I built mine on January 1st of this year. I also am a RANK amateur and would suggest to start maybe just manually turn on the router. The number of mishaps I have had moving the head and having momentary lapse of brain activity, if the power came on automatically, I would have had a few hospital visits and they would be calling me stumpy. 
Someday I will look into automating the spindle but not yet there…not huge downside of starting out manual IMHO
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, we’re building computer controlled robots that actually have the capability to kill us. Assume that they know how (or are learning fast), and treat them appropriately. Granted, I’m usually going on about the risk of unattended machines starting fires, but automated spindles removing digits would also apply.
I’m planning on using a series of relays for the board I’m building. Having a small relay that activates with the microcontroller logic level voltage that in turn activates a much larger relay that handles the voltage to the Makita router. You just need to make sure the G code has the on/off commands for the spindle.
What the hell kind of bits are you guys using? I’m using 1/8" at the largest and it would take quite a bit of effort to cut off a whole finger.
That’s not saying it couldn’t do significant damage though…
It’s official policy of all safety officers to be Paranoid As Hell™, and to catastrophize any and all possible mishaps to the fullest extent in order to best illuminate the need to follow all safety precautions and procedures. Just doing our jobs.
In all seriousness, I find that counterproductive. If you say that you could die from electrocution from unprotected rambo board or something, I am less likely to believe you when you say the router will start a fire.
Everyone needs to be responsible for their own risk. Your lives, freedom, and houses are on the line.
But I also want to spread good knowledge. AC voltages are dangerous. You need to know what you’re doing to mess with them. (I have made the personal choice to avoid telling people how to edit AC wires, because I hope people will learn how to do it right from a better source than me). But you don’t need a license to buy a light bulb. Most people can be relatively safe around AC.
The router is more dangerous than it looks. I have come close to starting a fire (and my first sign was the smell of the smoke). Barry has started a fire and there’s a good video of a remote controlled mpcnc completely turning to ashes. IMO, they are 10x-100x more dangerous than a 3D printer. 600W in a single point, on flammable surfaces, making fine flammable dust.
You could lose a finger (my table saw blade is 1/8" too). But it doesn’t have the kickback problems that a table saw has. The most likely scenario is probably some mutilated finger, or more damage if it caught a long sleeve or something. But this is all just my guesses. I haven’t seen any finger damage reported on the forums (
). I have seen a few fires and more close calls.
Well, yeah… That’s why I also couch it with a healthy dose of what I hope is obvious humor. I don’t mean to be truly alarmist, but conversely, you can’t get complacent, and need to understand the risks that you’re dealing with. That’s also why I usually only harp on safety in regards to fire hazards, as that’s usually the “weak link”. And even then, I’ve been trying to be transparent that everyone has their own tolerance for risk, but as a community, we really need to put forth best practices, and espouse safety-conscious behavior regardless of our personal procedures. If someone wants to win a Darwin Award, I’ve no issue with that, I just don’t want someone stumbling into one on the advice of these forums… 
Sorry was not literal. I do feel that the time it takes to manually switch on the router is not very long and I admit I find it the exciting part of starting a run.
The second point I will offer is I was struggling to have the perfect build of a Primo machine but it was pointed out by a few politely to “Just start cutting…” the rest will come later.
-Craig
Ok, you guys are just being more cautious than anything, which I can 100% agree with. I work on massive machines that have literally killed people (not my specific ones, but others across the country have), so I fully understand needing to be cautious.
Taking the time to make sure things are overly safe is always worth it in the long run. Redundant safety measures are worth the effort too.
The sharper the bit, the more controlled the damage is. Unfortunately not all of the bits that we’re still using are quite as sharp as they might have once been.
I’ve mentioned before. My father was a general contractor for many years, and I spent a lot of time around woodshops. I’ve seen first-hand some terrible table saw accidents, for example, and so I pretty much always assume that the table saw is trying to kill me.
In general, a router bit will cut flesh, sometimes like it’s not even there, your first sign might be the sudden red splash on your work piece. Other times… Flesh isn’t so easy to cut cleanly as wood. It bends, flexes and absorbs. Skin can get tough and leathery. Sometimes instead of cutting, tool bits grab and pull.
600W is a lot of pull. It’s enough pull to tear ligaments and tendons. It’s more than enoguh pull to draw a finger into the path of a spinning blade and make that cut into the bone, and it can do it within a few revolutions of the bit (Which is spinning at how many thousand RPM?)
So… Yeah. I’ve seen accidents at the router table. My father was lucky, the bit cut, and he lost a little bit of the cartilage around a knuckle. One of the other guys in a cabinet shop wasn’t so lucky, and it tore the second knuckle joint apart. (He did get the finger reattached, but it never bent correctly after.) To be fair, that wasn’t a 600W trim router that did that, but we’ve still got more than enough power there.
So me? I go through endmills pretty quick, because I don’t want to use a dull one. Same with saw blades, chisels (I sharpen those myself though) and other blades.
I appreciate this attitude. I’m no electrician, but have done a fair amount of electrical work with mains voltage. Again, if you assume that it wants to kill you, you are less apt to allow it to try. I will always advise caution when dealing with mains voltages.
For starting the router… I like having the remote switch, so that I don’t have to lean over the table. I keep my hands and fingers away from the tool whenever it is moving with the exception of using the touch plate, which I feel I could safely assume that the firmware wont’ start the tool during the homing sequence. (Not that my firmware has any control over the router, mind you.) I have thought about implementing a “two hands” start sequence, which would force me to use two hands, both outside the work area to start the router spinning, but I’d feel kind of silly with the safety on my Primo being more comprehensive than on my table saw, which is by far the most dangerous tool I own.