Please recomend a Pendant

[BeerFizz]

Hi,

I have a CNC'd X2. Could someone please recommend a functional Pendant.

I should also mention that I have Mach 3 and Bob Campbell's breakout board plus.

Thanks

[hoss2006]

Heres one for $199
http://www.lowcostcncretrofits.com/jog%20remote.html
or this for $12.
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...uct_id=5044147
Use keygrabber in Mach 3 to program the buttons.
A tutorial can be found here.
http://www.hossmachine.com/projects_...ontrol%20panel

[toneV8]

hoss2006: can it be using joystick similar PS2 for PC.

[thackman]

I'm working on setting up CNC'd X3 mill and curious as to what the pendant joystick should be relative to? Is the pendant supposed to control the directon of the table movement relative to the operator or should it control the movement of cutter relative to the stock? The two frames of reference are mirrors of each other.

In my mind should I picture it as driving the cutter around a piece of fixed stock or driving the stock around a fixed cutter?

If you push the joystick to the right, does the table move to the right or does the table move to the left effectively cutting from left to right on the part.

[hoss2006]

tonev8,
you can use any game controller that will hook up to a PC.
Keygrabber will let you assign keyboard shortcuts for Mach 2/3 to whatever
button or joystick you want to use.
I have 2 controllers running at the same time in my control panel.

Thackman,
the joystick should be setup like you are moving the tool bit around and the stock is stationary.
use mach 3 or similar to make a simple square toolpath and run it.
the mill should move like the tool is moving in the toolpath screen.
push the joystick to the left (X-), the table(stock) will move to the right.

[askman]

I've been using USB 10key board on my Mach3, and it does everything I need, and cost under 20 bucks. (actually, I got them off ebay for 8 shipped) while it is not as nice as those pendants, it does work well, much better than joystick. (I've tried them, as well as game controller)

[Ron111]

I also got the usb keypad, a Turgus at office depot ($12 on sale), and it allows me to jog. I also use a 10 ft cable, so I can move closer to the work. It's also small enough that I velcro'ed it to the front of the machine. You can also use the keygrabber program to setup a certain keyfunction if you need.

Ron

[hoss2006]

Just ordered the Targus keypad at circuitcity for $12.
will be a nice little addon for my control panel to punch in the numbers
since the big keyboard is cumbersome.
Thanks for the tip.

[toneV8]

hoss2006: is it important that joystick must be analog or digital.

[dan_the_welder]

I just went to comp usa and got the cheapest joystick they had. They have it at Wally World too.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...uct_id=2413236

Set up keygrabber and went to town.

Had to go back and get a USB extension cord though because the stock one was not long enough.

It works so great that I would not be with out it now. Hard to believe that I thought the jog flyout screen was 'perfect'

I'd post my .grab file but I never did figure out how to do the zeroing and stuff. I have feed rate up/down and reset. Flood (dust collector). Jog X Y and Z and Estop.

I put Estop on the trigger, because that's the first thing people do when they see a joystick.

Fire! Wah wah wah, game over actually. Heh.

Dan

[hoss2006]

tonev8,
doesn't matter between digital or analog, the playstation gamepad clone i used has both. There's a button to choose between the single gamepad joy or the 2 thumb joysticks. i use the 2 joysticks. You can control up to 10 different functions with just those 2 controls. left,right,up,down and push down the center for both.

dan,
thats the same joystick I used for this.
i used the little pot on the front (i think it's for adjusting the axis?) to raise/lower my jog rate.
game on!

[dan_the_welder]

Sweet Jesus,

You do some pretty work Hoss. You have way more patience than I do!

I just about fell out of my chair when I saw the counter weight you made for your mill.

Bondo. Scrap. WOW. I just hang old sash weights off of everything and call it a day.

Cheers,
Dan