I know the knob on the pendant jogs the Z axis but is there any jog control for X and Y?
I found a post from Feb 2024 where Andrew indicates there is not, but has that changed?
If there is no X/Y jog control, I’d like to make a request for the feature. Specifically, it seems the knob button press is currently unused on the main screen. What if pressing the knob opened a jog control screen where you can select which axis you want to move (X/Y/Z), then use the knob to move it. And include some input boxes to enter move lengths? And an on-screen button to exit back to main screen?
That would be immensely useful to me, especially when trying to square up a piece of material with the ArcDroid before cutting. Being able to line up the torch on the edge of the piece then jog down it’s length to see if the torch is still aligned and making adjustments would be wonderful.
it is possible but not easy to integrate into current UI.
We did build some prototypes of a remote pendant last year that would allow jogging or loading macros and start stop without the screen. Judged to be too low a demand to be viable product though
Well, as a programmer myself, I can’t see how it would be very difficult to integrate another screen into the UI, unless you’re constrained on program space or RAM.
A separate pendant is… not ideal. After spending what I spent on the ArcDroid, I have no desire to spend even more on a feature that should be out-of-the-box and is standard on every other CNC controller I’ve ever seen.
@frdfsnlght it has to do with how the motion planner is set up. We would have to dramatically re-write large chunks of code to make it work
And to to be honest you are the first to ask for it. And since the ArcDroid is compliant and easily moved by hand “jogging” is kinda redundant. If you are looking to line up an edge you can use the DRO on the bottom of the screen and move things along the edge by hand easy enough.
I’ll put jogging in the revision queue and see if we can’t accommodate you at some point.
I’ll have to take your word on the motion planner work it would require, but isn’t the ArcDroid based on Marlin? The same firmware used in 3D printers? The same 3D printers that have full X/Y/Z jog control (I have one)?
Using the DRO on the screen to align on the edge of a piece of material is not optimal. The ArcDroid’s arms have “detents”, presumably from the steppers driving them, and it’s difficult to position the arm precisely, especially when you’re dealing with fractions of a millimeter. My hands are not that steady.
Please put jogging in the queue. It’s a very important function of any CNC controller.
@frdfsnlght sounds like you may be a genius when it comes to programming, but I don’t see any added value to XY jogging. Can you explain the perceived benefits a bit more to the long timers here in the forum? Quite a few of us have been using ArcDroid since it was first available, and have not had a need to bump the stylus/torch one direction or another that couldn’t be done by hand. What will this additional feature you are requesting do for production/fabrication? Thanks!
I gave my main use case in the last paragraph of the original post. I cut a lot of pieces from stock where the part edge aligns with the edge of the material (starting edge cuts). Making sure the material edge is aligned with an ArcDroid axis is required for this. Moving the torch on exactly one axis to align the material is the way I do this. Moving it by hand and using the DRO is incredibly inaccurate. Can you move the torch by hand 15” on the X axis and get the DRO to read exactly the same Y reading on the DRO? I know I can’t.
I understand cutting parts “away from the edge” of the material is very common and doesn’t benefit much from jog control. But it’s not the only way to cut.
It just seems this is such a basic feature for any CNC machine (plasma, router, 3D printer, etc). All my other CNC controllers can do this. I can’t believe it’s a difficult thing to add. I’ve written code for some my projects that do exactly this. It’s just sending gcode to the machine (e.g., G0 X10 or G0 Y10), which already understands gcode. The machine and pendant can already jog the Z axis. It just needs to add the other 2 axis.
And I understand ArcDroid is a business and they need to decide where to spend money/time on features and “adding value” is a big factor, but I’m amazed this wasn’t a feature added during development of the product itself; it’s a simple tool to do a lot of basic testing during product development.
@frdfsnlght I understand your need, but wouldn’t this or another simply fabricated “edge locator” take all the guess work out of manually manipulating the ArcDroid?
I use something similar. Nothing more than a stepped 2” long piece of 1/4” aluminum with a pin centered over the step on the side opposite of the step. (Picture the Corner Wizard w/out a dogleg) Good Luck!
