Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] virtual hand jive

Howdy All! It does my heart to see this thread continue in such a lively manner. Instead of trying to interface to the jog system,
I'm going to try a dual control input to the stepper drivers. A quadrature encoder with a handwheel will put out step and dir. When
I'm in manual mode the step and dir from the encoder will go to both the stepper drivers and to the PC which is running a simple
counter program. This, as yet uncoded, program will be a DRO and tell me where the tool is in relation to the table.

In CNC mode, the step and dir signals go directly from CNCpro to the steppers. As for the UI, I've already suspended the monitor
from a stanchion and it has a keyboard attached. The manual control wheels will be 3 goldmine motors with the magnets removed and
mounted in an aluminum project box in their orthogonal directions. This box will be mounted below the monitor on a slide and pulled
out when needed.

Will all this work? I don't know yet. Is it worth it to a production shop, probably not. The small programs that Jon E has put
together will probably suffice for most pro and semi-pro operations. But I run a strictly amature shop and am still learning what I
can do with a mill. For me, being able to "hand crank" the tool through the job is an invaluable part of my education.

jmw@... wrote:

[comments about bending some poor guy's ear snipped]

> Sounds like all the fun would be interfacing the virtual wheel with the jog system.