Thanks 

A new version is underway with focus on button setup; making it a lot easier to configure and assign functionality to buttons.
With a lot of help from atifeh we have predefined a standard setup for button assignment and buttons will be active even in EStop.
It will still be possible to program all buttons with script but for most common functionality no scripting is necessary - only assignment in a new setup program.

The new version will be posted in a new thread in this forum... soon...

- area51

area51;
Thanks for a great plug-in/macro it worked right out of the box just like the instructions described. I have decided to just output a button function message unless button 5 or 6 is pressed. Question I would like to change the right hand joystick axis to swap the Z and A joystick positions. Is this possible??
thanks
Doc
 

Thanks 

Question I would like to change the right hand joystick axis to swap the Z and A joystick positions. Is this possible??

In the JoyPad plugin configuration you can map all joystick axes to Mach3 axes - just set it up there (swap A and Z axe). If the axe is going the "wrong" way just invert it (check box).
You may have to restart Mach3 to reread the new setting before it takes effect.

Happy to have feedback from one using the plugin - tanks again.
At the moment I am working with Atifeh on a new version with a LOT of improvements, especially button assignment. Scripting is to difficult for most users. I hope to release soon as we are testing now...

- area51

Joakim

Bought a JoyPad off ebay, for the total price of $5 shipped to Australia.  Just for the fun of it, to try your plugin.   

Works great.  Love it.  It might even usurp my Shuttle Pro.   ($100)   Which I have dropped numerous times.  Not sure how many times I will get away with that.   

 JoyPad for $5........... I could afford to have a spare or two.   

Please keep the ability to assign macros to buttons.  I like the flexibility.

Great work and thanks very much for your efforts.

Greg

Greg

Thanks for the feedback  It helps me improve the plug in in feature releases.

The ability to assign script to buttons will stay put. You're right; it is very flexible and some tasks can only be done in script like probing or other more complex tasks.
In the upcoming release more simple tasks will be pre-programmed into the plug in.
Tasks like zero an axe, toggle flood, raise/lower spindle speed, cycle start, pause etc. will be very easy to assign to buttons in an easy to use GUI application.
This way users can still benefit from using the plug in and not knowing anything about script.

But of cause it will still be possible to program these tasks in script as well 

- Joakim

Joakim

Glad to hear that.

Can we have the analogue joysticks motion honour the maximum jog rate specified in the Mach slow jog rate percentage DRO?

I was a bit surprised to see this was being overridden.  This is a bit of a problem for me. 

Mostly for me, a pendant is useful for sneaking up on an edge whilst using a feeler gauge or such.  So I am looking for very small controllable movement.

As it is I can not get this without setting the plugin scale percentage low.  Then it is too slow for general jogging.

If it honoured the Mach jogging rate, I could assign a button to increase or decrease that.     I can not control the plugin scale rate via button.  Or can I?

Of course I can set up buttons to do small set steps, but I would use up a lot of my available buttons to do this.

It is possible that my super cheap Joypad does not have as finer analogue control as a Logitech one does.

What do you think?

Greg

Greg

The plug-in is using the maximum speeds for each axe as it is setup in Mach for the machine.
On the Logitech JoyPad I get speeds below 0.1 % of maximum speed (below 1/1000).
This is slow; but for fast machines I see the problem... or when sneaking up ...  

Step jogging is a new feature in the coming release, honoring the step jog speeds setup in jogging screen (screen 50) - maybe you can use that in the final approach. Step jogging is activated by another safety key and using the same joysticks - they will then be in single step mode using the current step size in the jogging screen (1.000/0.100/0.010/0.001 or user defined).

Generally I avoid using screen only values as they are screen-set depend and not validated by Mach.
Only using Mach build in values will ensure the plug in works with any screen set.
I will put your request on my to do list - if there is an internal Mach value with the current Slow Jog Rate it can be used to reduce the jog speed along with the percentage setup in the JoyPad setup.

- Joakim

On the Logitech JoyPad I get speeds below 0.1 % of maximum speed (below 1/1000).
This is slow; but for fast machines I see the problem... or when sneaking up ...  

With my cheap JoyPad I doubt that I am getting that level of control precision.

Generally I avoid using screen only values as they are screen-set depend and not validated by Mach.
Only using Mach build in values will ensure the plug in works with any screen set.

The jog speed is just a DRO value, which I think will be found on any screenset.  Certainly on any that I have made or seen.  And even if it is not present, Mach reads it as if it is anyway.
Rapid speed, as set in motor tuning, is just a var that can be read or set much the same as a DRO, via VB.  Not so different I think.

Step jogging is a new feature in the coming release, honoring the step jog speeds setup in jogging screen (screen 50) - maybe you can use that in the final approach.
Step jogging is activated by another safety key and using the same joysticks - they will then be in single step mode using the current step size in the jogging screen (1.000/0.100/0.010/0.001 or user defined).

I have set up the POV and some other buttons with VB to jog each axis using the value of the Jog Increment DRO.  This works fine but does use up a lot of buttons.

Some way to slow the analogue jog rate would be good.  Utilising the existing jog rate DRO would make sense to me.  

Anyway thanks for the great work.

Greg

Greg

With my cheap JoyPad I doubt that I am getting that level of control precision.

If the finer joystick control is missing on some of the more inexpensive devices its a problem. I have a game pad for testing, bought from eBay for less than $5. Besides different placement of buttons 1 - 4 it is mechanical stable and and have the same functionality as the more expensive Logitech Game Pad.

But Back to the solution; I found that Mach has an internal value for Jog Slow Rate representing the DRO readout. This value can be accessed on any screen set and will be part of the jog speed calculation in the upcoming release.
Jog speed will be as before but scaled down by the Jog Slow Rate as you suggested.

In testing I found it possible to jog as slow as 0.09 units/min; on my machine it is something like 1 micro step per second...
The internal lower speed limit in the plugin is now 1/100 000 of max speed for a given axe. This low limit could give drifting problems; time will show.

Thanks for pointing out the problem.

- Joakim

Joakim,

Are the button assignments for the new release posted anywhere?  My son and I are just about to learn how to use JoyPad and would like to not have to re-learn what the buttons do after the new release.  We would configure to match the upcoming release if the future button assignments are posted anywhere.

Thanks

John & John