Here is my problem. I'm trying to limit the X axis to the local space, at 185 degrees, but as I rotate, it snaps at 0 as expeced. But when rotating as so, it snaps back to 0 from 180 degrees. I believe this is a bug, but I would just want to check with anybody with more knowledge about this than me. I have seen other threads around about this, but I saw the date and not a complete answer, so that's why I made a new one.
As posted on BlenderArtists, here's the solution as provided below:
I simply added a limit rotation constraint to a duplicate of the main object, which I shrunk down (not necessary) and added a "limit rotation constraint" which I set to limit the X axis rotation to -30 degrees.
Then, I added a driver (right-click the desired value in the sidebar to the right in the 3D view and select "Add Driver") to the X axis for the "Axe_motor" (the main object) and set the driver's expression be "var * 6.26" in my case.
So, I multiplied -30 degrees by 6.26 times. this resulted in a perfect arc from the axe's resting position (0 degrees) to -188 degrees in X.
