As a MK1 30x30 owner, I also vote to keep it stand alone and a wired Ethernet port. I do keep one finger on the pause button when first running a new file.
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I placed mine in an enclosure to keep it clean and minimize cable movement. Is dust a concern at all out in the open? Seems like static is the biggest I see in the posts - will the new design help any?
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HMI would be sweet. I use those everywhere at work. I would love to have my Longmill control in that form factor.
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Would mounting the longboard closer to the router increase RFI problems?
I like your new proposal it adds a lot of new options for a user and you loose none of the existing functionality of a standalone. With that said a lot of the responses you got from the user base to keep the standalone method do make sense. I have the older MK1 and have no issues with the existing design. When I eventually upgrade, I suspect I would implement your new option. Only additional recommendation would be to have the new board have either:
A) snap on base to allow it to work as a standalone. (Con, Could be a waste of material if not used)
B) Tweak your knew design to allow it to be easily fastened to some scrap wood or other material. I could then be used as a standalone. The esthetics might be a minor challenge to solve.
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I like that you are seeking to better the system and even more so asking for user input! No body does that anymore.
The new concept is interesting, and I might have bought off on it if I were buying a new CNC. However, I really like the option of mounting the long board according to my design of the work area. I built a bench for my CNC and the long board and laser controller are mounted in a drawer. This keeps the cable management under the bench and out of sight.
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Hey Chris. I haven’t finished building my table yet, but I’m going to mount mine on the side, likely on an attached control arm. I’ll do this because of space and cable management. I’m an IT guy, and I hate how disoranized cables get. So a system that is flexible, allowing me to control the flow of the wiring is appealing. But I have to admit, that mount is really attractive!
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New board designs are interesting. I like the flexibility of a standalone board but would like the option to get a “remote” head to still have access to the status lights and buttons while mounted under the table. Something along the lines of the E-stop remote. You could have that as an addon/expansion kit. Would take a bit of planning to ensure RF doesn’t become an issue but a decent shielded cable would be fine with distance of 2m or less
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Chris,
I’d prefer the standalone version, easier to position, I have mine mounted to the left on a shelf. I like the integrated unit, but am concerned about extended vibration/dust infiltration and if that would impact reliability. Both options have their strengths and weakness but I find the moveability and easy of repositioning the control unit to be very handy.
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I wish you would have considered it is the integration of closed loop steppers within your system. Understanding that it would make things difficult as being retro-compatible and would require new stepper motors and drivers.
The other consideration that would be interesting would be to have the ability to run homing independently on both side of the Y-Axis squaring up the machine.
I have spent a considerable amount of time squaring up the machine and I use to drive the machine to the end of travel to ensure squareness between jobs but with the addition of the inductive sensors and the use of soft limits, it is much more difficult to do it.
The combination of these two features would ensure that the machine is consistently square and that machine components would fit together perfectly every time.
@Etienne.Marcoux I have GrblHAL running on my machine (not a LongMill, but the principle is the same), and I do have Y-Axis auto-squaring running.
My controller has two Y channels driving 2 stepper motors, and each Y axis has a homing sensor.
If separate homing sensor inputs is part of the intended PCB design here, then I believe auto-squaring will work as you hope.
May I ask you what controller you are using?
A Teensy 4.1 (an ARM core processor) module on a Phil Barrett Break-out-Board
Hi Chris. I don’t know how useful it would be to you guys but have you thought of recovering the old longboard model from customers making the switch to the new one (with or without financial incentive)? You know, being green, recycling, saving the planet and all that jazz…
Were you thinking in context of shipping back to us so we could refurb to resell? Or rather something like us recycling them?
One or the other really. I can’t speak for others but once I switch I won’t have any use for the old model other than backup if the new fails. Of course I could send it myself to the scrapyard to be recycled but I was wondering if you saw any value in having them returned.
That would cost them a lot. Better to take them to a local recycler to take care of that. Most metal recyclers like here there is Triple M recyclers in Kitchener that does electronics. I take all mine there. www.triplem.com
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I prefer the existing stand alone controller style.
I had limited flat space for my LongMill so I mounted the controller on the left wall of the enclosure just high enough to clear the machine comfortably.
The controller is out of the way, air circulation around it is good, it’s easily seen/accessed and most of the wiring is behind the wall making for a clean installation. I use the vacuum boot so sawdust has not been a problem.
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You may be able to make the best of both worlds. The integrated design looks like you could 3d-print or injection mold a plastic back plate that could be attached to the case to close off the back to dust and give screw holes for mounting to the side or bottom of a table.
I have my controller mounted to the side of my table, along with the IoT relay, laser controller module, and power supply. The laser controller module and power supply don’t have mounting holes, so I built a little shelf for them and built a cover over all of them to help keep dust out. This does make it impossible to see the LEDs or use the buttons on the controller, but I’ve never had a need for them, honestly. I can tell if it’s working because it will jog, and the couple times I’ve needed to stop the machine, I just hit the emergency kill switch. That isn’t as good as pause because gSender doesn’t know. When I have time to pause, I do that in gSender. It would be nice to be able to add a remote pause button that I could mount near the kill switch.
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I use an IOT relay like many others and I would want add ons like that to be easily adaptable. I vote for keeping it the same.
With all the possibilities available for adding additional control options, my electronics board looks like the fuse panel on the outside of my house, 
