@dc42 I am breaking the mold a little since this will all end up in a microscope so any LEDs wont be visible anyway and I was hoping to find better encoders but the cnc pendant knobs are a little big. Outside of the cheap ones, it seems that just getting a rotary encoder that had over 400ppr was the next jump but thats a bit excessive for my needs. Maybe i'll regret it, we'll see how long it takes to get this experiment up and running. I really appreciate you filling in the gaps!

@dc42 would it be possible to change the selector switch on a pendant with a momentary switch? Several rotary encoders have a momentary switch built in and it could be nice to use it to change between settings that way instead.

I am embarking on building a 5-axis microscope stand to position insects precisely for photography. What does that mean, imagine a standard 5-axis CNC machine but instead of cutting metal, you are taking pictures of bugs at high magnification. I have several printers that I have converted to Duet Maestro and Duet2 wifi boards so using a versatile duet board feels fairly natural and a safer starting point then diving into Arduino madness.

So, here are some questions that I would love some guidance on.

After some research, I realized that using the CNC pendant function would be the best way to control this but I need to add and subtract some things to make it a perfect fit.

What do I need technically?

In total, I am going to need 2/3 rotary encoders (to control 5 Stepper motors), 1 or 2 selector switches (to control step size and which steppers to control). And that's it! but it departs from the standard pendant design as listed/ in the firmware/setup guide. The function of the selector switches is also different from a traditional pendant.

The two encoders will be used like an Etchasketch; each encoder will have a knob attached to it and control 1 stepper motor at a time, either X/Y or A/B motion. A selector switch will determine which stepper motors are being controlled.

The second selector switch will switch the control of step size like a standard pendant already does (1x/10x/100x)

How do I use Z axis? Third encoder? Not sure, but probably will use another encoder.

Screen could be nice to show current settings so the paneldue pass through function will need to be utilized, and macro programs will eventually be added.

So, in short...use the CNC pendant firmware to control a 5 axis machine with non-standard pendant inputs.

1. Can you add more controls to the current Pendant firmware? (I unfortunately haven't had much time to dig and see what is in the current firmware)

2. Is the main limiting factor for change the Arduino micro pro that is being used to create the Canbus signal? (17 io ports for use or something)

3. Would a fictional picture help to understand what I am trying to do?

Any help and further discussion would be great! All thoughts welcome!