How do I exchange Serial Data with Mach4?įor a different project, I wanted to be able to send Serial data from One may well come with your Arduino Nano, but you will need a longer lead - probably 2-3m

If the vendor won't cooperate, message me & I'll send a copy if I still have it.

The link they sent me is below, however I dout it will persist there very long. The vendor will send you a link to the software & documentation. There's also resistive, UART and different size versions available. Make sure you buy the capacitive 3.5' 480*320 Serial I2C version. It doesn't seem to make much difference (other than supporting Arduino) whether it's genuine or a clone - I've not found one that didn't work as expected. Mine is a clone - and only cost £2 on eBay. Which type doesn't matter too much so long as it has Quadrature A B outputs and can run from 5V. There are plenty of other after market MPG wheels available. Mine is a Fanuc A860-0203-T001 which often come up on eBay new & used for about £25. You'll need to re-load the screen if you unplug the Pendant. When it's plugged in to any serial port, Mach4 will find it when the WX Screen loads. You will need to put a in the modules folder and install the Arduino Serial Driver (from the Arduino IDE Download).īurn the Arduino Sketch (above) on to your Arduino Nano. It is the standard set with an extra button on the Jog Panel to enable the Pendant. If you've not added any macros / buttons to Mach4 yet & use the WX Screen Set, just take a take a copy of your original WX.set (just in case) and replace the original with the one here. There are a few posts on line from people failing to make it work through poor documentation, librarys & software but with some help from the vendor on eBay, I did make it work. Unfortunately, there are not many small, arduino friendly screens available! The one I eventually bought is called an H35B-IC. The answer is to use a Capacitive Touch Screen. If you've ever tried to use a Resistive screen with wet fingers, you'll know it doesn't work! The moisture in your fingerprint continues to register as a finger! The Pendant I linked above has another, more subtle problem. That applies to the MPG Wheel too - the X, Y & Z positions shown are from Mach4. That way, you know that if the button on the penant has changed state, Mach4 has acted on the instruction. Mach4 then sends the state of the thing that should have changed back to the pendant for display. The Pendant sends, for example, a button press, to Mach4.

It sends & receives the Pendant data to a script running inside Mach4. It uses an Arduino Nano which the PC recognises as a Serial device. There are surprisingly few Pendants (CNC Machine, remote controls) for Mach4 and even fewer DIY projects. CNC Control Pendant for Mach4, connected through USB Serial

Cnc usb controller pendant