I am one of the developers currently working on gSender and am specifically managing the Gamepad/Joystick functionality support.
As of right now I have gone over the forum and found a few people are having some difficulties connecting their controllers to gSender for use. My goal is to find out what types of controllers you guys use, what the problems with them are, and how I further solve them. I know some of you guys really love using them to control your machines (as do i) and hope to help you guys out as best I can here!
If you are having difficulties with the controller in gSender, please send your controller name and the issue you are having!
I have a Logitech Wireless Gamepad F710, When I use it with my current gcode sender (Carbide Motion) it works great. When I try to set it up in gSender I get nothing. I go to the setup screen and it asks me to press a button on the controller and it doesn’t see it at all.
Did you do anything special to get it to connect? When I try to use mine, I get no response at all from gSender - it just doesn’t see it. What is the Profiler Software and where do I get it? I can try installing that and see if it makes a difference. As I said, the controller works great when I use it with Carbide Motion gcode sender so I know the controller works fine.
I dont have a controller but would love to have one. Will Sienci be offering in the near future? If so, I will wait on it. If not, what can you recommend as the best possible controller for the longmill. I use windows 10 PC. Thank you.
When creating the gamepad support on gSender, I did in fact use the Logitech F710 gamepad for testing and it seemed to work fine for me. I did some tests by installing the latest version of gSender on a few other computers and connecting the controller to them to see if I was able to find any connection issues and was not able to find anything.
When connecting the Logitech controller for the first time on Windows 10, it installed the driver automatically, then gSender was able to recognize it when attempting to create a joystick/gamepad profile. These are the windows notifications I got when doing so:
You can double check that your controller is connected properly by checking the bluetooth and other devices settings and verifying your controller shows up in the list somewhere. Additionally you can check the device manager settings on your PC and see if your controller shows up there as well, which it should.
I will be doing some more testing with another controller now and will let you guys know if i find some issues and solutions with it.
Would I be able to use my TM HOTAS joystick in connection with the Longmill as an offline controller? Or is this strictly for using software already present and using the controller/joystick as a jogging tool?
@BrandonEvMc A belated welcome to the group, Brandon. I am sure that you will benefit from the considerable experience of many of the members here.
I can’t speak to that controller, unfortunately. Maybe someone else will be able to.
I do have a question, and that is to ask you for a bit of clarification. If you are asking if a game controller can replace the Long Mill controller, I am pretty sure that the answer is no. The Mill controller is comprised of an Arduino Uno control board, drivers for the motors and other control components. A joystick will not replace them.
However, gSender is capable of being controlled by joysticks and game controllers. They can take the place of the gui controls in on the gSender interface. The joystick may be able to be used to run gcode sender of choice. For example, I believe that UGS can accommodate joystick controllers.
To add a point or points of clarification to my post. I am not asking if a gamepad controller can replace the Longmill controller in any way.
I am simply wondering if, a joystick control with trigger switches, can be used in conjunction with the Longmill controller to add a more responsive and accurate jogger without being tied to any other program designed for CNC milling, or if the joystick and triggers can be set up with the Longmill controller to control the entirety of the Longmill from jogging through to milling without the need of any software.
I do quite enjoy the machine, and it is very accurate with small pieces provided the end mill is the correct size to application. It has been a very welcome addition alongside the plasma and laser cutters in my shop, and it get used almost as much.
@BrandonEvMc Sorry for the delay in replying, Brandon. Several members here are using joysticks/game controllers to control XY and Z movements. Higher up in this thread, @Megistus (Wayne) and @Menglor (Stephen) mention the ones that they are using and the software that they use with them. If you have a specific unit that you want to use and it is not one already mentioned, post the make and model and someone may well be able to set you up.
for the Xbox and the SNES USB controller, no software is required.
if you want to use the controllers for software not designed to use a controller there is a solution, however, for gSender, its plug and play with the last few versions.
@walid_kayhan In playing around with a gamepad and gSender, I am seeing a repeatable issue with the Jog_cancel command not being issued if I have a key combination assigned to the jog shortcut.
I’m a hack, but should this If be outside the if(!buttonCombo)?
Yes thanks for pointing that one out, there does seem to be some inconsistencies with jog cancel needing to be invoked in certain situations. I have a few ideas on how to fix this problem now that I reviewed the implementation again, will test them out this week and update you and everyone else here on my progress!
I just installed gSender 0.7.3 and connected it to my Shapeoko 3XXL. All went well as far as that goes. I can home and jog no problem. I haven’t tried cutting anything yet but I assume that will be fine.
I tried adding my joystick though and nothing happens. I have a Logitech Wireless Gamepad F710 that works fine with Carbide Motion that I’ve been using, but when I try to add the profile to gSender, I get to that part where it says to press any button on the controller and it doesn’t see the button presses.
Should this gamepad be able to work with gSender? If so, any suggestions?
