GM. My problem is a little difficult and would appreciate some guidance. I have a sausage maker with a 90 V reversible motor, currently with seperate switches for direction. I want to modify to control the direction of the motor with a pair of foot switches. There are many 12v devices that do this, but i haven't found one that will switch the 90V. Any ideas? Thanks in advance. Mikeh

 

Welcome to AAC.

Your post was moved to a thread of its own. It was unrelated to the old thread you posted in, and should be its own thread. In the future please don’t post to long dormant threads unless it is an answer directly related to the original question of the thread. You can refer to a thread you believe is related to yours when you ask your question in the new one.

 

My first concern is whether any safety devices would be bypassed by allowing foot-controlled operation. Obviously this at least means the hands are now free to join the other things in the sausage.

 

https://www.rapidonline.com/taiwan-...-dpdt-momentary-foot-switch-low-force-78-0745
https://www.rapidonline.com/hylec-1de-sp-21ng-ip66-green-palm-foot-switch-control-station-78-2115

 

My first concern is whether any safety devices would be bypassed by allowing foot-controlled operation. Obviously this at least means the hands are now free to join the other things in the sausage.

There are plenty of foot operated devices which leave the hands free - such as sheet-metal folders and guillotines*, for example.

*Bastille Day on Friday!

 

There are plenty of foot operated devices which leave the hands free - such as sheet-metal folders and guillotines*, for example.

*Bastille Day on Friday!

This things also feature dual hand interlocks to be sure the hands are out of the way, at least the guillotines do. I know of one in a printing plant my father worked in where the operator “cleverly” bypassed one of them to make things “easier” and ended up with 1.5 less (not fewer*) fingers within minutes of doing it.

*That is, 3/2 fingers.

 

This things also feature dual hand interlocks to be sure the hands are out of the way, at least the guillotines do. I know of one in a printing plant my father worked in where the operator “cleverly” bypassed one of them to make things “easier” and ended up with 1.5 less (not fewer*) fingers within minutes of doing it.

*That is, 3/2 fingers.

https://www.redmolotov.com/pedants-revolt-mug

 

Certainly the change over can be accomplished, But as others have stated, it would create a very real potential hazard. Within this section of AAC , in the "general electronics chat" section, there are quite a few threads that describe the reversing control of DC motors. You can search them and find exactly what you are asking for, and nobody of us will be liable because the advice was not related to a sausage maker. So that gets the TS assisted and the rest of us off the hook.
A sausage maker and a meat grinder are both quite dangerous machines, but then so is a drill press, and certainly a lathe. But every day hundreds of machinists use them without any problems or injuries. The hazard is with the user.

 

If you want to see machines without any safety interlocks, and other dangerous practices, watch @nsaspook 's "Skills" videos!

 

...but then so is a drill press, and certainly a lathe. But every day hundreds of machinists use them without any problems or injuries. The hazard is with the user.

This is certainly true, even understated—surely it is at least tens of thousands, probably hundreds of thousands, and quite possibly millions. But conversely:

...but then so is a drill press, and certainly a lathe. But every day hundreds of machinists use are injured by them. The hazard is with the user.

The absolute number of injuries is surely small compared with the number of uses, but it is a lot higher than we might like to imagine. And, of course, to the one person whose hand is irreparably damaged that day, it's a 100% failure rate.

At this point I think we are off-topic and so I am going to wait for the TS to reply (if they've not been chased off). It's possible they have some mitigating information and there's no point in beating a dead horse—or a living one for that matter.