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Hello, I have owned my Stinger-I for a little over 1.5 years now but this is my first interaction with the Cam Heads forum. I am a hobby woodworker and I have been a computer geek by trade for many years. The addition of the CNC machine incorporates both of my major interests into one world.
The reason I am posting is to share the remote keyboard option that I used myself for my Stinger-I. As everyone here knows how frustrating it is to have to run to the terminal every time you want to execute a function. I have a wireless keyboard but between memorizing all of the shortcut keys and the keyboard being at the machine when I want it at the terminal or visa versa and having to go to the terminal to mouse click a macro button, I went on my own quest.
I purchased a programmable 24-key control pad made by Genovation. Model CP24 and they also have a 48-key model CP48. I paid $85 for the CP24 on Amazon. Each key can be programmed to simulate any key of a regular keyboard or each key can be programmed to perform a macro of up to 220 characters. I programmed many of the buttons to launch the exact same macro that the WinCNC software uses for the on screen mouse clickable buttons. I felt that if I wanted to change the function of any macro within WinCNC I would only have to modify it in one place and then both the on-screen and keypad would both be updated.
The CP24 does also offer the option to apply a 2nd function to each key giving the CP24 the ability of virtually having 48 keys of function. You do have to use one key as the function mode key (or shift key) to utilize this option. I have not found the need for it "yet". Both functions of each key share the 220 characters of memory so if you would decide to use the 2nd function you would only have 110 characters for each key but that is still more than plenty from what I have found so far.
The software is easy to use and it comes with a PDF manual to explain how it works. They also supply an excel and a word file to create the button labels with. I copied and pasted the bitmap files that CAMaster loads into WinCNC and resized them to fit the button cells in the provided Word document. Some I created myself. Not hard at all to do. I did have to use a USB extension cable as the cable it comes with is only 6ft long. The provided cable has a RJ-45 connector on the keypad end so the extension cable is the way to go as the RJ-45 end is not all that common on a USB type cable.
I would be glad to share the keypad file I have created if anyone is interested.
Dave
The reason I am posting is to share the remote keyboard option that I used myself for my Stinger-I. As everyone here knows how frustrating it is to have to run to the terminal every time you want to execute a function. I have a wireless keyboard but between memorizing all of the shortcut keys and the keyboard being at the machine when I want it at the terminal or visa versa and having to go to the terminal to mouse click a macro button, I went on my own quest.
I purchased a programmable 24-key control pad made by Genovation. Model CP24 and they also have a 48-key model CP48. I paid $85 for the CP24 on Amazon. Each key can be programmed to simulate any key of a regular keyboard or each key can be programmed to perform a macro of up to 220 characters. I programmed many of the buttons to launch the exact same macro that the WinCNC software uses for the on screen mouse clickable buttons. I felt that if I wanted to change the function of any macro within WinCNC I would only have to modify it in one place and then both the on-screen and keypad would both be updated.
The CP24 does also offer the option to apply a 2nd function to each key giving the CP24 the ability of virtually having 48 keys of function. You do have to use one key as the function mode key (or shift key) to utilize this option. I have not found the need for it "yet". Both functions of each key share the 220 characters of memory so if you would decide to use the 2nd function you would only have 110 characters for each key but that is still more than plenty from what I have found so far.
The software is easy to use and it comes with a PDF manual to explain how it works. They also supply an excel and a word file to create the button labels with. I copied and pasted the bitmap files that CAMaster loads into WinCNC and resized them to fit the button cells in the provided Word document. Some I created myself. Not hard at all to do. I did have to use a USB extension cable as the cable it comes with is only 6ft long. The provided cable has a RJ-45 connector on the keypad end so the extension cable is the way to go as the RJ-45 end is not all that common on a USB type cable.
I would be glad to share the keypad file I have created if anyone is interested.
Dave
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