[clocksandblocks]

Hey everyone!

I'm in the final phases of testing on a custom hand held pendant controller for use with EMC!

I tried to use keyboards, mini keyboards, and even game pad controllers to control my homemade CNC router using EMC, but I didn't like the feel or ease of use of any of those options.

I just happen to be a Mechanical engineer who works very closely with Electrical engineers who also love homemade CNC. So we put our heads together and designed and built a custom pendant designed to work with EMC2!

Everyone who tries it wants one, because as those of you who have used a pendant before know it really changes the way you interact with your machine!

Once you load a G-code file into EMC2 you don't have to touch your keyboard or mouse again with all the features this pendant has on it!

You can home your machine, jog your machine, adjust jogging speed, adjust program speed, pause, start, stop, Estop, Spindle on and off and two aux on and off controls are available!

The body of the pendant is made from HDPE, the top plate is aluminum and the buttons are urethane. It is a very robust pendant that doesn't feel "cheap" which adds a little confidence when controlling a several hundred pound machine with it!

Here is a picture of the finished pendant:



Is this something people would be interested in? Our plan if so is to launch a campaign on Kickstarter. Once the campaign is complete we will make the entire design open source and free to use for anyone.

The kickstarter will have fully complete pendants for ~$80, down to just the PCB's and rubber button set for those who wish to machine the case and assemble the PCB and program the micro controller themselves.

Feed back on this project is appriciated, we wont do it if nobody wants it! Thanks!

-Jerome Miles

[craftedart]

Cool! I would like to make one of those....

[JD68]

Nice looking design. Was any thought given to using it with MACH3?

JD

[clocksandblocks]

Yes! But I wasn't going to bring that up yet, as there is a lot of pendants for Mach3 but little to none specifically meant for EMC.

The PCB actually has a set of pads that when bridged with a small resistor will switch from the EMC firmware to the Mach3 firmware!

The pendant is based on Keyboard emulation because that means all you have to do to "configure" it with EMC is to plug it in to a USB port on your computer. Within a few seconds it loads its drivers and starts working.

Mach3 uses different keyboard commands, so we just need to manufacture a new mold for the rubber buttons for the Mach3 version to utilize the features available in that program.

If there is just as much interest in this pendant for Mach3 we can make that happen in a matter of weeks...

-Jerome Miles

[harryn]

That looks very interesting, esp. since I am on a linuxcnc path.

Is there any simple way to imcrease the readability of the buttons ? Example, would it work if I tried to ink in the background or top of the letters ?

Is there any chance that you could somehow automate a "scan with a tip" mode into the pendant that could auto scan an object and capture that as g-code ? That would be a really useful feature.

Thanks

Harry

[clocksandblocks]

I have not done any scanning in EMC2 before.

How do you normally start that procedure?

If it is done with any of the keyboard short cuts (even if it is multiple keystrokes) any of the buttons could be reconfigured to activate it.

Each button can pretty easily be reconfigured in the firmware, and since there are already two Aux buttons on the pendant, they may be perfect for that.

-Jerome Miles

[salzburg]

Good idea to make a pendant for EMC but it needs a rotary encoder.

[clocksandblocks]

I agree, rotary encoders are nice!

That would have made the pendant a lot more complex and expensive to produce this time around, but I am looking into it for future models!

I tried to help with precise jogging despite no encoder by having arrows that allow you to change the jog speed from the pendant. So quickly jog over to where you want to go, then slow it was down for touching off. It actually is very easy to touch off using this pendant.

I had three main objectives for this pendant:

1. Open source hardware, PCB and source code. I want people to be able to make this on a CNC router (besides the buttons that is) Low cost (in bare PCB form which comes with a PCB and rubber buttons only the price is going to be around $35)

2. Easy to configure. I think we hit that, as all you do is plug it in and it starts working!

3. Pro quality at a low cost. Nothing about this pendant is cheesy and easy to break.

-Jerome Miles

[clocksandblocks]

Hey guys and gals, I posted a quick video that will be part of my Kickstarter campaign.

The goal of the video was to show how easy this pendant makes running a program in EMC. Feedback good or bad is welcome!



I'm now looking for feedback on what hot keys people most commonly use in Mach3. If you have a set of hot keys that you would like to see this support in Mach please let me know!

-Jerome

[clocksandblocks]

I have decided to move the Mach3 talks to a dedicated thread. Please keep this thread clear for the EMC2 developments! thanks!

[Al_The_Man]

he E-Stop button does not conform to the code, if anyone is using this in an environment overseen by OSHA, it would not pass.
CNC handheld pendant
Al.

[doorknob]

While this is slightly off-topic, I'm curious about the small Z-Mill in your video.

Have you ever used it to cut aluminum?

How about PC board layouts?

Is it capable of reasonable accuracy over its small table work envelope?

Or is it mostly suitable for engraving plastic and cutting foam?

[clocksandblocks]

You are correct that this is a "soft" e stop button. That was the only way to make it work over USB... The safest way to e stop your machine is the big red button that should be built into it!

For safety we dedicated an entire pin on the micro controller to this single button.

Honestly, I use this button exclusively for my e stop needs and have never had a problem.
But you are correct in that nothing takes the place of a button hard wired into your break out board for reliability!

The biggest reason it was included is you need it to start emc up (see video)

Thanks!
Jerome

[clocksandblocks]

The z mill actually belongs to a friend, so take this with a grain of salt as my regular go to machine is a tormach pcnc1100

I have never tried cutting aluminum on it, but just from playing with it I'm pretty sure it could not handle it as it doesn't take much to deflect the spindle. Pcbs and soft plastic should be ok if you take it easy!

[salzburg]

I want one , please hurry up.

[clocksandblocks]

Workin on it! The plan is to have it live on Kickstarter by the end of the week with a 30 day campaign.

[clocksandblocks]

Hmm, those pictures don't seem to work for me.

[alan_3301]

It's probably too late to consider, but I don't think the 50% 100% feed override would be very usefull. Usually I am tweaking from 80 - 120% in small increments. Same with spindle speed override.

[clocksandblocks]

I actually have the same problem, but I figured 50 and 100% is better than nothing. The alternative would have taken ten buttons!

[tjb1]

+ or - either 5 or 10% would be better I think.