[Helder22]

At work my mills had a physical Feed Rate Override knob that I used all the time when running a program for the first time. Id start the program with the knob at 0 and bring it up slowly till the mill was close to the work, then Id stop it again, check the actual distances to what the XYZ on the screen was , increase the feedrate, etc. Having an actual knob to hold on to that I could turn up and down quickly gave me a lot of confidence. With Path Pilot I have to fumble with a mouse, keep looking at the screen to check that the cursor is over the FRO slider, I dunno, its not even close to being the same thing.

Has anyone come up with a was to incorporate an FRO knob with path pilot yet? Maybe have idea as to how it could be done? Basically the knob would control the slider on the screen.
Sorta like the one in the picture below

(edit: maybe even the mouse wheel would be better than nothing)


Attachment 294572

[kstrauss]

How about using your finger on a touch screen to move the slider?

[bevinp]

Yes a physical knob would be the best because then you can watch the tool cutting behaviour instead of just listening when mousing or touching the screen. Perhaps you repost this thread on the PP forum; there are some Linux gurus there.

[Hirudin]

Maybe the number keys could be mapped to the feedrate override. The "0" key would stop it, "1" for 10%, and so-on. I like the mousewheel idea too. Click the slider, lift the mouse off the pad and hold it, then turn the wheel as you watch the machine.

[simpson36]

Just to throw some ideas on the table; I came across available interfaces specifically for mouse and joystick jogging. A mouse wheel is an encoder and typically joysticks are analog, so these interfaces might provide the mechanism to get data from a knob (either encoder or analog) into Path Pilot. From there it seems that it would be a matter of redirecting the controls to the federate override function instead of the jogging.

[tmallard450]

I would love a physical override knob. I've considered hacking an old key board control board or using an Arduino to make a small control panel. My current method is to click on the slider and keep my finger down on the button. As long as you keep your finger on the mouse button you can move the mouse anywhere on the screen and still have control. I am very happy that the space bar is so responsive as a feed hold button.


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[SCzEngrgGroup]

I would love a physical override knob. I've considered hacking an old key board control board or using an Arduino to make a small control panel. My current method is to click on the slider and keep my finger down on the button. As long as you keep your finger on the mouse button you can move the mouse anywhere on the screen and still have control. I am very happy that the space bar is so responsive as a feed hold button.


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Very easy to do using an Arduino Leonardo, and the Keyboard/Mouse library. I did one for my machine a couple of years ago - took just a few hours to build and code the whole thing. Since it looks to the PC like a keyboard, no changes of Mach3 are required - just assigning hot keys.

Regards,
Ray L.

[tmallard450]

Any idea how to edit or figure our what commands the path pilot gui is sending?


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[pickled]

Very easy to do using an Arduino Leonardo, and the Keyboard/Mouse library. I did one for my machine a couple of years ago - took just a few hours to build and code the whole thing. Since it looks to the PC like a keyboard, no changes of Mach3 are required - just assigning hot keys.

Regards,
Ray L.

Wow, great thinking Ray! I have a few boards laying around and enough other components to probably knock that out for my 770 (still on M3). Will have to look into what commands do what on the 1100 running PP. Yet another "productivity enhancement" project to throw on the never ending list of things to do.

[bevinp]

Very easy to do using an Arduino Leonardo, and the Keyboard/Mouse library. I did one for my machine a couple of years ago - took just a few hours to build and code the whole thing. Since it looks to the PC like a keyboard, no changes of Mach3 are required - just assigning hot keys.

Regards,
Ray L.

I assume your device used a variable resistor (knob) connected to an analogue input on the Arduino, Correct?

[SCzEngrgGroup]

I assume your device used a variable resistor (knob) connected to an analogue input on the Arduino, Correct?

I did not implement a physical FRO or SRO, but a pot or encoder (either quadrature or grey code) could be easily used. Or just a pair of up/down buttons. With an Arduino, you have almost infinite flexibility.

Regards,
Ray L.

[simpson36]

Is this question about Path Pilot or MACH3 or both?

An Arduino (or equiv) is a solution for MACH3 in that is can be used to collect data from and encoder or analog pot and then send the variable data over Modbus and into the appropriate override

For LinuxCNC, I don't see how the Arduino would be useful. It can collect data, but then how would that be passed to the Path Pilot?

At this point I am still a newbee at LinuxCNC, but it seems like MESA has the keys to the doors in LinuxCNC. How much will translate to Path Pilot is always going to be a question, I suspect.

The MESA 5i25/6i25 has an available daughter card that I *think* will read encoder data. It *might* also have some analog - in capability, but that would be a poor choice over and encoder, so why use it.

The hal seems to be LinuxCNC so it would be reasonable to assume that data from the MESA daughter card can be brought in at least that far. From there it would need to be routed (using the net function, I think) to wherever the FRO is hiding.

At this point, I am just trying to get a handle on BASH scripting. I had to learn LUA to work with MACH4 and that only took a few days. BASH, for some reason, is just not 'clicking' with me and it is turning out to be something of a challenge. Python seems much more intuitive, but between the two, there should be some way to move data around in LinuxCNC and consequently in Path Pilot as well. It is just going to take some time and assistance to figure it all out.

An override knob for Path Pilot would make a nice small scale test project. I hope somebody takes it on and posts the progress.

[wtopace]

Is this question about Path Pilot or MACH3 or both?

An Arduino (or equiv) is a solution for MACH3 in that is can be used to collect data from and encoder or analog pot and then send the variable data over Modbus and into the appropriate override

For LinuxCNC, I don't see how the Arduino would be useful. It can collect data, but then how would that be passed to the Path Pilot?

At this point I am still a newbee at LinuxCNC, but it seems like MESA has the keys to the doors in LinuxCNC. How much will translate to Path Pilot is always going to be a question, I suspect.

The MESA 5i25/6i25 has an available daughter card that I *think* will read encoder data. It *might* also have some analog - in capability, but that would be a poor choice over and encoder, so why use it.

The hal seems to be LinuxCNC so it would be reasonable to assume that data from the MESA daughter card can be brought in at least that far. From there it would need to be routed (using the net function, I think) to wherever the FRO is hiding.

At this point, I am just trying to get a handle on BASH scripting. I had to learn LUA to work with MACH4 and that only took a few days. BASH, for some reason, is just not 'clicking' with me and it is turning out to be something of a challenge. Python seems much more intuitive, but between the two, there should be some way to move data around in LinuxCNC and consequently in Path Pilot as well. It is just going to take some time and assistance to figure it all out.

An override knob for Path Pilot would make a nice small scale test project. I hope somebody takes it on and posts the progress.

Shoot me a PM if you need any assistance with Bash or Python (both are primary languages for my day job). I love the work you do with the InTurn stuff and would be happy to help debug / optimize or even help get you started on some scripting.

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Steve,

What I suggested was using an Arduino Leonardo, which can act as a HID keyboard device, which should work just as well with LinuxCNC or PathPilot as with Mach3. I'm sure LinuxCNC has some simple means of assigning keyboard "hot-keys" to common functions, similar to the way Mach3 does.

Regards,
Ray L.

[sansbury]

It's also possible to interface an Arduino to LinuxCNC's HAL more directly if you want to do something more complex than you can do via the keyboard. I have a full pendant with encoder, 3-axis DRO, and other features implemented this way. I wrote up a guide showing how to get these layers talking to each other here: https://ckcnc.wordpress.com/basic-arduino-emc-howto/

[pickled]

Great job on that! I always forget about linking my Arduino and Pi hobby up with this side of my life. I guess that I am becoming too compartmentalized as I get older. Nice write up and I certainly appreciate you sharing it.

[SCzEngrgGroup]

It's also possible to interface an Arduino to LinuxCNC's HAL more directly if you want to do something more complex than you can do via the keyboard. I have a full pendant with encoder, 3-axis DRO, and other features implemented this way. I wrote up a guide showing how to get these layers talking to each other here: https://ckcnc.wordpress.com/basic-arduino-emc-howto/

Nice! That answers many questions for me. I've been tempted to try PathPilot, but didn't want to get into a big software project to keep my custom pendants (VistaCNC pendants running my own custom firmware) working. You've given me everything I need! My pendant uses RS232, plus a direct MPG connection, to communicate with the PC. The pendant simply sends event messages to the PC, which are processed by a script to execute the appropriate commands on the controller (currently a KFlop). So, I now have the information I need to re-write that script to work with LinuxCNC/PathPilot, and the pendant firmware should not need to be modified at all.

Regards,
Ray L.

[kstrauss]

Sansbury, thanks very much for your article!

[PCW_MESA]

Is this question about Path Pilot or MACH3 or both?

An Arduino (or equiv) is a solution for MACH3 in that is can be used to collect data from and encoder or analog pot and then send the variable data over Modbus and into the appropriate override

For LinuxCNC, I don't see how the Arduino would be useful. It can collect data, but then how would that be passed to the Path Pilot?

At this point I am still a newbee at LinuxCNC, but it seems like MESA has the keys to the doors in LinuxCNC. How much will translate to Path Pilot is always going to be a question, I suspect.

The MESA 5i25/6i25 has an available daughter card that I *think* will read encoder data. It *might* also have some analog - in capability, but that would be a poor choice over and encoder, so why use it.

The hal seems to be LinuxCNC so it would be reasonable to assume that data from the MESA daughter card can be brought in at least that far. From there it would need to be routed (using the net function, I think) to wherever the FRO is hiding.

At this point, I am just trying to get a handle on BASH scripting. I had to learn LUA to work with MACH4 and that only took a few days. BASH, for some reason, is just not 'clicking' with me and it is turning out to be something of a challenge. Python seems much more intuitive, but between the two, there should be some way to move data around in LinuxCNC and consequently in Path Pilot as well. It is just going to take some time and assistance to figure it all out.

An override knob for Path Pilot would make a nice small scale test project. I hope somebody takes it on and posts the progress.

An override knob with essentially zero added hardware (except a simple quadrature encoder dial) can be done entirely in HAL

Briefly, whats needed is the encoder component (a HAL "comp") and 2 free input pins
These free pins could either be from the currently unused parallel port or from the internal 5I25/6I25 card connector
The parallel port has the advantage that the connector is already available outside the PC box and
doesn't require the added bracket/cable thats needed to get the second 5I25/6I25 connector routed out of the box


The key to the LinuxCNC door is really HAL

[sansbury]

For anybody who's interested, this shows the full pendant that I built a couple years before I got my Tormach. I never bothered packaging up this project more seriously as the interest at the time seemed pretty limited but now that Tormach is going all-LinuxCNC I've been thinking about cleaning it up into something that could work with PathPilot and makes use of some of the more modern hardware available now. The nice thing with this is that you can psuh an almost unlimited amount of functionality through just one USB cable--everything except a real E-stop, since that you really want a dedicated line for. Another thing that's nice is that you can alter the behavior depending on the machine state, so if it's running the encoder adjusts the SRO/FRO rather than the selected axis. You can do that in straight HAL with physical connections, too, but this is more intuitive for me.

If I was building one of these now, I think I'd be very tempted to use either one of these combined joystick/optical encoders like this (Mouser Electronics - Catalog Viewer) even though they're a little pricey, or to use a magnetic encoder like the AS5040 which can give you 1000+PPR resolution for ~$20 and some fabrication versus $50+ for a good high-resolution optical encoder. I like the joysticks though because it gives you a nice way to implement continuous jog (e.g like a manual power feed) all in one device. You could implement a really nice unit around that and an LCD and not much else. Tempting...