A nice little bank of flip switches, useful but a good idea not to randomly start flipping them up and down unless you know what they do.
We will go from left top right for an explanation.
Far left 3 Position ,Coolant Control: Bottom – Coolant Off, Middle Coolant Automatic, Top Coolant ON. When set to the middle position the coolant is controlled by an M code in the program (M08 usually), if set to the top “Coolant ON) it will come of no matter what the machine is doing, yes, even with the door open so be ready to get wet if you forget this little factoid.
2nd From Left, Single Block- ON/OFF: When switched to ON the machine will run a single block of code, IE, any commands that end with a “:” Typically this will be a single line of code. Example, G01 X200.0 Z10.0 F0.3 M08: This would cause a FEED move to X 200mm, Z 10mm at a FEED rate of 0.3mm per revolution and turn on the coolant, then STOP. To run the next block or line you would need to press the GREEN cycle start again. Normally used when you are running through a complex program and want to see what each line in going to do rather than what you “Think” it’s going to do.
3rd From Left ,Block Delete ON/OFF: Not used that much but hey ho, Block Delete allows you to ignore parts of a program by simply adding a “/” to the start of the line, each line prefixed with that symbol will be ignored if Block Delete is turned to ON. When turned off even lines with the “/” symbol will be executed as if the / is not there. It does get used, just not often as forgetting to turn on block delete can lead to crashes and adds something else an operator has to remember to do.
4th From Left, Optional Stop ON/OFF: OP Stop when switched on will allow a program to run as normal until it reads an “M01” command in a program, when the NC see’s an M01 it will work the same way as the previous RED Program Pause button and sit and wait, if you then press the GREEN Cycle run button it will continue as normal. It can be used if you want to run some parts of a program and then stop to carry out a task before continuing (such as flip a part round or make a check of sizes). Remember, if you have an M01 in the program and this switch is not turned to on the program will ignore the pause and continue as if it was not there. Hence “Optional” stop.
5th From Left, Dry Run, ON/OFF: Not as useful as it may seem, when switched to ON the machine will perform a dry run (nothing moving) to show up any errors in your program, with the advent of the “Simulation function” this doesn’t really get used anymore. But hey, at least there is something that looks complicated and makes my boss think I’m clever and worth a pay rise (even if it does bugger all).
2nd From Right, Light Switch ON/OFF: It’s the internal or cabinet light, Umm it’s a light switch, but can be used if you announce in a loud voice “And on the eighth day God said let there be light” while flipping the switch while proclaiming you are God’s gift to engineering.
Far Right, Z Lock ON/OFF: An easy one and again pretty much worthless, it’s a Z lock, switching this to ON locks the Z axis from moving but not the X axis, if you start up with this turned on the machine will move UP and DOWN in X but will ignore all the Z (Right to Left) commands. Very similar to dry run and equally as pointless now “Simulation” functions are available.
Yehaaa Only 3 sections left (and 1 of those is worthless)