Control Panel nearly done!

[EddyCurrent]

I didn't see if the box was fixed somewhere or if it was portable. The reason I mention that is because any time I use the MPG wheel, it means getting my eye right up to the spindle to see what's going on, so being portable is a must for me.

[Chaz]

I didn't see if the box was fixed somewhere or if it was portable. The reason I mention that is because any time I use the MPG wheel, it means getting my eye right up to the spindle to see what's going on, so being portable is a must for me.

True. In my case Id probably put it on a swivel arm that can be moved somewhat but its not infinitely portable or wireless.

[m_c]

I did briefly think about going the pendant route, however with this machine, I can stand at the spindle and still reach the control panel, so there's not really any benefit.

If it was something like a big bed router/plasma cutter, I'd use a pendant.

[Neale]

Until recently I have been using a wireless keyboard and standard Mach3 hotkeys and so on. It had the advantage that I could put it on the bed of the machine while eyeballing a setup position, and the built-in touchpad was useful as well, but I have just bought one of the £90 or so Chinese wireless MPG units. Plug-and-play for the basic functions, and with a little bit of work I have begun programming in my favourite macros (Z touch off, etc). I have found it more useful than I had expected, as it is so easy to switch between axes, jog speeds, and so on. Especially now I have programmed a button for "set X Y work coordinate zero". It's not so much a matter of being able to get to the spindle from the control position as being able to move around to squint at tool alignment or whatever and still have the control to hand. But it's horses for courses - this gadget suits my way of working. I'm fairly impressed by what it can do for the price. I had thought about building something, but for me it just wasn't worth it. Not as if I don't have enough projects on hand already...