Re: Looking for advice on what to put on arm mounted control panel

lol, I am in the same boat with my shizuoka "arm" where the fanuc 6M
panel used to be. It is a box about 18 inches high and 24 inches
long, about 10 inches deep. I am planning to do something fancy, but
right now I just have a 15 inch lcd monitor sitting in the box, and a
keyboard tray bolted underneath it. I duct taped 5 switches and a
trimpot to the side of the box to control spindle speed, spindle gear
change and estop. Very ugly right now, but hey! I am making chips.

I have a piece of 1/8 inch aluminum that fits the box frame ready to
be milled, but I too am unsure of how many buttons I need. I know it
would be a pain to mill the whole thing out and mount it then to say,
doh! I need another switch in the panel!

joystick...hmmm...I just use the arrow keys in emc...doesn't mach2
also have some sort of keyboard jog? Oh right, you don't want to
have a keyboard.....I would rethink that. You know they make these
neat roll up keyboards out of some kind of neoprene or
something...totally coolant proof. I think even radio shack has them
now.

--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com, "washcomp" <jeff@w...> wrote:
> OK, its time to put a control panel mounted on an arm near the
> spindle of my Bridgeport for use with MACH2. I've looked at
pictures
> of what commercial panels have and they run the gamet from full
> keyboards and a million switches to just a few. I'm thinking
> minimalist as I expect most of my programming and typing to be done
> at a table (rather than at the BP's nose). I've never used a CNC
> mill, so I'm not sure how many of the buttons people put there are
> actually used on a regular basis.
>
> What I've kinda decided are required:
> 15" LCD monitor with pushbuttons to select various screens
> E-Stop
> Hardware wired start button
> MPG dial with selector switch for axis and resolution
> Jog - Limit override
> Spindle brake/clamp manual/auto/off toggle switches
> 115v AC outlet (for high speed spindle)with HS spindle speed control
> Light switch
> BP Spindle speed control
> Feed rate control (still have to figure out how to impliment)
> Coolant override
>
> What I'm thinking of putting on (not sure if needed or
implimentable):
> Joy stick and up/down buttons for fast positioning (maybe redundant
> with MPG?)
> Optional stop
> Single step
> Block skip
>
> I was thinking of leaving the full PC keyboard out and only putting
a
> numeric keybad and some function keys (to change DRO's etc.)
>
> Please let me know how you would change (or re-prioritize) the
> above. If there is an important function I've left out also clue
me
> in.
>
>
> Thank you,
> Jeff
>
> (Note: also posted to mach1mach2cnc@yahoogroups.com )