Seems to be time for me to add a “joystick” controller to my gSender Windows 10/11 system. I’m getting tired of the computer keyboard functions and want control at wasteboard level.
So, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of advice on what to buy that works and pricing isn’t such a big deal, but I’m not inclined to buy Microsoft’s $80 item new. I do prefer the wired option, because copper is good.
A quick perusal on Amazon comes up with these two popular purchases for less than $20 :
I had my gsender pc back in the office and was tired of running hinche and forth the machine too. I initial used two bluetooth keyboards -one at the cad and one at the cam side-. Later I used a tablet with remote gsender but that had a few frustrating problems that required to have a keyboard present anyway, leaving the tablet to be used for zeroing only.
After running into -the-endless-jogg-bug- a few times I got tired of it and implemented a more permanent solution. I now have a dedicated pc at the machine using remote gsender at the office for uploading toolpaths to it. I only connect to the machine to do just that for I have found that it causes freezes if it stays connected during a job.
This setup seems the most stable and it freed up the 10m usb cable to connect to a webcam above the bed that (finaly) allowes for easy outlining irregular shapes - designing directly on an acurate image and using more or less relative xy zero setups for projects that require off machine steps between different cnc fases.
I tried a leap motion controller just for the fun of it but it was wildly inacurate and i like to feel a button at my fingertips when stepping down a z-zero.
I now use a wired keyboard for jogging the machine. It’s good enough for now. Untill I walk into frustration again it’ll do or stumble over a controller at the second hand store and get “the itch”.
