gSender Edge - New U and a call for feedback

I would appreciate clearer delineation between what belongs in gSender vs what should be elsewhere (e.g., in the post processor or SLB).

There have been comments in the past that MPG pendants shouldn’t be supported in gSender because GRBL doesn’t really support it. But gSender supports jogging via onscreen buttons or joysticks or whatever. Pick one and be clear about why you’re supporting or not. Why are we fussing at all about onscreen jogging widget layouts when easy-to-integrate HID compatible USB MPGs can be had for <$100, and regular ones (if you want to plug directly to the controller) for less than that?

Should the spoil board facing function be in gSender directly, or should there be a secondary app that generates a spoil board facing tool path from an optimized UI? Again, is this part of a focused tool or was it thrown in because it was easy to do at the time? It’s weird that this is a “homescreen” button/tab in gSender. How often do you expect us to press it? How often is your analytics showing that we press it? Am I not refacing my spoilboard enough?!? :upside_down_face:

The tool change functionality is really opaque as well, and it’s not clear at all what should be in the CAM post processor, gSender, or again supported directly via the controller. It’s maddening that it’s not possible to manually trigger a tool change (seems like they can only be started by running a file with an M6 command in it?) to validate or debug the process - I don’t want to learn how this works after I’ve already run a path, I want to learn how it works one step at a time in a controlled environment. Where is “tool change home” relative to the machine home, or the probe location? Nobody knows!

I understand that it’s a hard balance to hit between the capabilities of a “home use” controller that is feature limited due to costs (and therefore more functionality ends up getting stuffed into what is purported to be a simple “sender”), and needing readily accessible configuration functionality for those of us who are typically doing more unique or one-off setups than a production environment which has a more rinse-and-repeat nature to it coupled with more capable machine controllers.

Thanks so much for considering!

2 Likes