The Anilam on my Supermax an I are about to part ways.  It looks like I'm headed for a Mach3 control with an eithernet smoothstepper and new drives for my existing servos. I'm new to the game and my only experience with a CNC is the Anilam so I'm asking what buttons are the most useful for the control I'll be building. I'll be using a keyboard, touch screen and a MPG. I'm sure some of the most used functions are handier on buttons. What are your "must have" buttons?

iintrested to hear to answers to this one.  i am just about to build a control panel and have written my list but i do think i have gone overboard on the amount of buttons i need

On the Beaver Mill I have  Start, Hold, Stop, Flood, Mist, Spindle toggle, GoToZero, G0Z10, Drawbar, Computer On, Spindle Disable. I then have Feed and Spindle Overrie pots and two rotary switches, one to select the Axis for MPG and the other to select between continuous MPG jog and different increments.
On the lathes I have similar but one indexes the turret manually and another two to open/close Hydraulic chuck.

Hood

I have a custom pendant that does most everything I need:

EStop
Run, FeedHold, Stop
Jogging all axes (Step/Velocity and Continuous modes)
Setting jog increment or continuous jog speed
Mist/Flood Coolant, Spindle on/off
Homing all axes
Probing all axes in both directions to set fixture offsets
Grab/Release PDB
Cycle toolchanger
ToolComp on/off

This is all shoe-horned into an off-the-shelf pendant with an MPG, EStop switch, two six-position rotary switches, and a single push-button switch.

I also have a dedicated control panel next to the computer display which duplicates many/most of these controls.

For actual on-machine controls, I would stick with those you really need when doing setup, plus, of course, E-Stop.

Regards,
Ray L.

EStop
Run, FeedHold, Stop
Jogging all axes (Step/Velocity and Continuous modes)
Setting jog increment or continuous jog speed
Mist/Flood Coolant, Spindle on/off
Homing all axes
Probing all axes in both directions to set fixture offsets
Grab/Release PDB
Cycle toolchanger
ToolComp on/off

This is all shoe-horned into an off-the-shelf pendant with an MPG, EStop switch, two six-position rotary switches, and a single push-button switch.



Regards,
Ray L.

Hi Ray,
I'm a old time user(rather LONG time user ) who's been dormant for a while and want to put together a pendant.  Do you have a thread somewhere where you detail your pendant wiring and coding?
...not that I will use ALL your functions..
Thanks,
John Meissner

John,

No, I don't.  What I did was bought a VistaCNC P2 pendant (they don't seem to make this one any more, but it's almost identical to the P1A).  I then opened it up, re-wired it to use RS232 instead of USB, and completely re-wrote the firmware to suit my needs.  It works flawlessly, and I can very easily modify it to make it do whatever I want it to.  I'd be happy to post the modified firmware if you want to go that route.

Regards,
Ray L.

John,

 I'd be happy to post the modified firmware if you want to go that route.

Regards,
Ray L.

Ray, I want you to be happy!  So sure, go ahead and post the modified firmware.  You are convincing that that is the route to go!

Thanks!...I'll surely appreciate seeing and attempting to emulate your work.

John
p.s. I have the Nemicon MPG, the estop switch, and the two 6 position switches and parts i'm sure i have in my stash.  The case? Well, I'd start by making a crude one and refine if I follow through with this. 

whats involved with adding the rotary switches for spindle and feed override?

do you also then have a feed reset button?

It is potentiometers that are used for the overrides. You need a means of getting an analogue signal in to Mach to use them. I have done that via a PLC on most of my machines but the CSMIO controllers that I have used on the wee lathe, and will be using on the Chiron, have analogue inputs built into them. No need for a reset button when using a pot  as simply turning the pot to mid position sets to 100%
 You could use a rotary switch to have the overrides set to different levels and you could do that with normal inputs but obviously you would just have steps rather than infinte variability. Another option, which I had on my Computurn lathe in the begionning, is to have 3 buttons, one for Down, one Up and the other Reset. I had a Brain look at these inputs and keeping them pressed would lower or raise the override in steps. It worked well but not as well as a pot.
Hood

I like the sounds of a pot.  any more info on the CSMIO that you speak of