[g29cc]

Well now that I ve had some wheel time behind the MPG, here is a report.

Everything on the MPG functions nicely. I havent used the play area yet, I bought the #2 pendant. Which has play , start stop etc functions on it.

It is a USB cable end, and was virtually plug and play out of the box. That was refreshing. Just take the file download off their site and install it in Mach directory , click on the plug in menu and activate the MPG plug in box. Simple as that. No configuration needed for anything else.

Few things I noticed and maybe its because I don't have enough time behind it yet.

1 I believe I might be getting radio freq problems, or grounding problems. If I touch metal with my left hand and I am leaning over the machine with my right arm holding the mpg, then it acts weird sometimes. It will go crazy , 1 click will go 10 clicks, or not function at all. Doesn't happen all the time though. And doesn't happen at all if I don't "ground" myself out against the machine as described above.

2 It takes a little getting used to the control. Its not like the Haas controllers I ve used. But very quick to pick up and use.

3 I can't get it to change the feed increments through the mpg, I have to to it manually through mach mpg tab ( say I want .100 , then .010 , I have to do that through mach ). I may be wrong on this , but I thought it said you would have to do it in mach like that. But I haven't had alot of time to check into it yet.

4 In constant mode if you go slow enough it wont register. By this I mean you have to go pretty darn slow and should probably be in step mode at that point.

Thats about it really. It functions as it should in all axis and movements.

Total cost $210 shipped. You have to download the software off the site, no big deal. They give you a decent instruction manual / pamphlet, but its pretty self explanatory.

I would recommend Vista CNC for those that are looking for a good plug and play MPG unit that works via USB and is plug and play with Mach 3.

Here is a picture of the MPG again.

[JoeBean]

Re: Issue #1 there's an article in a recent issue of digital machinist that, while it kind of read like an advert for the guy selling his pendants, had an interesting note there that they use a PS/2 connection because of problems that they've found with interference when using USB. Not sure how much of it is BS as the guy seems to be full of himself & overflowing, but it might well be the case.

I'd suggest, if it's not already using it, to make sure the USB cable all the way from the MPG is shielded, and that the shielding is only grounded at one end (the machine).