[mike sr1]

I would be very interested to know more about it John, maybe a link, a name or something?

On some of my wood projects that would be very handy.

[JohnToner]

Mike, the pendant I have is an iMach III P1A-SE. I really like it.

[mike sr1]

Thank you for the information John.
I think I will opt for the one without the screen as I always use the Mach screen.

I have broken more tools than the cost of the pendant ha! I really dont break many anymore as I know what to look out for etc.
I think if I was 30 years younger it wouldnt be a problem at all.

I will send you a pm on the other experiments.

Mike, the pendant I have is an iMach III P1A-SE. I really like it.

I ordered the pendant today, should be here in a week or so.

[mike sr1]

I regrind them when they get dull or chipped, so I just enter the new diameter in my tool table in Sprtucam and I am good to go again.

Mike,

I bought one of those after market pendants as a Christmas gift to myself (I'm up to Christmas of 2023 now I don't remember which model but it was well recommended on this forum. Since I' won't be in the shop until tomorrow, I'm lost as to what brand/model it is. It was a little pricey, but as a Christmas gift, that shouldn't be a problem. It has a selector knob for the X,Y,Z, or A axis and a wheel that rotates left for (-) and right for (+). Turn wheel slowly, table moves slowly. Turn wheel rapidly and table follows along. I'm living proof it's idiot-proof. I really like it and would be lost w/o it. The only problem is that now my tools last so long I have to compensate for wear.

[JohnToner]

Mike, the screen isn't essential and almost didn't opt for it but I'm glad I did.

[mike sr1]

I also have Mach3 installed on my non-machine computer so I can try stuff out. On a whim I decided to see if there might be a workaround to allow you to change your key assignments. I made a copy of my Mach3 installation folder, then opened Mach3 and changed the key bindings, closed Mach3, and then compared the normal installation folder with the copied folder using a program called Beyond Compare (cool program by the way).

The only file that had been changed was my machine's XML file. One entry that was modified was "SecondsOn", which clearly is some kind of usage timer and can be ignored. The other changes are highlighted in my attached image. Does the Tormach installation have a corresponding XML file? Are you comfortable changing it? If so, it looks like you can switch your keys by swapping the following pairs of entries...
* AxisKeys0 and AxisKeys1
* AxisKeys2 and AxisKeys3

I suspect if you open your XML file and search for AxisKeys0 you'll find that it's bound to "37" and right after it I suspect yours will have AxisKeys1 bound to "39". If I had a Tormach I'd try doing the change myself, but unfortunately I do not.

(Note: I'm not sure why all the keys in this particular installation of Mach3 were bound to "999".

That does change the hot key directions in regular Mach 3, I havent figured out how to access it in the Torrmach version.

I do have the problem solved now, i bought a Pendant from Vistacnc. Several of their pendants have the axis reverse function on them.

I never use the arrow keys to move the table anyway so thats not a problem for me.

Thanks for your help.

[Hirudin]

Sweet, I think you'll enjoy the pendant!

[mountaindew]

I never use the arrow keys to move the table anyway so thats not a problem for me.

I do!
When I home the machine, I press the down arrow and right arrow at same time to move off home and not crash into limits.
Such a habit if I did it any other way I would be confused
I also use same right arrow key to move bed to left side of spindle to load or fixture stock. Yet another habit "wear out the right arrow key and alt-r keys"
These are about the only 3 or 4 keys I use. Funny things you get use to doing after a while. Some days I navigate all day like an expert and the next day Im backwards for everything.
I try to spend some time each week typing midi commands also. I practice this while squaring up stock material for projects.
After a while you get fast at changing feeds and xy positions and have to wait for mill to catch up with all the passes you have programmed in on the fly.
Fun stuff and good reading to see how others use their tools and methods.
md

[mike sr1]

I do!
When I home the machine, I press the down arrow and right arrow at same time to move off home and not crash into limits.
Such a habit if I did it any other way I would be confused
I also use same right arrow key to move bed to left side of spindle to load or fixture stock. Yet another habit "wear out the right arrow key and alt-r keys"
These are about the only 3 or 4 keys I use. Funny things you get use to doing after a while. Some days I navigate all day like an expert and the next day Im backwards for everything.
I try to spend some time each week typing midi commands also. I practice this while squaring up stock material for projects.
After a while you get fast at changing feeds and xy positions and have to wait for mill to catch up with all the passes you have programmed in on the fly.
Fun stuff and good reading to see how others use their tools and methods.
md

I just reference the machine, then type f90 x0 y0 in the MDI and this works for me to get the spindle back over the vise, I use the "fixture save" when shutting mach down as its the aproximate vise center, so far its worked well.