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Hi All
This old Tony posted a video on heat treatment However What caught my eye at 16:41 min in was a novel to me XYZ Cube for hand feeding a CNC machine. Using three hand wheels. instead of the usual one with a selector switch to choose which axis to use it on.
Attachment 29358
I rather like it.
The video is here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_Fo...el=ThisOldTony
Regards
John
Great idea just a pity the selector switch is needed it would be very intuitive if there was no selector switch just like a manual machineQuote:
Originally Posted by John McNamara
Is the selector switch not for adjusting feed speeds ?
Paul
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There is no selector switch. That is the point.Quote:
Originally Posted by depronman
Downside is you need electronics capable of accepting 3 MPG / encoder inputs.
Other downside is cost. One MPG and a multiposition switch is substantially cheaper than 3 MPG.
Hi Depronman
Unfortunately Exactly how the knobs are interfaced is not clear in the video.
Hopefully he will show more in the future on how he retrofitted the very nice MAHO mill. Note the position of the Z axis Not the normal setup used in a conventional say Haas CNC V mill.
I wonder if there are other examples of this interface?
Regards
John
ToT likes the odd joke or two - highly entertaining videos, and (without listening to the video) it wouldn't surprise me if that's a bit of a prop for the video.
That said - I'm heavily involved in repurposing the fixed pendant on my mill with something more CNC-based/useful, including axis-feeds, DROs, probing etc, and - at least with UCCNC (and the plugin interfaces) - that 3-axis cube control would be pretty straight-forward to implement (particularly if you only wanted one-axis-in-motion). As Paul suggests - there's more required for a controller - like feed rates.
Read the post again it clearly says 3 hand wheels and a selector switch to select the axis being movedQuote:
Originally Posted by pippin88
The cost of mpg’s is only around £10to£15 each so whilst a consideration it’s not a major one in my eyes
Paul
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I believe Andy Pugh on the LinuxCNC forum fitted 2 MPGs on the apron of his original lathe conversion but IIRC he says he never used them. As noted, you need a controller that can handle several encoder inputs AND the means to process them. The various Mesa Electronics cards that are used widely in LinuxCNC can provide that expansion but they would significantly increase the budget beyond the cost of a few Chinese MPGs, not to mention the trial of configuring them.
This may be like retaining handwheels on a conversion - seems like a good idea at the time but turns out not to be so valuable in practice - speaking as someone who retained handwheels on my first machine. A wireless MPG is soooo much better on various fronts.
Could not agree more I have a WiFi pendant that I move between my Orac lathe and Boxford vmc190. I also have proper buttons on the control panel of both machinesQuote:
Originally Posted by Muzzer
I don’t miss the mechanical handles at all and the single mpg is fine for the amount of time that I operate the machine manually
It is an interesting concept though - would linuxcnc support it if sufficient inputs where available - at face value I see no reason why not
Paul
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Muzzer, all good points, and I’ve also got two encoder on my Mesa 7i76e /lathe, and very useful it is as well, I do use them all the time (as far as I use the lather, that is)
There are more controllers with one or two axis encoder than there are with 3 or more (these latter ones being some thing of a rarity). As far as the wireless pendants go, if these plug into your PC (rather than directly into s control card) with the machine running UCCNC or Mach, then you still have machine-in-loop and the machine is taking instantaneous demands from the handheld mpg and translating these to fragments of motion commands to the underlying controller. In which case you can manage multiple axis through the driver software. Been there, worn that tee shirt. I might just order three mpgs to demonstrate that.
Ironically, and tangential to this thread, my wired pendant (I don’t trust Wireless) appears susceptible to electrical noise now... if I walk it to my machine, the little led “tx” indicator will flicker from time to time as an unsolicited command gets sent. I’ve had it randomly turn the spindle on, and separately commands a Z-Ptobe. Maybe I need to try a wireless one! Or finish this dammed pendant.
I have 2 mpg's on my lathe and 3 on the mill. I find them very handy for quick jobs like drilling the the Z on the mill etc.Quote:
Originally Posted by depronman