Mach3 ModIO Handheld Pendant

[phomann]

Hi All,

As some will know, I've committed myself to doing a talk at the CNC Convention / BBQ (Melbourne Aus) held on 24th may 2008. Information on this convention can be found at;
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=53559

The subject of the talk is Modbus, ModIO and Mach3. It will be a fairly basic introduction to Mach3 and Modbus, using the ModIO as the Modbus slave device. For those that don't know what the ModIO is, information can be found at;

http://homanndesigns.com/store/index...&products_id=4

The is a lot of interest in affordable handheld pendants for Mach3, so I decided to put together one for the talk. I'm tring to use components that can be easily purchased, and put together without too much effort. Some soldering will be required.

The enclosure is quite easy to get hold of at Mouser and I will have them in stock next week, The switches and LEDs I have used are my choice but others could be used.

Attached are some photos of what I've done so far. I created/edited a dxf file for the pendant, used sheetcam http://www.sheetcam.com to convert the dxf to GCode and then used Mach3 to mill it out.

I plan to white a brain(s) to communicate with the Pendant's ModIO. I haven't decided on the functionality of all the switches and indicators, although the potentiometer on the top right will be for feed rate override and the switch and indicator on the top left will be for spindle control.

Cheers,


Peter.

[alipavsky]

Hi Peter,
How does the functionality of this pendant differ from your currently available pendant?

Thanks,
Andrey

[Khalid]

very beautiful work u did on plastic

[BobWarfield]

Oh boy, this is a thread I am really looking forward to seeing!

Thanks,

BW

[phomann]

Originally Posted by alipavsky Hi Peter, How does the functionality of this pendant differ from your currently available pendant? Thanks, Andrey

Hi Andrey,

The pendant I currently have available;
http://homanndesigns.com/store/index...products_id=28

has the following functionlity,

• 100ppr Manual Pulse Generator (MPG)
• 8 position Axis selector Switch
• 4 position step scale selector.
• Feed rate override control
• Cycle Start push Button
• Cycle Hold Push Button
• Axis Reference Push Button
• Spindle On/Off Push Button
• Enable Push Buttons
• Emergency Stop Switch
• LED Status Indicator

The pendant is very robust, designed for commercial industrial use. This is achieved via the

• 100ppr MPG,
• 2 rotary switches,
• 1 potentiometer,
• 1 led indicator and
• 4 push-buttons, plus
• 2 enable buttons.

The pendant I'm presenting in this thread will be able to be put together by DIYers. Not every one will want the same configuration as I have done. It is basically to be used as an example of how to go about puttind together your own pendant. This pendant will have;

• 100 ppr MPG
• 2 Rotary switches with up to 12 positions each.
• 1 potentiometer
• 6 pushbuttons
• 8 Led indicators
• 4x20 LCD.

I haven't decided what functions will be allocated to which switches etc. so don't ask.

One of the major additions with this pendant is the LCD. It will be able to display axis positions and other data. Also the 3 buttons below the LCD could be "soft" buttons with their function displayed on the LCD.

Cheers,


Peter.

[phomann]

Hi,

To do the cutting out of the enclosure, I started out with the DXF file for the enclosure;
http://homanndesigns.com/store/index...products_id=48

I then edited it using the free CAD tool ProgeCAD 2008 Smart.
http://www.progecad.com/compra/prodo...2008smart.html

I deleted all the views other than the one I wanted for Machining. and ended up with the attached drawing PendantDIY.dxf. I then drew the cutouts and holes I needed for all the bits and peices. I used different layers based on the different cutting/drilling operations I would be needing to do in Sheetcam.

A couple of things I did that may not be clear.
Firstly I used the view looking into bottom case rather than the top. I did this as it had better detail for parts placement.

If you look at the drawing, you will see a layer called REF. It contains the 6 holes that screw the 2 halves together. I used this layer in Sheetcam to produce GCode to drill holes at these locations. The purpose of this is to drill locating holes in a mounting fixture on the mill.

The mounting fixture is just a 1/2 slab of aluminium bolted to the table. Once the 3mm holes were drilled, I loosely screwed 3mm bolts into the mounting bosses in the top 1/2 of the case, then cut the heads off the bolts and located the bolts into the holes I'd drilled on the tooling plate fixture. I then use a couple of clamps to secure the case.

This gave me a repeatable locating method.



Cheers,


Peter

[phomann]

I used sheetcam to convert the dxf file containing the cut-outs I needed into G-Code. From Sheetcam I generated 4 Gcode files, one for each operation. I did this foor ease of toolchange and to do it step by step.

If you load the sheetcam job file PendantDIY.job you will notice a couple of things.

First is I've rotated the drawing by -90 degrees to suit my Taig mills X axis. I've also set the 0,0 origin position to be the bottom left reference hole. That way I just position the toolbit over the holes and zero the axis. Easily repeatible.

The first GCode file PendantDIYRef.tap drills the reference holes as previously explained.

The next Gcode file PendantDIYCut, uses a 1/8" mill bit to cut out all the component holes. You can see how using different layers in your dxf cad editor helps Sheetcam in selecting where to cut.

I then used the Gcode file PendantDIYDrill3_18 to drill the holes for mounting the MPG.

I then used the Gcode file PendantDIYDrill3_5 to drill the holes for the rotary switch locating tabs.

I then used the Gcode file PendantDIYDrill4_0 to drill the holes for mounting the LCD.

In the end thae case came out really nice.

Attached is a zip of the DXF file, the Sheetcam job and the gcode files.

[ynneb]

12 members and 23 guests in this thread at this moment.
I think you are onto something good Peter. Keep up the great work.
I am sure it will also be a hit at the BBQ.

Regards Benny

[phomann]

Originally Posted by ynneb I am sure it will also be a hit at the BBQ. Regards Benny

Assuming I get it finished in Time.

[alipavsky]

Originally Posted by phomann I haven't decided what functions will be allocated to which switches etc. so don't ask. One of the major additions with this pendant is the LCD. It will be able to display axis positions and other data. Also the 3 buttons below the LCD could be "soft" buttons with their function displayed on the LCD. Cheers, Peter.

Hi Peter,
I'm just curious how you're going to use this pendant to work the BBQ rotisserie...

-Andrey-

[phomann]

Originally Posted by alipavsky Hi Peter, I'm just curious how you're going to use this pendant to work the BBQ rotisserie... -Andrey-

Well, Once I have the Macropump done, we'll have a new BBQ remote control.

[alipavsky]

Originally Posted by phomann Well, Once I have the Macropump done, we'll have a new BBQ remote control.

So how would that work out for BTU's per axis?