eBay Pendant?

[Tenson]

Hi,

I want to get a pendant for my mill. I just got a Smooth Stepper. What cheap option is recommended? USB, Wireless USB, parallel and connect to the smooth stepper?

I am inclined to go for a USB wired one. I would like wireless but I worry it could be unreliable.

One thing it must do is have a button for Z-home / Z height set.

This one has a button for 'Probe Z' which I assume means Z-home?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HB04-Wired-USB-Handwheel-MPG-Pendant-For-Mach3-CNC-3-4-Axis-router-machine-/261868902355?hash=item3cf89a57d3

[Clive S]

This one has a button for 'Probe Z' which I assume means Z-home?Z home is usually at the top the probe function will bring the Z down to the work piece and then zero the Z so that become the work zero usually on the top of the work but of course can be to the bottom ie table.

[Tenson]

Sorry I realised I mean 'Ref Z' which is what I press on Mach 3 to set Z height to zero at the top of the work peice.

[routercnc]

I bought either that model or one very similar to it a long time ago. I played around with it for a bit but I found it was possible to accidentally move the machine too fast and loose steps or skew the gantry. This was probably due to a combination of not setting it up correctly and using a 27 Volt all-in-one driver board which can only go so fast. Using the cursor keys meant that it only went as fast as I had tuned in in Mach3 and there was no problem.

Although I've been on 70V separate drivers for a while now (so I think would not have the lost steps problem) I've got so used to using the cursor keys and page up/down, that I'm pretty good at jogging and nudging right up to a part. So I've never gone back to it. I think if I went back to it I could wean myself off the cursors keys as it 'should' be better to use the pendant. I also went for the wired one for the same reason. It also does not need batteries which can be a plus.

A final observation is that if I remember correctly when you plug the pendant into the computer (USB port) the Mach3 response time to mouse clicks was slowed. It was a long time ago so I might have mis-remembered that but it was another reason that I stayed with the cursor keys in the end.

I don't know if that helps you much in choosing but that's my experience with them . . .

[Boyan Silyavski]

I have got that baby/the WIFI/ but have not given it much use. Its a quality product and has surprisingly good feel in the hand.

The WIFI works flawlessly. The pendant is great but you need to spend some time to adjust this and that

Once you install it it can mess with a custom mach3 screen and change some buttons shortkeys, so maybe you would need to fiddle a bit with it. I have MachStdMill screen and still have not got the time to play around with it and see if it messes with that screen.

Hope that helps

[Tenson]

Thanks. I use a standard Mach 3 installation.

[komatias]

I bought the Vistacnc offering. Works well with minimal setup.