Hi John, yes I suppose a working shop can make better use of the space. I guess you didn't use it much then.
I rather fancy a bigger one, shaper that is
T'other John, if I have a bigger piece on mine when taking a finish cut it can take rather a while. Often I nip back into the house to make a cupper while it's going. Well you know how it goes, 'er indoors always manages to find the right moment to demand your undivided. Apart from such events it's can be good to do something else, like drill a hole or have a clean up or sumut.
At least with my Atlas I know all will be well as it shuts itself down completely when the bed has traveled so far.
Mine has a motor start contactor with two extra stops operated by the bed movement for both directions. So it turns completely off.
I'm sure larger shapers with much more power would have some safety set-up or a lot of damage could be done. I asked the same question on another forum and got some answers. Ranging from safety shear pin, clutch to modified feedscrews where the thread had been machined off at the travel limits so the nut runs off the screw.
But none of those shut the main motor or the ram down. I like my set-up better I think and although my shaper is single phase the same is just as easily done with 3ph machinery. The mill comes to mind here.