CNC style Pendant

dc42

I've written the Arduino Nano code for the pendant-to-PanelDue-port interface. Now I need to wait for the pendant and Nano to arrive so that I can test them.

A Former User

@dc42 presumably this would work with any encoder? I.e. i have at least some 400/600/1200 PPR encoders in the bin and a selection of switches to mimic the quasi-schematic published with the pendant (but I guess the pendant has detents on the encoder to help with accurate positioning)

dc42

Yes it should work with any encoder that has A and B quadrature outputs.

dc42

For anyone interested in this, the pendant I have ordered looks like this:

It costs £55 here in UK shipped from Germany, or a little less direct from China. I have the Arduino Nano code ready to use when it arrives. I'm happy to share the code before then if anyone wants it, but of course it is untested.

FelixH

@dc42 I can believe this is happening. Three questions, if you've got the time: could you share the link for that pendant? also, will it be compatible with the Duet 2 WiFi? and finally, is there going to be some kind or article where the build is described?

I have some Arduinos at home, a Duet driven CNC (Workbee) and I have now plenty of time with the corona stuff going on, so I could definitely work on that...

Greetings

A Former User

@FelixH said in CNC style Pendant:

could you share the link for that pendant?

@dc42 said in CNC style Pendant:

For other Duet users, what's needed is a a board based on a small MCU to convert the signals from something like this https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/EU-Send-4-Axis-MPG-CNC-Machine-Controller-Handwenheel-Pendant-w-Emergency-Stop/273588909379

FelixH

@bearer oh, thanks! I missed that!

dc42

@FelixH said in CNC style Pendant:

@dc42 I can believe this is happening. Three questions, if you've got the time: could you share the link for that pendant? also, will it be compatible with the Duet 2 WiFi? and finally, is there going to be some kind or article where the build is described?

I have some Arduinos at home, a Duet driven CNC (Workbee) and I have now plenty of time with the corona stuff going on, so I could definitely work on that...

Greetings

It will use the PanelDue port, so it will be compatible with all Duets that can but don't have a PanelDue connected. When I have it working (maybe even before), I'll publish the details on github.

FelixH

Oh, I see. It is either the pendant or the display... well, that's a bummer. The display it's quite useful to start jobs and many other things... Anyway, I'll keep an eye on it

JoergS5

@FelixH If you need PanelDue also, you could consider a solution similar to SMUff https://github.com/technik-gegg/SMuFF-Ifc where an ESP32 is between and allows two devices using the interface.

FelixH

@JoergS5 that's a neat project! However, I will quote Rocket Racoon on this one... "I go for the simple things"... would it be possible to just attach a switch on the UTXD0 and URXD0 pins and flip the switch to the input device you need?. It's not like I need to use them both simultaneously, I think... I guess the answer is no, but still it would be the simplest thing to do

arhi

@FelixH said in CNC style Pendant:

would it be possible to just attach a switch on the UTXD0 and URXD0

double pole double throw switch should work without a problem for this purpose selecting one or the other device

arhi

@dc42 said in CNC style Pendant:

I've written the Arduino Nano code for the pendant-to-PanelDue-port interface

question. are you sending many short G0 while receiving impulses from the encoder or you scan at a certain frequency (e.g. 2Hz or 10Hz) and then send G0 according to what encoder did between scans? I'm making this wifi pendant for a while now and having issues deciding what I want. First version I made with buttons, then replaced buttons with a stick but now stick is behaving like buttons (you have to move stick for each movement and select increment on other button) and I don't like it. now I'm attaching analog stick so I can use 2-3 different speeds according to the angle of the stick but again, don't know if I wanna send ton of 0.1-10mm gcode's in a loop, or do 2Hz scan and send only gcode's at that frequency. You for sure have more experience with this so know what might be better solution. I guess analog stick is similar to the encoder so decisions should be similar :). Now I'm thinking about adding encoder to the stick too (I'm never going to finish this, first screen, then stick, then analog stick, now encoder... neverending story).

p.s. I didn't want to go with "ready made pendant" as they were "expensive", now looking at %$#^^@$# I crammed in to the box it's more expensive than ebay

dc42

@arhi said in CNC style Pendant:

question. are you sending many short G0 while receiving impulses from the encoder or you scan at a certain frequency (e.g. 2Hz or 10Hz) and then send G0 according to what encoder did between scans?

I've written it to accumulate movement from the encoder and send it only when the UART transmit buffer is empty. I suspect this will still be too often, and I will need to send it every X milliseconds instead, or immediately if we haven't sent a command for the last X milliseconds.

FelixH

Yesterday I got my Pendant, exactly as the one pictured. I could start working on the implementation on my spare time

dc42

@FelixH said in CNC style Pendant:

Yesterday I got my Pendant, exactly as the one pictured. I could start working on the implementation on my spare time

I'm still waiting for mine, but feel free to try my code. It's at https://github.com/Duet3D/CNC-Pendant-Firmware.

arhi

@dc42

Serial.write("M112 ;" "\xF0" "\x0F" "\n");

any special reason for 0xF00F between M112 and 0x0A ? I see it comes after ; so it's a comment but ?

dc42

It's a special emergency stop code recognised by the input buffer code on the Duet, so that the emergency stop command bypasses the command buffers.

arhi

@dc42 great, good to know

arhi

@dc42

      int distance = encoder.getChange() * distanceMultiplier;
      if (axis >= 0 && distance != 0)
      {
        whenLastCommandSent = now;
        Serial.write("G91 G0 ");
        Serial.print(distance);
        Serial.write('\n');
      }

seems to me axis is missing from the G0 ?