Control panel placement

[learning80]

I'm having a surface grinder rewired, as the contactors have died and the wiring is shot, and a convenient place for the new control panel is on a stand below the DRO which is just above and to the right of the wheel head / spindle. The only issue I'm wondering about is having the on/off buttons in the same plane as the rotating stone an issue? Do they ever 'explode' during start up or anything (I heard a rumour once...). The front panel inside the machine is a bit small for all the switches and on/trip lights.

We were going to place the panel with the stop/start buttons just below the DRO display as here, but your hand IS in the path of the wheel when you press the buttons:


Thanks

 

[eKretz]

Is there room to just put them in the panel where the table controls are? Looks like there should be room under there. You could put a plexiglass shield with a hinge over them to protect them or something similar. I wouldn't really be so worried about the wheel exploding. That usually happens when someone crashes a wheel into something. The wheels should always be ring tested before putting them on the machine; as long as they are, they very rarely blow up on startup.

I'd be more worried about reaching across a moving table if there are controls that need adjustment while the machine is running. If that location under the DRO works for you, you could always just place a clear cover there also.

 

[Peter Neill]

Is it a J&S 540 (same as your photo) that you're having repaired?
In which case just go google a couple of images, and you'll see that later models have the control panel on the left side below that handwheel as part of the control box - pretty much exactly where you've sketched an outline for the main box.

 

[rwa2004]

If it were my machine I would for sure use the location of the existing buttons. They are convenient and if you don't use them you will need to blank them out so a user isn't having two sets of buttons in front of them and only one functional. You said it was the contacts that needed replaced and even if you do need new buttons, the ones that are there are standard sizes and can be replaced with new buttons and even lighted buttons.