hit start” routine thar I end up repeating a name an f’n up a bottle.
Is there a way to disable the Start button on the machine, so I have to look at the screen before I send the next job.
There’s no “remote” disable (most likely, the Ruida controller doesn’t include that feature), but I’ve installed a Mollyguard over a switch on other machinery:
The arch (a plastic conduit clamp) makes flipping the switch a deliberate action, something you must want to do.
You could probably achieve the same result by putting a (laser cut!) ring around the Start button. Make it just tall enough so you must deliberately reach down inside to poke the button.
Of course, just like everybody clicks through EULA agreements without reading them, you can get used to anything, but it’ll be slightly more difficult to screw up.
Today I learned about the term “Mollyguard”. I’d surely be honored to have a safety device named after my unability to stop touching think I should not.
I turn off the beam power between jobs (the key switch is right next to the control panel) to prevent any unintentional firings.
On a side note: We called our Molly guards Shawn Shields. I worked at Cape Canaveral for nearly 30 years (launch support), and during that time we’d often have visitors in the control room. One was a programmer named Shawn, and he became curious about a rocker switch on the main control console, so he flicked it off. We were at T-10 seconds during a Shuttle launch, and all the displays went dark. After a few seconds of shear panic we realized what happened and got the displays powered back up. The computers never lost power, just the displays. The Shawn Shields were born, and as far as I know they are still there today.
