Ever since getting my benchtop CNC running, I have not been very happy with the lack of manual control over overrides and buttons.

This DIY Engineering video gave me a great idea: build one myself.

I wanted the smooth speed and feed overrides, so I decided to not go with HID device, but instead with a full serial control paired with a custom plugin on the UCCNC side.

Here is the Fusion design of the enclosure:

And here it is 3D-Printed.
Acrylic face engraved from the back side and painted.
And all buttons and controls mounted:

All I have to do now is wire the Arduino board, program the plugin, and test it!

Update:

Here is the video of the pendant in action:

 

1. PCB Design

Design notes:

• All resistors used were 10K
• Speed and Feed potentiometers are 10K
  Their pinout goes Wiper->ground = 0%, Wiper -> +5V = 200%
• Axis and Handwheel Increment rotary switches are 4-position and their pinout goes like this:
  Axis select 1-X, 2-Y, 3-Z, 4-A, C-Common (+5V)
  Handwheel Increment 1-0.0001, 2-0.0010, 3-0.0100, 4-0.1000, C-Common (+5V)
• All function buttons such as Jog +/-, M1, M2, etc are sending +5V signals to the digital pins D2-D12
• D13 digital pin is connected to a LED indicator and is used to tell the user that the Pendant is allowed to send signals to the plugin.

Design files:

• Electronics Design: https://a360.co/3NGWRTP
• https://a360.co/3NLhfDk
• https://a360.co/3JObaVh 

2. Enclosure Design

https://a360.co/3fG3jgI 

If you don't have a 3D printer and/or a CNC Mill, please contact me and I will send you a 3d-printed enclosure and the 3d-printed or milled acrylic face plate:

• 3D-Printed Black PLA Enclosure (shown in pictures): 30$ + shipping
• 3D-Printed Black PLA Face Plate (optional): 15$ + shipping
• CNC Milled and Engraved unpainted (clear) acrylic Face Plate (shown in pictures): 30$ + shipping

3. Arduino Setup

• Install the Full Firmata library onto your Arduino Nano (Or any other Ardiono that supports USB Serial Communication): StandardFirmata sketch used for Arduino NANO is also added to the release package

• Please note that you might need to install Arduino USB Driver in order for your Arduino to work on the target computer!

4. UCCNC Setup

• Download the latest LEETArduinoPendant from the releases and extract it to your PC.
  https://github.com/swindex/LEETArduinoPendant/releases
• Copy the LEETArduinoPendant.dll plugin file to the C:\UCCNC\Plugins directory!
• Copy the Solid.Arduino.dll file from the Solid.Arduino release folder to the C:\UCCNC directory.
• Please note that you might need to install Arduino USB Driver in order for your Arduino to work on the target computer!
• Launch UCCNC.exe, go to Settings->Configure Plugins, and mark the LEET Arduino Pendant plugin as Enabled and Call startup
• After everything is installed, Arduino is connected and UCCNC is running, press the "Enable" (+5v to D2-B-ENABLE ) button that will tell the plugin that the pendant is ready to send signals! D13 (LED+) will then have a continuous +3.3V signal alerting you of that!

Hardware Acquisition (Amazon)

Since my garage/shop has a limited workspace, I have long wanted to upgrade the big and clumsy computer I used to drive my little Prolight desktop CNC to something more elegant and convenient.

TL;DR: You can read about the printing settings and download files on Thingiverse: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4754968
Here is the shared Fusion Project: https://a360.co/36UhI15

After quite a bit of googling, and testing the UCCNC control software that i already have I decided to re-use my old Z83 mini-PC with Intel Atom processor.

Then I ordered a SunFounter 10.1" touchscreen monitor with a nice resolution of 1200x800 from amazon.

Since the display does not come with an enclosure I decided to design one myself.
A good opportunity to dust off my 3d modeling skills:

Read More 

I have just released a big update for our HSMAdvisor for MasterCAM.

Plugin v2.1.12 now supports Mastercam 2021, 2020 and 2019

Features for all versions are now aligned to the latest HSMAdvisor code!

Check it out here: https://hsmadvisor.com/?page=HSMAdvisor_for_MasterCAM

Cheers!

Finally got my proLIGHT CNC Mill running with UCCNC control software.

Chose that over mach3/4 because uccnc software seemed better made. Unfortunately, it too has bugs.

Most importantly, executing gcode.
Instead of running all codes in a block simultaneously, it does them in the incorrect order.

For example, code like

Instead of going to X0 Y0 defined in offset #54, it will go to coordinates of offset #55!
Only after executing that line, the offset will change to G55.
Similar issue with

Don't need to tell you this may lead to crashes.
So I changed the MasterCAM's post processor to output some of the codes in different lines.

Hopefully, devs will fix this issue soon.

In other news, I have just finished the first 2-tool piece.

It was a miniature skull figure made out of aluminum:

I got 150 bucks for machining that for a guy I met in a Facebook group. Nice!

The smallest endmill was 1mm ball nose, and it held up perfectly at max RPM of 5000 and feed rate of about 25ipm.

The DOC and stepover were about 0.004"

Now I wish it had a 20k spindle. If I could run at 100ipm, it would make a quick work of that little piece.
This way, it took 1 hour, which is not too bad either.

Cheers! 

Great news for our many Fusion 360 users!

Starting with HSMAdvisor v2.1.0, you can import HSMWorks hsmlib files into the HSMAdvisor database.
Holder import is not yet supported, but I will add it in one of the next updates.

Please have Fusion export the tool library in HSMWorks .hsmlib format

Not sure what to do with allowing HSMAdvisor to export tools into F360...
Please let me know if you are interested in this functionality, and I will work on it.

Take it for a ride and let me know if there are any issues with it!
https://hsmadvisor.com/?page=Download

Cheers!

I just uploaded a new standalone and Mastercam 2021 hook version of HSMAdvisor Machinist Calculator.

In it fixed the issue with the loading of older database files and updating DB UI.

Also from this point on HSMAdvisor will switch to Semantic Versioning in the following format: major.minor.build

• Major: big update that makes older version non-forward compatible.
• Minor: a minor update that does not break any existing functionality
• Build: a bug-fix that does not add new features, but fixes the existing ones

Check out the latest version here: https://hsmadvisor.com/?page=Download

Have an enjoyable and safe weekend, everybody!

In version 2 we tried to keep the familiar layout of HSMAdvisor.

HSMAdvisor 2 is currently at the "Release Candidate" stage.
Every month I will be publishing an update that will reset its trial counter, so people can use it for free until it is finally production-ready.

The best thing of all is HSMAdvisor 2 license is completely compatible with its predecessor!

Download HSMAdvisor 2 from here!

Centerdrill Calculator added in FSWizard 1.7.9!

Check it out at https://fswizard.com

Calculator shows reference for Imperial and Metric centerdrills and allows to calculate the depth of the drilled hole based on the countersink hole diameter and vise-versa.

Also this new version features better support for wide screens.
The input fields are now stacked in 3 columns when screen width is large enough to fit them.

If you want to sign up for the beta test, please read here: https://zero-divide.net/?shell_id=151&article_id=5271_free-fswizard-pro-for-everybody

Cheers!

Because the latest version of MasterCAM 2020 was just released last month, we too had to create an updated version of HSMAdvisor plugin.

As usual you can get it here: https://hsmadvisor.com/?page=HSMAdvisor_for_MasterCAM

There were quite a few changes on the back end, but users would not notice any of them, so why bother with proper release notes?

Just download, install and enjoy!

Do not forget to tell you MCam-loving friends about HSMAdvisor!

Cheers!

This major and long overdue update brings customizable virtual keyboard layout (in settings) and new updated style that feels more native to both iOS and Android than what we had before.

See screenshots.

Cheers!