I am looking at building a machine that has a handheld pendant (wireless or not) and I would like to use Mach4 as Mach3 will be going out of style in the near-ish future. Has anyone had any success with a pendant of any kind using Mach4? If yes, what brand/kind works and what doesn't work? I know it's all dependent on if the manufacture has developed the plugin or not, but I'm having one hell of a time trying to find any pendant that will work with Mach4.

KingKerf'

I have a JogIt pendant that uses the keyboard emulator functions.  It works great in Mach 3 (was designed for it) but it is very limited in Mach 4 because many of the jog functions are not available to the keyboard emulator.  Perhaps that will change or a way around it will be created.

Peter

Peter,

That JogIt pendant looks a little cheap for my standards. Also, it would be great if I could find something that have a read-out screen right on the pendant (such as vistaCNC) so that I don't have to have the computer near the Plasma torch. I'd like to avoid as much EM interference as possible. I just don't know if anyone is even concerned about creating the plugins for Mach4 yet.

Yes, it is cheap.  My requirements are not as severe as yours and I don't have a plasma setup.  Difference between a hobby setup and an industrial one $$$.   

Peter

 vistaCNC are working on plugins for M4

That is great news. I figured they would be stepping up to the plate, but didn't know if they had started or had something in alpha or beta release.

I keeped asking to they answered

I am looking at building a machine that has a handheld pendant (wireless or not) and I would like to use Mach4 as Mach3 will be going out of style in the near-ish future. Has anyone had any success with a pendant of any kind using Mach4? If yes, what brand/kind works and what doesn't work? I know it's all dependent on if the manufacture has developed the plugin or not, but I'm having one hell of a time trying to find any pendant that will work with Mach4.

I am working on one now. Should be available soon.

Not a fan of the big One-Axis-At-A-Time rotary dial.

Having the occasion to use the Xbox controller, I really loved the process, but as with most (if not all) analog POT joysticks, the thing was scary to use for any fine work because the axis would be jittering right along with the joystick.

Analog signals are also very susceptible to interference. If you have access to the programming, you can add averaging or smoothing algorithms to 'calm down' analog devices. This is adequate for things like speed control knobs and other 'non critical' applications, but not for moving a mill table where uncontrolled movement, even very tiny movement, can be expensive not to mention dangerous, in my opinion.  Overall, I judged the Xbox controller to be extremely convenient, but untrustworthy.

The solution is to use an industrial Joystick that drives optical encoders instead of pots. i2C interface with a couple of inch long wires is pretty much immune to interference, especially in a grounded aluminum box.

The joystick provides infinitely variable 0 to full speed in X and Y and two speeds in Z. All axis can be moved in any direction at any speed simultaneously in any combination.

Speed is proportional to the Joystick deflection, but the ramp from 0 to max speed will be logarithmic. Together with an absolute 'dead zone' around center, this will provide very fine control near center (slow ramp) and change speeds more and more quickly as it approaches max (fast ramp).

MACH4 compatible, Ethernet Interface, spindle controls, Macro control, lot of other goodies.

sounds good good luck

Awesome. Good to hear someone is making progress.

I have made the decision to go with a standing pedestal with simple button controls rather than a joystick or dial. The only thing I wish I knew how to do would be to have DROs on the pedestal for Machine status and operator actions. But that will come in due time.