Re: OK, I've got a detent encoder... Hello?

Um...is anyone listening here?

There are reasons why "real" CNC machines have certain standard jog
increments attached to the jog wheel.

They are...

.01
.001
.0001

At .01 per detent you can move the table quite quickly...even too
quickly.
Once you get close, you switch to .001, and if your machine is
capable, you can go .0001 when you are really on it.

Sure, you could make a program do 26 feet per increment, but it's
really dangerous and so most don't even give that option. They also
don't give the option to type your own in case you forget a decimal
place..or get stupid and type in something dangerous.
The 3 standard increments are also set 10X apart for easy
calculations so you don't screw up by trying to calulate things
like .875 X increment to get where you are going.
Jog wheels ALL have 100 increments (or 99 if you like).

Remember, this is a *jog* wheel we are talking about here. It is used
for setting up the work and the machine, not for machining. It is not
a substitute for a "hand wheel".

A "hand wheel" would have no increments or detents, and could easily
be made with a mouse encoder. A hand wheel (or "handwheel") is
controlled by the feedrate, which a "jog wheel" is not. One is not a
substitute for the other. Although they look similar, and both move
the axes, they are completely different.

:-)
Sean