# A spy in my shop



## Gaffboat (Mar 11, 2012)

Let’s be honest, watching a cnc machine work away can be pretty boring — especially when it is a cut that is going to take a long while finish. Rather than stand (or sit) in the shop wearing ear protection and dust mask I would leave the shop and go in the house where I could be doing something better with my time. However, I found myself making a trip to the shop every ten minutes or so to check on how things were progressing. Who needs that kind of exercise?

I decided to hire a spy who would keep an eye on what was going on while I was out of the shop and who I could check with to see how things were going. Of course, the spy had to stay out the way, speak only when spoken to, and be pretty much of a low maintenance type.

My spy is a wireless camera system I found at my local Sam’s Club store. The video camera transmits over my home wireless network to a touch-screen receiver that came in the package or the camera can be viewed and controlled by my iPhone if I’m not near the receiver.

I mounted the camera about 7’ off the floor and, although it can pan 360º and scan up and down about 180º, I have it pre-set to zoom in and focus on my cnc. In the photo below you can see the view from the touch screen and how the camera is mounted.

Now I can set up my cnc job, make sure it starts okay, and then leave the shop and check on the progress from the house far removed from the noise of the machine. Oh yeah, if I really want to hear the machine I can enable the speaker on the remote viewer and listen to it through the camera. My spy works well and I no longer wear a path to the shop checking on a job’s progress. Lazy life is good.


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## Knothead47 (Feb 10, 2010)

How about a baby monitor? Good idea.......especially when you have head for the potty.
I tend to hang over anything that is ongoing. If I'm printing anything, Murphy's Law will be known- that is when the printer gets a paper jam. Actually, I have had jams and no paper jammed in the printer. Compared to me, Murphy was an optimist!


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## gjackson52 (Jul 4, 2015)

That is a great idea !!


Gary


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## Semipro (Mar 22, 2013)

Great idea, now figure how to get a remote pause switch.


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## MT Stringer (Aug 15, 2012)

Good idea, Ollie.
I have been thinking about doing the same thing. We had a monitor set up at mom's house with the display monitor in the kitchen. Worked pretty well. Might have to do the same thing. Now to figure out how to connect to the ipad that is gathering dust. I don't think any of those ideas on another thread will work out for me.


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

We put ours up a few years ago with an IP system. I use it from time to time when I want to walk away. Sandy uses it when she's at work and wants to call me - if I'm in the middle of something she'll just wait or text. 

Screenshot from a month ago - 








No PTZ on the camera, though. I've considered getting one like yours, Oliver, specifically for the CNC.

David


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## 4DThinker (Feb 16, 2014)

Wonderful idea and implementation! Something I'll be doing very quickly. The irritating part is that I already own an old camera system that had essentially the same capability, but was an x-10 product and got left behind when TVs went HDTV. 

Any chance you can post a link to the system you bought? 

4D


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## Gaffboat (Mar 11, 2012)

MT Stringer said:


> Good idea, Ollie.
> I have been thinking about doing the same thing. We had a monitor set up at mom's house with the display monitor in the kitchen. Worked pretty well. Might have to do the same thing. Now to figure out how to connect to the ipad that is gathering dust. I don't think any of those ideas on another thread will work out for me.


The VTech cam that I'm using has an app that works on both the iPhone and my iPad, Mike. They also make an app that works on Android systems.


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## Gaffboat (Mar 11, 2012)

4DThinker said:


> Wonderful idea and implementation! Something I'll be doing very quickly. The irritating part is that I already own an old camera system that had essentially the same capability, but was an x-10 product and got left behind when TVs went HDTV.
> 
> Any chance you can post a link to the system you bought?
> 
> 4D


Here's a link to what I'm using: https://www.vtechphones.com/products/wireless-monitoring. I believe their systems are available on Amazon. (Isn't everything?)


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## UglySign (Nov 17, 2015)

Knothead47 said:


> Good idea.......especially when you have head for the potty.


Hah! Not good during mid-pinch and something goes wrong though. All you could do is scream
at the monitor and hope ya don't shat ya straps rushing to. I've learned never to leave
on big sheets, when the vacuum table decides to shutdown and move a 1/2" sheet aluminum
across the table. It's going to create some damage.
Did it once and it luckily it went the opposite way and not into the ATC corral of 8 tools.



Semipro said:


> Great idea, now figure how to get a remote pause switch.


Isn't there something one could configure by means of Arduino maybe? Alot of these cnc's here are built no?
Anythings possible so why not, I mean there's a few fellas on hear that could do that.
Possibilities are unlimited.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

..


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## jj777746 (Jan 17, 2015)

Talk about your ultimate workshop "set-up".Is there anything left on the to-do list? I doubt it.Well done Oliver,big savings on foot wear also.


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## 4DThinker (Feb 16, 2014)

The e-stop on all probotix CNCs is simply a low voltage switch. It stops the machine and spindle when hit/open. It seems like there should already be something out there that is a wireless/remote switch one could adapt to a remote e-stop switch. I have a wireless switch for the dust collector in my garage shop. I've got a wireless remote for my garage doors. Some of those security/baby monitor cameras can send a notice/alert to your monitor/phone when they detect sudden motion. Heck, my old X-10 gear is wireless and could turn on/off lights with a wireless signal. 

In other words, remote e-stopping your CNC can't be a hard problem to solve. 

4D


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## MT Stringer (Aug 15, 2012)

Curious, I downloaded the app onto my old iPad. I think it is an iPad II or something like that. When searching the App Store, no results were found. Finally, I searched for iphone only, and whoop, there it is! :surprise::grin:

Downloaded it on the iPad and then on to the Samsung Galaxy S6 from the Google Play store. Both installed and are ready to set up the camera. That's good to know. I was worried the iPad was too old to know what is going on!!! >

@Gaffboat - Question for you. Do the instructions say how many cameras can be added? Just curious hot that works. Apparently you can name each one and switch back and forth. 

Certainly sounds like a good idea. The VTech website has the single camera for $119 so that should be all I need.


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

Very cool Oliver and Dave . I had a B&W camera mounted in my garage back in 2000 when they weren’t very common place , just to check up on my truck . 
I could change the input on my tv to the camera , as it was an analog camera .
Not sure how I’d go about it now , but I have Ethernet in my garage for future use , as I have plans for a surveillance camera . Well plus internet of course . 
Will have to take into consideration where my cnc will sit , as I want to do something simular to you guys .
Although I suspect it’s an extremely rare occasion , I’ve heard of fires during cnc use , so a camera sounds like a great investment imo .
Would be great to monitor the progress of a carving regardless


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## MT Stringer (Aug 15, 2012)

@Gaffboat - Plan, what plan?


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## 4DThinker (Feb 16, 2014)

I just got a Google home device. Now I'm wondering if saying "Hey Google, e-stop the meteor" could talk to a raspberry pi device hooked up to the e-stop to shut it all down?

4D


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## MT Stringer (Aug 15, 2012)

4DThinker said:


> I just got a Google home device. Now I'm wondering if saying "Hey Google, e-stop the meteor" could talk to a raspberry pi device hooked up to the e-stop to shut it all down?
> 
> 4D


"Hey Google, pause the program, raise the spindle, then e-stop the Meteor". :surprise::grin:


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## 4DThinker (Feb 16, 2014)

Even better if I can get my Google home device to take over the entire CNC process.  Start the PC, Run LinuxCNC, Start the controller, raise the Z axis to top, Home the CNC, place and clamp down the work on the bed, change the bit in the router, zero out x,y, and z. Load the file, RUN! Etc..


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## BalloonEngineer (Mar 27, 2009)

That would be like letting ikea make your furniture. What fun is that?

Now voice activating portions is certainly doable. I leave it as an exercise for the reader.

:smile:


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

I’m still patiently waiting for voice activated women. Even voice recognition would be a plus


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## 4DThinker (Feb 16, 2014)

Never bought anything from Ikea. Acquisitions of vinyl wrapped chipboard furniture in my youthful poverty stricken years were from companies like Sauder and came from stores like K-mart and Sears which sadly don't exist now where I live. Not a scrap of it survives, just like the stores where I bought it. 

As for voice activation.... I'm really waiting for mind control. Why have to speak when I can just think "lights off" and they turn off?


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## MT Stringer (Aug 15, 2012)

RainMan 2.0 said:


> I’m still patiently waiting for voice activated women. Even voice recognition would be a plus


Rick, apparently you have never been around a bunch of women drinking wine. That stuff gets them voice activated! :surprise::grin::grin::grin:


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## 4DThinker (Feb 16, 2014)

Often though the results can be buggy. The women I've known and loved always responded to my audible requests, but often with something other than the expected response.  It worked both ways though, so I never complained.


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## Knot2square (Jul 11, 2015)

That's a good idea but it's not advisable leaving a machine working unattended. Being too far away can lead to disaster. 
Case in point: my cousin who is a retired fire chief built his own CNC machine. While it was running, he went into the house for a few minutes, (about 5). Coming back out he noticed smoke boiling from his stand alone shop. The bit caught the wood on fire. Of course it toasted his machine, but fortunately not his shop. 
I realize that you are on top of it with a monitor, but it takes only a split second for dust to ignite. Good idea, but be careful.


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## DonkeyHody (Jan 22, 2015)

RainMan 2.0 said:


> I’m still patiently waiting for voice activated women. Even voice recognition would be a plus


Forget about insulation; you need a woman worse!


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## chessnut2 (Sep 15, 2011)

MT Stringer said:


> "Hey Google, pause the program, raise the spindle, then e-stop the Meteor". :surprise::grin:


"And be quick about it!"


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## UlrichJ (Feb 16, 2012)

I recently bought a Wyzecam HD camera for roughly $26 including shipping directly from Wyzecam.com. It's also available on Amazon. It has zoom, sends notice via wireless internet to your phone of motion, sound, carbon monoxide and smoke detector sounds. There's no pan.


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## TenGees (Sep 12, 2012)

I like it! I got three cheap cameras that pan and tilt (no zoom) to watch my house while I was on vacation. They can output to a web page, so you can watch them in any browser on your local network (or the web with dynamic DNS). They'll respond to the cursor keys to pan and tilt. I once used one to watch my stove from another room!

I don't have a CNC so this use never occurred to me. Nice.

For those wanting to control their system remotely, I guess you could try running VNC on your CNC.


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## MT Stringer (Aug 15, 2012)

UlrichJ said:


> I recently bought a Wyzecam HD camera for roughly $26 including shipping directly from Wyzecam.com. It's also available on Amazon. It has zoom, sends notice via wireless internet to your phone of motion, sound, carbon monoxide and smoke detector sounds. There's no pan.


That sounds more like it. :grin: I think I will try one out and see how it works. My CNC is simply next wall over, but most of the time, I let it run and sit at my desk and piddle! :surprise: So I am literally less than 20 feet from the e-stop.

This thread has already got me thinking about other uses.:smile: One in particular is my Traeger pellet cooker. There have been several occasions where I cook over night (pork butts). Start after dark, let it smoke for four hours, then set the temp at 225 and let it cook over night. Don't use much fuel and is a stable cooking machine. I have a remote temp monitor that is connected to my phone via Bluetooth that alerts me to temp changes. But it would be great to be able to see what is happening without having to get out of bed and trudge through the house and out the back door.:grin:

So I can move the camera around as needed. There are magnets available that have the beveled hole in the center for permanent mounting. That will work very well. I have a spot under our Palapa that would be out of any rain.

I am slowly catching up to this high tech world!

*EDIT:* Well dang, they are on back order. That's OK. I will just have to be patient! NOT!!! :crying:


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## Scottart (Jan 8, 2015)

I also put a small wireless camera in so I could walk away once in awhile. Still have some safety concerns mostly regarding fires, so use it minimally. Also still considering a remote wireless off button.... in case I see it go bad and want to do more that scream at my phone...


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## UlrichJ (Feb 16, 2012)

Mike, they are popular and they were on back order when I ordered mine. I still get them in less than a week.


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