Machsupport Forum
Mach Discussion => General Mach Discussion => Topic started by: bdmsb on November 27, 2009, 06:05:59 PM
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I have received a Shuttle Pro and installed in on the PC but can't find any instructions in the Mach3 literature for how to make it available to the program.
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I have never used one but think you have to uninstall the software that comes with it and use the plugin in Mach. To enable the Plugin go to Config menu then down to plugins, enable the shuttle and then exit and restart Mach, the shuttle plugin should now be working. Not sure where you set things up, it will either be from the plugins again by clicking on the shuttle one, or could be from the Plugin Control menu
Hood
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That's a start, thanks. I have enabled the ShuttlePro from "Config Plugins" but the system seems to have acquired molasses. Operation is sluggish and the ShuttlePro is slow to respond. After I release the jog wheel it continues to feed motion commands to the mill for several seconds because they sem to have "backed up" in a queue. I did NOT uninstall the ShuttlePro driver from their CD. Does someone have personal experience with this accessory?
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I think you need to uninstall the software that came with the shuttle, try it and see, worst case you will have to install again :)
Hood
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Sorry to have wasted your time. You were right. Removing the installed driver makes it work fine. It's really a very handy pendant. You ought to try it.
Thanks for your help and your patience.
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No time wasted :)
Dont think it would last more than 2 mins in my workshop LOL
Hood
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I love mine, Hood you could build a nice aluminum enclosure instead of the cheap plastic one! I would buy 1!
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The VistaCNC iMachPro is a FAR better pendant than the ShuttlePro. I got one, and have not used the ShuttlePro since.
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Ray why do you say FAR? How do you set up the imach? Keygrabber or plugin? I watched the video it seems nice and it looks like the price must have come down. I was using a defective joystick and this was available at Micro Center NOW. So I bought it, but you know this is an evolutionary process and tools can be reallocated. I like the Campbell and Homann designed stuff too.
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Ray why do you say FAR? How do you set up the imach? Keygrabber or plugin? I watched the video it seems nice and it looks like the price must have come down. I was using a defective joystick and this was available at Micro Center NOW. So I bought it, but you know this is an evolutionary process and tools can be reallocated. I like the Campbell and Homann designed stuff too.
I used a ShuttlePro for almost a year. I found it a little squirrelly. Button presses were not always reliably captured by Mach3, and the jog wheel was also a little dodgy at times - jogging would get jerky. The form factor is HORRIBLE for a hand-held pendant - too big, too thin, and too top-heavy. It's hard to operate one-handed. It is incredibly easy to accidentally hit a button while picking it up, or putting it down, or, dropping it, which happens often.
The iMach Pro is MUCH smaller, does more, and has additional jog modes that make it ideal for doing "manual" milling. In fact, I can do 90% of my normal operations using just the pendant. The important functions - spindle on/off, coolant on/off, etc, can be assigned to "double-click" actions, so they're almost impossible to trigger accidentally. Plus, you can control far more "continuous" functions. I can control continuous jog rate, increment jog step size, spindle over-ride and feedrate over-ride all from the pending, in addition to turning the spindle and coolant on and off, activating CycleStart, FeedHold, Stop, and E-Stop, and jogging four axes in several different modes (incremental, continuous, velocity, and step/velocity). And, the E-Stop is a TRUE E-Stop, with dedicated hard-wired switch connections that directly disable my power supplies, even if Mach has (once again...) gone out to lunch. And, it is, for all practical purposes, a passive device - the only electronics are a few TTL gates to light the LEDs. So, it should be VERY reliable. It is also physically robust, and has a nice rubber "cozy" to keep it from being damaged if you do drop it.
Like I said, from the day I got the iMach, I've never used the ShuttlePro again, and never will, except perhaps on my (rarely used) mini mill.
Regards,
RayL.
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I love mine, Hood you could build a nice aluminum enclosure instead of the cheap plastic one! I would buy 1!
I made my own pendant a while back that would stand the rigours of my spotlessly clean workshop environment ;D
Don't use it now as I have found I don't like pendants so I am back to just using the control panels on the machines. I am just building one at the moment for my new mill, here's what I am doing. Stainless IP65 keyboard and trackball, and to the side is an MPG, above the MPG there is an axis selector switch and also a switch that will choose the mode of the MPG (Constant, Step x 0.1mm, Step x 0.05mm, Step x 0.01mm)
On the vertical panel is a 17 inch touch screen and the button panel has a pot for FRO and also one for SRO, an E-Stop and all the normal buttons such as Drawbar release, Spindle Disable, Optional Stop, Computer Start, Programme Start, Feedhold, Stop etc etc.
Hood
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Just thought I'd post the setup guide download for the Shuttle Pro 2 as it's on the Plugins download page (just look up under the Artsoft logo in the downloads menu).
http://www.machsupport.com/plugins/ShuttleProInstallation.pdf
Ray, wow, quite a turn around from loving the Shuttle like you used to, eh? I'm still a huge fan of it, especially with the 10 macros now. Albeit, a little awkward to hold but I have kind of big hands and I added a stainless bar/handle to make holding it and picking it up much easier. Absolutely love the jogwheel and I have had no issues with that being glitchy at all, and believe me, as you all know, I would have complained :D
Hood, that console looks great-
Dave
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I second Daves opinion at the moment. My shuttle pro 2 has worked flawlessly since plugging it in. I do agree that it is a clumsy device and probably never meant to be picked up but now I can move part to tool effortlessly. I also do as Ray suggests with the manual machining. It does make manual machining easy and accurate. Did you use a plugin for the imach or is it a pendant where you used keygrabber? And why arent you using your mini mill? Hood can you see your parts in your machines from where that console will be? Also I saw that probe you built. Solid seems to be a constant around your shop.
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Hood can you see your parts in your machines from where that console will be? Also I saw that probe you built. Solid seems to be a constant around your shop.
Yes the control panel is on an arm that swings round and the control can also swivel on the end of the arm. The one I have on the lathe also extends so I can swing it right round the guards and into the work space but I never use it that way so that was a waste of time LOL.
Dont have my camera here today so cant take any pics LOL
Hood
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I second Daves opinion at the moment. My shuttle pro 2 has worked flawlessly since plugging it in. I do agree that it is a clumsy device and probably never meant to be picked up but now I can move part to tool effortlessly. I also do as Ray suggests with the manual machining. It does make manual machining easy and accurate. Did you use a plugin for the imach or is it a pendant where you used keygrabber? And why arent you using your mini mill? Hood can you see your parts in your machines from where that console will be? Also I saw that probe you built. Solid seems to be a constant around your shop.
For reasons I do not comprehend, the iMach plug-in works only with the iMach connected to a PP. It does not work reliably on either SS or Modbus. So, I tossed the plug-in, and wrote my own driver as a macro pump. It works perfectly on any interface, and let me modify and expand the functionality. I posted the macropump on the Yahoo forum, and I believe here, and gave it to VistaCNC, and I believe they make it available to their customers.
Regards,
Ray L.
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I am just figuring out how to use a plugin. I spend many hours reading about SS and Mod Bus etc with absolutely no understanding their uses or advantages just yet. I do like the pendant you are using and the price seems very fair.
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I'm new to Mach3 and had no idea there were other choices for a pendant. I got the ShuttlePro because I saw one at a friend's house. But then I suppose it might have taken me a long time to learn about the alternatives had I not asked questions about the one I bought. The USB interface works for me as I have only one parallel port. It's tempting to build a custom gizmo, but it quickly becomes a question of whether I want to build tools or use them. Time is short (and getting shorter).