CNC12 with no VCP? <answered>

[kyanite]

Hello everyone, I've got a 1989 Kitamura Mycenter Zero that I'm planning to convert to Centroid Acorn
with a Chinese 2.2kW, 8,000 RPM spindle, and Delta ASDA-A2 drives with ECMA servos.

I don't really want to add a monitor arm to this machine, and a 16:9 screen won't fit. Is it possible to re-map the VCP buttons using the USB-BOB, or two USB-BOBs, or maybe a combination of the wireless pendant and USB-BOB?
This would give me a 4:3 aspect ratio that might actually be a usable touchscreen size and would fit a 10.4" screen in the original cabinet.
At best, the front cabinet is only 10-7/8" wide inside.

The buttons I think I’d need that aren’t on the wireless pendant are:
Park, Limit Switch Defeat, Reset Home, Incremental/Continuous, and Single Block.

I'm not sure if there are specific buttons that can't be set as inputs on the USB-BOB.
Is it possible to remap like this?

Any help with this would be really appreciated!

[centroid467]

From the USBBOB manual, the following are canned functions that you can select from the Wizard: Limit Defeat, Incremental/Continuous, and Single Block.

There is an alternate way to access the parking function within CNC12. Park can be accessed from the shutdown menu. That is, F10 Shut Down Menu > F1 Park. Should be pretty simple with touchscreen or a keyboard.

Resetting home may be a valid Aux function to assign to the USBBOB Aux # Key input. I do not know if that works without a VCP or full physical jog panel.
You could also try using the Find Home and Set Home functions in F1 Setup > F3 Config > F2 Machine or load and execute your cncm.hom depending on the intent in resetting home.

Specific buttons that cannot be put on the USBBOB? Short list would be E-Stop and Reset. Well, Reset could be allowed but we do not provide it as a canned function for the USBBOB.

[kyanite]

Thank you for your response.

I thought using Cycle Cancel and Cycle Start on the wireless MPG functioned as a reset. I've used Park with an MPGmacro before, but not with the VCP turned off. I don't really know enough about how the VCP works to know if it would even affect it.

I see in the USB-BOB PDF that Incremental/Continuous and Single Block are available.
So that just leaves Reset Home, Limit Switch Defeat, and Jog Fast/Slow.

Park and Jog Fast/Slow are nice to have, but they won’t stop me from using the machine if they’re missing.

[centroid467]

Limit Switch Defeat and Jog Fast/Slow are also provided in the Wizard for USBBOB.

[Allin1Chris]

Thank you for your response.

I thought using Cycle Cancel and Cycle Start on the wireless MPG functioned as a reset. I've used Park with an MPGmacro before, but not with the VCP turned off. I don't really know enough about how the VCP works to know if it would even affect it.

I see in the USB-BOB PDF that Incremental/Continuous and Single Block are available.
So that just leaves Reset Home, Limit Switch Defeat, and Jog Fast/Slow.

Park and Jog Fast/Slow are nice to have, but they won’t stop me from using the machine if they’re missing.

There is a Limit Switch Defeat and Fast/Slow input option for USB-BOB as well. For ResetHome, it would be easiest to use an Auxkey function and set it to run a macro.

The VCP button will run a macro from the system's folder called "home_machine_cycle.cnc". So you can create a mfuncXX.mac file in main directory that uses G65 to call this file. Then setup the aux key to run that m-code.

CNC12 will operate the same with or without the VCP. The VCP's only "unique" feature is that it can call macros directly with button presses. Other than that all other inputs are handled by PLC which will function the same with or without it. In other words, VCP is just another input device for the PLC, and can be used simultaneously with or not with other similar input devices such as Physical control panel and USB-BOB.

[kyanite]

Thanks, Allin1Chris, for clearing that up for me. Glad to know I can turn off the VCP and still use mfuncXX.mac files and Aux keys to make this work. The tool changer with its gripper arm will probably be the most difficult part.