I am new to CNC machining and have just fitted stepper motors to my Myford VM-B manual Mill and got it to work with Mach3. I take my hat off to the guys who designed and published that software.
I wish to make an interface for manual movement/jogging in 3 axes.
The options I have considered are:
1.    Three sets of Plus and Minus buttons for each axis arranged in a pattern similar to keyboard cursor keys. (Similar to the Mach3 screen jog buttons)
2.    Three single axis joy sticks that would output pulses to Mach3 at a rate proportional to stick deflection
3.    One 2-axis joy stick for X-Y and a single axis joystick for Z that would output pulses at a rate proportional to stick deflection.
4.    Three single axis spin wheels mounted vertically that could output pulses at a rate proportional to speed of wheel rotation.
5.    In conjunction with options 2, 3 and 4 would plus and minus buttons either side of each stick or wheel be useful for final precise single stepping to a position?
6.    Would it be better to mount the Z axis control away from the others on the side of the column near to the existing Z manual handle?
 
Please could anyone advise from practical experience the pros and cons of these types of controls and any other types of control that might be superior?

I am not a fan of jog buttons but rather prefer a MPG (spin wheel as you call it) I use the MPG for mainly positioning and touching off but occasionally use it for a quick facing operation. I have three physical buttons which swap the MPG between axis and a further two buttons which swap between normal velocity mode and multi step mode.
Hood

Thanks Hood,
In multi step mode can you single step easily when final positioning such as for edge finding?
Does your wheel spin freely or does it have a tactile click at each step?
PeterB
Edinburgh

Hi Peter
 Yes one click when in multi step will move one step increment, I have mine permanently set to 0.01mm. As you will have gathered from that answer my MPG does indeed have click at each position.

Hood

Peter,
I use MPG's but additionaly use a XBOX 360 ( wireless ).  There is an edge finding / probing plug in
CopyCat. The CopyCat manual shows how to make the edge finder i use.
RICH