Does anyone know IF Tormach has a list of suggestions that users have written in about wanting ??

I hate to keep beating on a dead horse if Tormach does not want to add certain features to the Mix.

They don't seem to be to talkative these days. I have not had responces to questioned I asked on their website for many many months now.

SO how do you guys feel about developing features outside of what Tormach provides and publishing those features coded for other users to adapt to their machines. It does make it NICE to have features that you are used to having with Commercial machines. Having things like Rigid PECK tapping can be a blessing to low powered spindles. It only took 12 lines of code to make it work properly . Just had to add the "Q" parameter to the G84 and do a remap on it.

Remapping is ALSO very handy as you can create codes that you are used to having such as G68/G69 and G15/G16 ALSO you can add G31 to PathPilot so you can run older code that ran the G31 for probing. Also youo can create and run Wizards (Gcode Generators as the old EMC crowd knew them as) That allows one to create Conversatonal features that PathPilot does not have and most likely will never have beyond what they want to support. I developed a simple Wizard Menu that runs out of the ADMIN function. Just drop your wizard code into the Gcode/Wizards folder and then you can run it from the Admin Menu. The real beauty of that is being able to create an share Conversational features with other DIYers

I know there is getting to be a LARGE group of PathPilot users that are not running on Tormach hardware and when you start adding features to PathPilot it makes it harder to UPDATE. And sometimes Tormach can break your feature with something they changed. An example would be with the way we do ATC's. We use the B and C axis to run the ATC. THE atc is very simple that way. BUt one update I noticed that PathPilot would no longer run teh B and C axis. I found the problem and it was Tormach working to block being able to add the 5th >> 9th axis into PathPilot. I simply fixed it back to how it was (;-)

I also see code that may suggest that PathPilot may one day be a Subscription based controller. You may have to PAY to Play in the Tormach kingdom. And if done properly I would not have a real problem with that or a permanant site license BUT i don't think they can with teh GPL license that LInuxCNC uses

So what are your thoughts on the matter ??? Is it time to make DIY PathPilot a thing with DIYers adding teh support. That approach has worked well for decades now with LinuxCNC and Mach3/4 and UCCNC ??? MAYBE give it a new name if Tormach does not want to be a part of it ??


(;-) TP