The opposite of remote control.
So far, considerable time is being spent, finding the Zero position on the work. Part of the reason has been that the computer keyboard and the machine are about 10 feet apart and my back is to the machine while I am at the keyboard controlling it. This has led to some body contortions and running back and forth about 10 times to tweak the machine into the X0 Y0 position.
The solution, a pendant!
I found this el cheapo USB numeric keypad at Big Lots $6
With EMC I can use the keypad arrow keys to drive the machine X and Y axis. Also PgUp and PgDn control the Z axis. The Home key homes etc… very nice, did not have to change my setup files or anything, just plug and play. Fits in the hand pretty well too.
I attempeted to make a really long USB cable. For now, it doesn’t work, I think its the length, seems to work on USB 2.0 machines and not USB 1.0. The standard says 5 meters (16 feet 5 inches) for 2.0 and 3 meters (9 feet 10 inches) for 1.0. My cable ended up about 14 feet, can’t tell for sure if its flakey connections or the cable length.
At any rate it works very well with a short USB cable and is a huge improvement over the keyboard, even at the shorter length.
Tags: OZO CNC Rebuild