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Forum Index : Other Stuff : Pendant controller for the CNC
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Gizmo Admin Group  Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5078 |
I wanted to make a pendant controller for my CNC router. Having used commercial laser cutters and CNC routers, you learn to appreciate a pendant. It lets you get up close and personal to the job at hand, and move the tip/tool around the surface without looking at the controlling PC. I bought a Logitech game controller for the job. Its got two analogue joysticks, and numerous other buttons I can tap into as I need them. 
I wanted a customisable case, so I pulled the controller apart and found a new box to fit it all in. 
I cut holes for the joystick knobs, and mounted 4 push button swiches. Later I'll add more buttons as I need them. Then I mounted the circuit board in the box and wired up the switches to the test points on the circuit board that ran to the controllers switch pads. 
All back together. I'll add labels in the future. 
The Mach3 softwares comes with a key mapper application. The key mapper is used to map keyboard/joystick events to the Mach3 functions. I've set up one joystock to move the X and Y axis, the other to move the Z axis up and down. The 4 buttons are Start, Stop, Pause and Rewind. Once a program is loaded, the pendant can be used to position the tool on the job, and start the program once the axises are zero'd. One tip, dont install the Logitech joystick software, it makes Mach3 run VERY slow for some reason. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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Bryan1 Guru  Joined: 22/02/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1344 |
G'day Glenn, Well done nice job ya did there mate, just leaning back reading and a quick look under the is a logitec desk based joystick. I got it from the local market for $1 and the speed paddle doesn't work, Just pulled it apart and bugger no good so it looks like I'll be on the lookout for one of those controllers. I am on the hunt for a better PC to use as I only have my old 2 gig laptop and to say the speed is slow is an understatement. I do have mach 3 here so I will endup ditching Kcam and going with it. Cheers Bryan |
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| Gizmo Admin Group Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5078 |
I found a MASSIVE speed improvement going from KCam to Mach3. I've used KCam for years, just the unregistered version, cause I found Mach a bit user unfriendly. But I bit the bullet recently and gave Mach3 another go. Its a good idea to go through the port timing tests, etc, there are some video tutorials on the Mach site. I'm pretty happy with it now, even though its just an old laptop. I even bought the software, and I'm a tight arse when it comes to buying software if there is a free alternative. The other thing to watch with the Logitech conversion is if the joysticks goes to far, the Axis will reverse! Because of the way I mounted it, the joysticks have more travel than they did in the original case. The AD converters dont like that, and if I push the joystick too far, the axis travels in the opposite direction. I should mention, its proportional, the further I push the stick, the faster the axis will more. To fix the axis reversal, I put a rubber band around the joystick "stick", so it hits the case before it can go too far. I did try the Windows joystick calibration screens, but it just made a real mess of it and I set it back to default settings. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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