Touch screen??

[John11668]

Does anyone use a touch screen for their CNC control system.
How well do they work, and what if any are the pitfalls ?
Am starting a Boxford TCL conversion project so wondring about mounting a small touch screen where the Manual panel now is .

Or has anyone used a dedicated Motion controller.
Such as this
https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/283609953049?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-153316-527457-8&mkcid=2&itemid=283609953049&targetid=4585238370100212&device=c&mktype=&googleloc=&poi=&campaignid=398226950&mkgroupid=1306220048420730&rlsatarget=pla-4585238370100212&abcId=2145997&merchantid=87779&msclkid=3a21f872f73317bbbcb6a7034eb26ade

[Muzzer]

I have a touch screen all-in-one PC for my Centroid Acorn system and TBH, I almost never use the touch function. Worse than that, it seems to get possessed sometimes. I suspect it's an optical touch screen and gets upset by reflections.

Most useful addition to the Acorn system is the wireless MPG. Beyond that, I do most of the other stuff like homing, MDI, loading files, touching off etc using the mouse. The PC is set up on a desk so I can also use Fusion to modify the CAD and CAM, regenerate the g code etc. Modifying and reloading the files is then dead simple. And it's connected to my NAS and hifi, so play music on it of course.

My other machine has a Newker 990MDCa self contained controller. No touch screen or mouse, just tactile key panel and wired MPG. That's a bit of a PITA but makes a neat installation, sort of like a Fanuc clone.

There's a massive thread on maddmodder about the DDCS. No experience myself but it looks pretty handy now. https://madmodder.net/index.php?topic=11598.0

[m_c]

I use a touch screen on my mill running KMotionCNC, and I quite like it, but it really needs a suitable screenset to make the most of it.
My mill does however have a mechanical MPG, so the screen is only really used for selecting programs/options.

As Muzzer mentions, the type of touch screen can cause problems.
Resistive relies on pressure, and should be resistant to any contamination on the screen and can be operated using any kind of blunt item, but they're generally less accurate than other options.
Capacitive (this is probably the most common you'll get now) relies moisture to detect position, so contamination like oily fingers/oil on the screen can cause issues. They'll only work with a bare finger, or a suitable stylus. They won't work with gloves, unless you happen to have ones with conductive thread on the fingers. They are generally the most accurate, which is why they're so popular.
Optical is the other option, and generally falls in between the other two. They're not as affected by contamination, are a bit more accurate than resistive, but they can be affected by external lights.

[JAZZCNC]

I don't think the DDCS can do lathe.?

Regards touch screen I'm not a fan as the screen gets covered in grease and unless the screen set is designed for touch panel then it's very easy to accidentally touch wrong buttons.
Also as Muzzer says if you get the wrong screen type they do strange things, I remember a mill used ramping up the feedrate because someone had turned the screen slightly and the odd flying chip happened to hit the override button.!! . . . Bloody thing was break dancing around the floor when I realised what was happening. . LOL

[Doddy]

Worn that tee-shirt. Also, done a bit of research into this at work for a very different environment. You're going to hate cap/pcap systems - if you have any foreign grease or liquids on your hands. Bezel-based IR is pretty reliable, but you miss the haptic feedback and suffer false activations (some systems integrate resistive, or SAW sensors to verify an actual screen-press), SAW is not particularly suited to high vibration environments... good old fashioned resistive can be one of the more robust solutions - not the most elegant but for simple podge-type applications it can work well.

I'm supposed to be developing a touch-screen for my SX2.7 but starting to doubt the sensibility of touch for a mill. Previously used a resistive PoS monitor which was pretty robust, but as Jazz says - ends up full of grime.

[Muzzer]

I had to fit a blackout blind to the Velux-type windows above the PC otherwise it could be unusable on a sunny day, particularly with a light coloured shirt on. At its worst I couldn't even log in, as the cursor would leave the dialog box before I could complete the PIN number. Still happens a bit, when the sun shines over the desk at certain times of the day and year.

There doesn't seem to be a website for the DDCS but the company uses a Facebook group. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1724999967517167/search/?q=lathe

Looks as if Jazz is right - some people seem to have have knife and forked it but it doesn't have specific lathe G codes etc. You'd need different firmware for that and it doesn't sound as if they have developed it.

[Colin Barron]

I looked at the computer cnc, the cheap DDCS kit (which looked doubtful for lathes) and the proper industrial kit. My conclusion was there is a steep enough learning curve with CNC if you buy a half decent piece of well documented kit with back up. I may be wrong but i have just received my SZGH CNC1000TDb lathe controller and looking at the manuals there are enough variables and things to learn without compatibility problems.

[John11668]

Maybe I will leave the dedicacated CNC controller for a while, like until I get the machine up and running on familiar software .
WRT touch screen I dont believe I will have light issues in my shop but I will have grubby fingers .
I though I would just like to have a touch panel mounted on the machine with PC stowed safely away elsewhere .

[Kitwn]

I though I would just like to have a touch panel mounted on the machine with PC stowed safely away elsewhere .

John,
Not sure if this would fit your requirements, but if your software has keyboard short-cut keys for all commands (as LinuxCNC does) you could use a keyboard, or a set of more robust pushbuttons driving a keyboard emulator, plus a non-touch screen to do something similar. As an example of how this trick can work I've been using one of these as a pendant for LinuxCNC for a few years now. Each button is configured to emulate a specific keyboard key to provide jogging etc.

28927

[Doddy]

Many ways to skin a cat - and all of them wrong, or right, depends on your point of view.

I do have wired pendants for the mill, but am trying to get away from things that I trip over etc (I am rather clumsy). For my lathe (more relevant to your use case) I do naughty things (most Myford owners are rather over-zealously protective against dicking about with history) with the cabinet. Another flavour of integration with Linux CNC...

28928

It helps that the gubbins is housed in the cabinet as well.

Apologies for the mess... the lathe is undergoing some satanic ritual at the moment.

[Muzzer]

Good to see it. Even better if you can bring yourself to drill a few holes in the machine itself - that might keep the knob polishers at bay if you ever need to trade it in for something better.

[Doddy]

Good to see it. Even better if you can bring yourself to drill a few holes in the machine itself - that might keep the knob polishers at bay if you ever need to trade it in for something better.

Any conversion, it's important to understand what your goals are - for me, it's a lathe that fits a small nook in the shed, and still allows me to squeeze into the work area near the mill. Not, as you might say, polishing the knobs.

I've got to the stage where I've more bits stripped off the machine, than what remains on the machine. A tipping point where I can start to sell off bits rather than wistfully think of future restoration. Bed, spindle and saddle is all that I have left of the machine, and a bag of bits that is getting close to paying off what I originally spent on the machine.

[JAZZCNC]

For my lathe (more relevant to your use case) I do naughty things (most Myford owners are rather over-zealously protective against dicking about with history) with the cabinet. Another flavour of integration with Linux CNC...

You should be dragged into the street flogged and whipped to within an inch of your life for such atrocities.!! . . . .Not for drilling holes but buying a Myford in the first place....:hysterical:

[Clive S]

You should be dragged into the street flogged and whipped to within an inch of your life for such atrocities.!! . . . .Not for drilling holes but buying a Myford in the first place....:hysterical:

Are you going to take the piss out of me then . :dog:

[JAZZCNC]

Are you going to take the piss out of me then . :dog:

I'd take the piss out of you no matter what you had..:toot:

[John11668]

My current lathe is a Colchester Bantam, having discovered that the Boxford AUD was not up to a decent cut , and a decent Myford super seven had reached serious big bucks by that stage if you wanted a gearbox and a cross feed,
I find that the bantam is a BIG little lathe capable of some serious work and comes complete with all the bells and whistles .(but we digress)

I am not yet confident enough to hack my Bantam about , at least not until I have become confident with the CNC process.
Hence the reason for buying the TCL. As they say ,"any old bike is good to practice on"

So having arrived at the stage where you have persuaded me to chuck the Boxford boards away, yet we think we can retain the lenze spindle controls , I am trying to establish whether I need to keep he processor board . It looks to me as if the relays which call the Lenze controller to run FWD, REV, and the latching functions may be within the processor board . Or have I got this wrong??

I am also trying to get my head around the pin signals to the BOB in relation to the switching functions of the manual control board . Each button there seems to switch a control voltage to earth . Is this a parallel arrangement to the control voltages utilised by the CNC software so could both working options .

[Kitwn]

You should be dragged into the street flogged and whipped to within an inch of your life for such atrocities.!! . . . .Not for drilling holes but buying a Myford in the first place....:hysterical:

Oh heck! What do you do to people who buy Chinese mini-lathes? :concern:

[Doddy]

Oh heck! What do you do to people who buy Chinese mini-lathes? :concern:

We don't talk about that.

[JAZZCNC]

Oh heck! What do you do to people who buy Chinese mini-lathes? :concern:

Unspeakable things too gruesome to mention on a civilized forum, all I say is it involves electricity and cylindrical anatomy.:joker:

[John11668]

Ouch.

Is it forgivable if they are your nearest source of kit?

[JAZZCNC]

Ouch.

Is it forgivable if they are your nearest source of kit?

Go on then I'll let you off this time, plus I only said it to see how long it would take Clive S to bite and make sure the all-seeing eye was on his toes...:joker:

[Kitwn]

I have come to realise that the Chinese mini-lathe is basically a set of parts from which it is possible to construct a usable lathe if you put in enough time and effort. It's the old triangle of COST, TIME, QUALITY. Fix one and the other two are inversely proportional. I couldn't afford even a Myford anyway. Retirement is getting closer (I now know the address of my future 6m sq workshop in Tasmania) so I might get to begin work on it sometime next year.

[Clive S]

Go on then I'll let you off this time, plus I only said it to see how long it would take Clive S to bite and make sure the all-seeing eye was on his toes...:joker:

Yes we have to keep an eye on you to keep you in check. :loyal::glee:

[John11668]

I have come to realise that the Chinese mini-lathe is basically a set of parts from which it is possible to construct a usable lathe if you put in enough time and effort. It's the old triangle of COST, TIME, QUALITY. Fix one and the other two are inversely proportional. I couldn't afford even a Myford anyway. Retirement is getting closer (I now know the address of my future 6m sq workshop in Tasmania) so I might get to begin work on it sometime next year.

Is the working population of Australia , progressively retiring to Tasmania??

I suppose there are few decent british lathes coming available there, so you need to trade with near neighbours and then try to make a silk purse .

I never thought much of Myford though and cant see why they have such high asking prices.
For a well equipped and compact lathe I would have gone for Boxford AUD but even they are now so sought after that their prices are overtaking Myford, Even the poorly equipped TUD models are probably a better platform on which to build a CNC version.

MY Bantam is too precious to break down though. I couldnt be without it for the months it would take me to convert and get used to using.

So Back to my TCL so I can try to make it work reasonably.

[Kitwn]

Is the working population of Australia , progressively retiring to Tasmania??


Quite a few of us. Having suffered 12 summers with New Year temperatures around 45C and the property prices still (for a short while anyway) being so low if you avoid Hobart it's the perfect place for us. Tasmania is a bit like the England you wish England was like.

Kit

[John11668]

So what I take from this is that touch screens and Dedicated controllers all have some issues which could add complications to my TCL conversion. And I dont need those at this stage.
So back to that thread. My thoughts are to get the machine working on a software I am familiar with, then convert to a better software for lathe.
Keyboard options are in the future at this stage but thanks to all for your thoughts.

[Kitwn]

John,
You don't have to use the latest technology, but you should always use an appropriate technology. Sometimes there's no substitute for a real button with real wires.