Making something......

[slow-poke]

While surfing one of DavidR8's threads I saw a good idea, so off to Metal pros this morning, will post a picture when complete, step one below.

 

[slow-poke]

I store my handheld power tools under my vise bench, I would have to get on my hands and knees to reach to the back on the one shelf that was a heap of chaos tool collection. After seeing DavidR8's drawers under his lathe, I decided to copy his idea. The Steelcase file cabinet works well for larger items like circular saws. No more hands and knees. While cleaning up I discovered a hand wheel and replaced the flip-flop toggle gizmo on my drill press vise, much more convenient now. It should be clean for about a day.

 

[Dan Dubeau]

That's a very nice, clean, and organized shop.

I like the welder on drawer slides! I used to have a hobart (autoarc 140) like that but gave it to a friend when I got a bigger lincoln 180. Wish I still had it.

 

[DavidR8]

Wait, what? I've inspired folks? Very cool! Humbled!

 

[Janger]

What's this startrek looking control panel? Let's see some more of that!
\

 

[slow-poke]

Aye aye Scotty.

The control panel is a roll-your-own type of deal. I prefer real buttons to mouse clicks (Mach 3) especially for repetitive things.

I also found a PrehKeyTec Programmable keypad and sealed keyboard on eBay. I was tired of fishing out the swarf from between the keys on the original keyboard.

Seems unlikely but if you have a similar mill and want a button type control panel, I should have a spare board in my bare board bin.

 

[slow-poke]

It does have that period correct 70's type look.
The ELS is a bit more Next Generation

 

[Dan Dubeau]

Oooo, I like that. Would love to make something similar for my Tormach/Pathpilot. I don't like the keyboard/mouse interface.

 

[Kelly McLaughlin]

Very nice layout!

 

[Janger]

that is really cool. How did you do the white piping and lettering? Or is that a commercial board?

 

[DavidR8]

Very nice work!

 

[TorontoBuilder]

that is really cool. How did you do the white piping and lettering? Or is that a commercial board?

I think that is a custom ordered pcb with a silk screen... I stand to be corrected though.

IIRC slow poke used a Pokeys57E cnc controller mounted right to the back of this board

 

[Hruul]

Very nice work and nice shop. Thanks for sharing.

 

[slow-poke]

I think that is a custom ordered pcb with a silk screen... I stand to be corrected though.

IIRC slow poke used a Pokeys57E cnc controller mounted right to the back of this board

Correct on both accounts.

The Pokeys board makes interfacing to Mach3 quite easy, and yes it just plugs into the back of the board.

Quick-turn PCB's are dirt cheap, that board is just two layers, I managed to hide most of the top layer traces and vias by placing them under the push button housings and a few in the silkscreen piping.

 

[slow-poke]

Oooo, I like that. Would love to make something similar for my Tormach/Pathpilot. I don't like the keyboard/mouse interface.

If you can define what you want, I can probably rattle something off pretty quickly.

 

[kstrauss]

Oooo, I like that. Would love to make something similar for my Tormach/Pathpilot. I don't like the keyboard/mouse interface.

Get a touch screen! Works a treat compared to playing with a mouse. I also built a box with buttons to give CycleStart/ Pause/ Reset.

 

[slow-poke]

Get a touch screen! Works a treat compared to playing with a mouse. I also built a box with buttons to give CycleStart/ Pause/ Reset.

I actually do use a touchscreen monitor, it works but I find it finicky in terms of having to touch the exact spot on the screen.

A really common scenario where the actual buttons are handy is setting the location of the end mill / drill bit without having to get out the edge finder. Once close, with my magnifying goggles on and eyes close to the spot I can jog the table 1 mil at a time in either direction with thumb on one button and index finger on the other, I can do this while never taking my eye off the spot, when I can't decide which one of the 1 mil steps is closer I'm within 0.001"

I can't do that with the touchscreen because I constantly have to look away from the target, I would estimate it's 10-20x faster to zero in with the buttons than the touchscreen. When I have to click things in Mach3, I find the touchscreen marginally better than reaching for the mouse for one or two clicks at most because the accuracy of the touch sensor on my Kijiji budget monitor is not great, at least the mouse is accurate. I actually despise using the touchscreen.

 

[Dan Dubeau]

I thought about a touchscreen, but my hatred for touchscreen phones is tough to get over......I miss my blackberry with a physical keyboard.

A simple small pendant with an mpg wheel, resolution encoder, feedhold, cyclesmash, and e-stop would be fine. I do like the stock one that comes with the tormach a little bit, but I miss the cyclestart, and feedhold buttons. I don't know what you call the mpg on the stock one with the return to center twist, but I like that for general movement, but for manual milling prefer the job wheel. The last generation haas machines have that type of mpg wheel, but they also have screens with a lot of other options I never use on them.

One day when I catch up on projects I'd like to have a go at making one, as a learning experience. But it's not a huge priority at the moment.