Hey folks, I’d like to start doing some more regular progress reports on this project. It’s no longer a back burner project. This one is absolutely on my front burner as it is also my industry project for my engineering degree (Industry Project (ELEX 8300) - BCIT ).
The project first got started as an idea back in 2019.
2019-01-21 Dust Extraction Automation at Venables
2020-07-19 Project: Wood shop dust extraction
I built a similar system for Science World’s exhibits workshop , and VHS’ version will be similar but with some more data logging features and a few other nice bells and whistles.
Here’s my progress this week:
- I mounted a Phoenix Contact sensor distributor module (donated by Amazon) to the ceiling. This supplies 24VDC power to sensors via M12 connectors which are commonly used for industrial sensors.
- I connected one of the current sensors boxes that I made to the sensor distributor module and the table saw. The green light shows that the sensor has power, and the orange light is the state of the output; if it detects that the table saw is running it turns on its output. This signal will be used to help trigger the dust extractor to turn on and off automatically depending on if the table saw is running (or any other equipment once I get those sensors wired in).
Table saw off:
Table Saw On:
Video demonstrating that the sensor works: