Why oh why doesn't it just work like the docs say.
I hesitated buying my 56U for a while, thinking I'd just use KeyGrabber and a couple butchered Wingman joystick controllers. But I found Keygrabber very, very flaky recognizing two different units, same model. I read and re-read the Pokeys manuals and sent off for the 56U from Cnc4pc.
Cool little thing, lights up, Goood.
I pulled the joysticks and their potentiometers from the Wingman units expecting to use one for X and Y, the other for Z. I hooked it all up and then went to the Pokeys config in Mach 3. Well it sort of worked. I got the axis Dro's to move, but don't think the tuning thing did anything. I would assume that you should tune each axis separately but I see no way to select one at a time. I finally tried by disabling two and trying to tune the other; doing that 3 times. Well okay, maybe. I couldn't get the Dro's to stop moving. I tried numbers from 0 to 1000 in the dead zone block, no effect. NO EFFECT! The input voltage appears to be jumping all around and so are the Dro's. Maybe noise; but not much is running, computer 4 feet away, monitor. Maybe incoming voltage; no, steady at 3.311 V. Maybe the pots are bad; but all three of them?
I did some reading and I see that the Wingman pots are a sometime problem with the video game folks.
Okay lets move on to something else. I removed the joysticks from the system, totally; I REPEAT, I totally disconnected all the wires from the 56U. I booted up and what! The voltages were still wandering around what should have been the dead zone for the analog inputs of the joysticks! Unbelievable! I put my voltage meter on the posts of the 56U; what the screen was saying was correct. How is that possible?
Next, try a simple pot for an analog input. I hooked up, after some trial and error I got it to control the rapids over-ride. Cool, HOORAY! But it works backwards, that's simple, just check reverse pins, right. Well it does not work! I mean why have it there if it doesn't work. And the numbers are jumping around. I reversed the leads, that works, numbers still jumping too much. I looked at the Pokeys screen outside of Mach and there is an adjustment there input speed I think. Adjudting that calmed the reading. Aaha. It looks like these two screens work together. It sure doesn't say that in the docs.
Now how about a simple encoder to set FRO or slow jog percentage. I hooked the center post to ground and the other two leads to #1 and #2. I went through all the settings I could find on both screens, ,,nothing, well not quite nothing, the numbers on the Pokeys screen/device/encoders raw, do change. But I can't get the thing to change anything on the Mach screen.
When I get over being infuriated with ti, I'll try rewiring the joysticks and tuning with the Pokeys screen.
At this moment I'm sorry I spent eighty couple bucks for the unit, tax, and shipping. That plus quite a few hours down the *********ter.
Why oh why doesn't it work like the docs say?
Ozzie