Safety¶

Read this page before you install ForgeFIRM and before you run a job. It is short on purpose.

What protects you, and what does not¶

The machine's own hardware still does the last-line work. The lid switches, the interlock plug on a Pro, and the big button are wired so that the laser cannot fire with the lid open, and cannot fire at all until a person presses the button. ForgeFIRM keeps every one of those. On top of them it adds its own checks: it waits for your press before the first cut of a job, it holds the job when the coolant is not proven to be moving or is too warm, it ends the job when the lid opens, and it watches for a fire and for a head crash.

The software checks are software. Treat them as help, not as a guarantee. The fire watch catches a developed fire, not a small flame, and it is not a fire alarm. A hold can fail to happen. After a fault the machine's idea of where the head is can be wrong. The person in front of the machine is the safeguard that has to work.

Stay with the machine¶

• Stay present for the whole job and watch the material. Small flare-ups happen with some materials. A flame that keeps burning is a fire.
• Know how to stop before you start. Open the lid: the job ends at once. Press the button: the job pauses. Press Stop in your sender. Turn the machine off. If anything looks wrong, stop first and think second.
• Keep a fire extinguisher in reach, and know how you will open the lid and smother a flame.
• Vent the exhaust outdoors, always. The fumes are toxic and flammable.
• Know your material. Never cut PVC, vinyl, or any chlorinated plastic.
• Every job with a laser layer fires, however low the power is set. If the button lights and you did not expect it, press Stop.
• Read the messages. When the machine holds or refuses, the sender console and the control panel say why. Find the cause before you retry (Troubleshooting).

Do not bypass a safeguard¶

• Never defeat a lid switch or the interlock plug, never run with a cover off, and never change the safety wiring on the control board. The enclosure and the lid glass are your eye protection.
• Never tape, wedge, or wire the button. The press is your consent, once per job.
• Do not turn a cooling gate off unless you understand what you give up. The settings that can do it say so loudly: a flagged value, a banner on the Status tab, and a line in the log at every job start. Some protections no setting can reach (Cooling and fans).
• Do not work around an alarm or a hold without knowing its cause.
• Do not run a build that did not come from this project.

What to expect from the safeguards¶

• The button, before the first cut. The big button lights white and the machine waits for you to press it. One press covers one job. A long pause or an idle wait relocks the laser, and the next cut asks for the press again (GRBL mode, Cloud mode).
• The button, during a job. A press pauses the job. Another press resumes it.
• The lid and the interlock. Opening the lid, or the interlock loop on a Pro, during a job ends the job. The head returns to where the job started, and the next job asks for the button again. Opening the lid does not stop a jog: a jog runs with the lid open, and the beam is blocked in hardware.
• Cooling. The machine holds a job, or refuses to start firing, when the coolant is not proven to be moving, is too warm or too cold, when a fan is not moving air, or when it sees a flame or a head bump. It tells you which (Cooling and fans).
• A crash of the software. If the program that controls the machine crashes, the machine stops motion and locks the laser on its own, then restarts that program.

How the hardware chain and the software checks work is in the Technical section: The safing chain, The grblHAL driver, The cooling engine, and The kernel module.

Legal¶

Modifying the machine may have legal and regulatory ramifications. It is up to you to adhere to the laws and regulations that apply where you are (Installation).