Mach3 pendant

[jimthefish]

Hi Has anyone used this pendant to control Mach 3 on a cnc milling machine
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/230683867676?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649
I'm thinking of getting one so I dont need my keyboard and/or mouse near the cnc maching whilst I'm setting up. I watched the vidoe on youtube showing it working but it seems to good to be true for the price.

[jimthefish]

Just found the post by Tony W, maybe not a good idea to get one. Has anyone got a suggestion for a Mach3 compable cheap pendant?

[derekbpcnc]

Hi,

I've been using the Contour ShuttlePRO for a couple of years.

Has the added advantage (over the pendant in your link) of having a central MPG wheel and the jog ring and using the Mach plugin, it can be configured to suit your application.
Ive bounced mine a few times, it's still working, but the key cap can ping off into corners of the 4th dimension (being clear they are hard to find !).

ATB
Derek.

[jimthefish]

Cheers derekbpcnc, looks good, might suggest to the wife it would make a good christmas present.

[jimthefish]

Just took delivery of that pendant from ebay its brilliant, easy to set up and easy to use. Best £25 spent on CNC. One point worth noting don't plug it in until you have Mach3 running on you computer otherwise the screen freezes on start up and you have to restart your computer. When the pendant is programed its fine. Jim

[Hood]

Good to hear Jim. Looks like the other guy just had a faulty one which I suppose is not that unusual with the Chinese stuff. Usually though if it works it tends to keep working.
Hood

[jimthefish]

Hi Hood nice to hear from you how are you mate. The unit is quite sturdy will take a few knocks. Only one thing wrong is he's got the X+ and X- the oposite way round to the mach pages. I just programed them as if they were the same as Mach3. Not going to put a sticker on it to tell me which is which, till I press the worng one of course. You know I'm useless at electronic, well it took me 2min to program it. only had to do the X Y Z axis all the rest was pre-programed in. All the other options still work, the keyboard, on screen hand controls and mouse. Aint got the emergency stop to work yet thought I would quit whilst I'M on top. Jim

[Hood]

Personally I wouldnt rely on an E-Stop that was via USB, in fact I dont even rely on an E-Stop that is only into the software, much better to have it also cut hardware but suppose it depends on the size of machine and power of motors but even wee steppers can damage you.
Hood

[jimthefish]

Cheers Hood, I have a e/stop button on the front of the machine so will use that, It's in a position which is easy to get too. indeed everytime something falls of the machine table it catches the stop button on the way down. Once again thanks for the advice, much appreciated. I know its not good for the UK but don't know how they do it, the total cost of the unit from  Hong Kong was £25 which included air mail, It arrived 11 days after I purchase it on ebay. Mind you the warranty is only 1 month. Jim

[Hood]

I think if its working out of the box there is a good chance it will continue to work for a long time, seems to be the way of the Chinese stuff. At that price you could afford to get one a year
Hood