The configuration dialog is pretty self explanatory.  The macro buttons can be mapped to canned functions.  There is also a tab page that explains a bit about their firmware issues.  I wish I could fix that! 

Anyway, what is not so self explanatory is that each of the macro buttons (10 of them) fires an input that can be mapped to a Mach signal or used in a PMC module.  So they are there if the canned functions are not enough and you need something more advanced. 

Steve

thanks
for me if can map as signal in mach its the best
is there instruction how map it?
thanks

You map the inputs to Mach input signals just like any other device.  So no, there are no specific instructions for this outside of the Mach Configuration Manual or the PMC help.

Steve

Steve,

I do not own an MPG yet and am deciding between a VistaCNC and the XHC controller. The VistaCNC plugin supports all of the MPG's capability. Does this native Mach plugin support every MPG function for the XHC controller ?

I'd prefer the wireless MPG but not if it's missing capability in Mach4. Can you advise ?

Steve,

I do not own an MPG yet and am deciding between a VistaCNC and the XHC controller. The VistaCNC plugin supports all of the MPG's capability. Does this native Mach plugin support every MPG function for the XHC controller ?

I'd prefer the wireless MPG but not if it's missing capability in Mach4. Can you advise ?

Yes, all functions are implemented.  However, there really is no comparison between the Vista CNC pendant and this XHC one.  This XHC has buggy firmware on it.  I wish I could fix that!  It doesn't prevent normal operation at all but it annoyed me to no end when I was writing the plugin.  There is a page on the configuration dialog that explains one of the firmware issues.  Anyone running this MPG with Mach 3 already knows about all of it though so there will not be any surprises there.

If you just have to have wireless, then I guess the XHC is the choice.  Otherwise, I would go with the Vista CNC pendant any day. 

I wish Vista CNC would do a wireless MPG.  We would all sing songs about it. 

Steve

Thanks for your help Steve! Is there anywhere I can see a list of the bugs that exist in the firmware ? I have your plugin but I can't see the configuration notes you wrote since I do not have a controller so the plugin can't be configured.

I'd like wireless but if these bugs will get in my way in any way then I will be annoyed I didn't get the VistaCNC MPG

Fist off, the Fn "function" button is orange, which would lead one to believe that the orange labeled part of the button is what is run when the Fn button is held down.  However, if the MPG is setup this way, the screen does not properly display the Spindle Speed or Feed Rate override.  Those values are supposed to be displayed when either of the Feed+/Feed- or Spindle+ of Spindle- keys are pressed.  But instead, the firmware acts properly when the buttons are setup as if the Fn button should be blue!

So the default setup on the MPG is to act as though the Fn button is blue.  Just pretend.  Use your imagination.    And the Fn button has to be depresses to get any of the Macro functions.  In this mode, the Feed Rate and Spindle Override are displayed correctly.  Pressing a Feed or Spindle key once displays either the Feed Rate or Or the Spindle Speed, respectively.  Pressing a Feed or Spindle key again will start to adjust either the Feed Override or Spindle Override, respectively. 

However, this is NOT how the Mach 3 plugin (written by some XHC people, I guess) worked.  So I put an option in the plugin config to operate like the Mach 3 plugin where the Orange Fn button does indeed have to be depressed to get the orange labeled functions.  But at the sacrifice of the proper update of the Feed Rate and Spindle Override values. 

Other than that, the axis DROs and other values display correctly, within reason.  Again, I wish I could fix that firmware!  The rest of the MPG is pretty decent.  Not up to a Vista CNC MPG's standards, but close.  The screen refresh is ok, but not instant.  But it doesn't need to be instant.  I would much rather watch the DROs on the Mach screen anyway.  But the DROs on the MPG are good for validation. 

Another thing I noticed is that the MPG rounds the DROs a bit.  It can show 4 places to the right of the decimal.  But say the the X axis is really at 0.00015" and the Mach DRO shows 0.0001 because it is only showing 4 digits, the MPG DRO will show 0.0002.  It will round up!  Not a big thing as most of us mere mortals don't have machines that are accurate to the tenth of a thousandth and we really don't cut any materials with that much dimensionally stability when the temperature changes.  And again, one could just look at the Mach screen to see the real value. 

Steve

You're the best Steve! Such useful info.

One last question...I saw a video of this controller on Mach3 and the person was having an issue where the Mach DRO or the XHC DRO or the CNC did not track the motion of the encoder correctly. Sometimes too many steps, too few or zero steps were sent to the steppers. In your experience are the encoder, mach and the cnc always in lock step and behave as expected in all of the jog modes in Mach 4 ?

You're the best Steve! Such useful info.

One last question...I saw a video of this controller on Mach3 and the person was having an issue where the Mach DRO or the XHC DRO or the CNC did not track the motion of the encoder correctly. Sometimes too many steps, too few or zero steps were sent to the steppers. In your experience are the encoder, mach and the cnc always in lock step and behave as expected in all of the jog modes in Mach 4 ?

It tracks the encoder perfectly.  Not an issue at all.

Steve

I was exited to see that native support of the XHC wireless pendants was comming to Mach4, and immediately ordered a new pendant (the WHB04B-6 to be specific).
Finally got my MPG last week, so have been spending some evenings trying to get it to work...
I have done a fresh install of Mach4 as I had issues after upgrading my existing version. Currently running build 4719 of mach4.

My motion controller is the Eternet Smoothstepper, and I have the latest plugin for this (there was an issue where inputs would not be kept after a disconnect).

Now to the MPG experience:
Initially it plugged in just fine, and after a restart I could jog the XYZ axis and stop, start reset, spindle on/off works as expected.
BUT here is my dealbreaker:
If i click M-Home, the MPG does not invoke my normal "Ref all Home" function. My CNC uses two axis (X with A slaved) for moving the gantry, one in each side, and each of these has its own homeswitch, to square up gantry. Now hitting the M-Home button on the MPG only moves the A axis, causing the gantry to warp as its only beeing moved in one side. Also the Y and Z axis does not back off from the home switches as expected.
I can't find anywhere I change this behaviour. In Mach 3, htere were macros behind theese functions that i could have edited to make it work, but as I see it, this is now hardcoded in the plugin.

Macro buttons, W-Home and Safe-Z has a text box in the plugin dialog, where you can put in simple G-code to execute on click.

I would have loved if ALL buttons were linked to input signals, and mapped to a lua Function in the screenLoad script, making it possible to customize the behaviour to ones needs.
Currently its only the 10 macro buttons that have this option.

For me, the lack of ability to customize the M-home & Probe-Z to execute Lua scripts is a dealbreaker in using this MPG  .

I hope I have missed something, and that there actually is a way to configure these? 

/Henrik