Another homebrew pendant...

[abasir]

In the process of building my own homebrew pendant to work with Mach3 on my small Sherline mill. It uses a PIC to simulate the quadrature signal normally associated with regular MPG... Tested the code last night and it works fine... no add-on required thus it will work with any version of Mach3...

It has 4 dedicated buttons for Axis +, Axis -, Axis Select and MPG Mode. A visual confirmation of selected axis (X, Y, Z) and mode (X1, X10, X100, continuous) via LEDs. The remaining 9 switches are wired but actual functions are configured in Mach3... Power is taken from USB port...

Will be working on suitable casing tonight (if I can find the time)...
I'll provide more photo and details at my blog

[Steve-Tee]

That sure is neat and tidy .
Those extra keys ought to offer a great degree of functionality, while allowing you to get close to the work piece.
Ahhh, don't ya just love the power and flexibility of those PIC chips.

Crikey, I remember when I used to build everything without the help of these beauties!! Oh boy, what a lot of solder boulders!


Great work there .

Cheers and CNCs,
Steve.

[SPEEDRE]

What are those switches called?. I'd like to use that kind for a keypad controller I'm trying to conjure up.

[abasir]

Speedre,

I don't really know the actual name but here's the description from Digikey...
SWITCH TACT SPST 12MM MOM N/O The TACT stands for tactile...
I just browse in parts store here and picked from their racks...

Photos of the almost complete casing below...

[abasir]

My current thinking on label and buttons mapping...

[abasir]

Somebody ask me for a little more detail on the setup at my blog, so here I go...

4 top right hand switches are connected to PIC, i.e., Axis +, Axis -, Axis Select, Jog Mode
4 PIC outputs are connected to parallel port, i.e., Quadrature A/B, Axis Select, MPG Mode
The remaining PIC outputs are connected to the LEDs...

On Axis Select, PIC check current axis selection then pulse the axis select output for about 250ms... to make sure Mach3 registers it...

Same on Jog Mode... only two Mach3 mode used (Velocity and MultiStep)... the right number of pulse must be sent to change to the right mode...

On Axis+/-, PIC check current mode and send relevant number of pulses (1, 10 or 100 or continuous)... output is quadrature... similar to normal MPG...

I'll put up the PCB file and the PIC hex file here if there is any interest...

[mxtras]

Nice work!

Scott

[abasir]

Did the label works last night... The label was printed on color laser printer and subsequently laminated on one side with laminating machine... Punched the LED holes with paper puncher... The button holes were cut using circle cutter... 3M spray adhesive complete the process... result below...

p/s: Just realized the X-Axis LED label is wrongly labeled as Z-Axis... dang, I'm just gonna let it be...

[twistedfuse]

Looks great. Keep up the good work. Looking orward to seeing the files uploaded. You've built something that alot of us wish to have 'one-day'.

Daniel

[abasir]

The zip file contains
- the PCB design and components placement
- sample label above (with the mistake corrected)
- the hex file to burn into the PIC16F628

[dex918]

Completed mine.... but not using the PIC... since I already have the MPG...
Photos here...

[twistedfuse]

Thanks very much for the files. I have already started to serach for the PICs and a programmer. Was your programmer a ready to buy or did you build one. I look forward to building the pendant. Will post photo for you when done if you like.

Daniel