DIY Shapeoko CNC Pendant -- Episode 420

I have made the project and can confirm that the original code runs just fine.

The behavior you described is how it is intended to function, as you can see from the code:

When pressing one of the speed buttons, the activespeed variable is being changed.

  if (buttonFast.fallingEdge()) {

    activeSpeed = SPD_FAST;

  }

The next time the loop() executes, the if statement triggers and presses a key (KEY_4)

if (activeSpeed != lastSpeed){

    digitalWrite(lastSpeedLED, LOW);

    switch(activeSpeed){

      case SPD_FAST:

        Keyboard.press(KEY_4);

        Keyboard.release(KEY_4);

        digitalWrite(PIN_LED_FAST, HIGH);

        lastSpeedLED = PIN_LED_FAST;

      break;

When pressing one of the X, Y, Z buttons, the activeAxis variable is being changed.

(uncomment the serial print to verify if your button works)

  if (buttonX.fallingEdge()) {

    activeAxis = X_AXIS;

    //Serial.println("X");

  }

HOWEVER, the corresponding button (KEY_RIGHT) is ONLY being pressed when the encoder is turned.
Pressing the X, Y or Z button only will NOT press any keyboard key.

  if (abs(newScrollPos - lastScrollPos) >= 4) { // there are roughly four presses detected from each rotation to the next detent

    if (newScrollPos - lastScrollPos > -1){ // positive increase

      switch(activeAxis){

      case X_AXIS:

        Keyboard.press(KEY_RIGHT);

        Keyboard.release(KEY_RIGHT);

      break;

In conclusion: if your CNC doesn't move, your rotary encoder is probably badly connected.

Check the connections from encoder to teensy (also the middle ground pin). If that fails, I would buy a new encoder and try again.

Hope this helped

Thomas

I have made the project and can confirm that the original code runs just fine.

The behavior you described is how it is intended to function, as you can see from the code:

When pressing one of the speed buttons, the activespeed variable is being changed.

  if (buttonFast.fallingEdge()) {

    activeSpeed = SPD_FAST;

  }

The next time the loop() executes, the if statement triggers and presses a key (KEY_4)

if (activeSpeed != lastSpeed){

    digitalWrite(lastSpeedLED, LOW);

    switch(activeSpeed){

      case SPD_FAST:

        Keyboard.press(KEY_4);

        Keyboard.release(KEY_4);

        digitalWrite(PIN_LED_FAST, HIGH);

        lastSpeedLED = PIN_LED_FAST;

      break;

When pressing one of the X, Y, Z buttons, the activeAxis variable is being changed.

(uncomment the serial print to verify if your button works)

  if (buttonX.fallingEdge()) {

    activeAxis = X_AXIS;

    //Serial.println("X");

  }

HOWEVER, the corresponding button (KEY_RIGHT) is ONLY being pressed when the encoder is turned.
Pressing the X, Y or Z button only will NOT press any keyboard key.

  if (abs(newScrollPos - lastScrollPos) >= 4) { // there are roughly four presses detected from each rotation to the next detent

    if (newScrollPos - lastScrollPos > -1){ // positive increase

      switch(activeAxis){

      case X_AXIS:

        Keyboard.press(KEY_RIGHT);

        Keyboard.release(KEY_RIGHT);

      break;

In conclusion: if your CNC doesn't move, your rotary encoder is probably badly connected.

Check the connections from encoder to teensy (also the middle ground pin). If that fails, I would buy a new encoder and try again.

Hope this helped

Thomas

Hello Thomas, thank you so much for helping me out with this, it's driving me nuts.   I bought 2 encoders, so I'll try changing them out today.  I checked the impedance on the encoder, and it changed as I rotated it, so I assumed it was working.  I used the three sided pins of the encoder, outer pin goes to pin 9 on the controller, the center pin is to ground, and the other outer pin is connected to pin 10 on the controller.   I opened the serial monitor and uncommitted the serial print line and each time I press the X,Y,X buttons it shows on the output of the serial monitor screen.  Should it repeat the X,Y,Z on the screen if I turn the encoder?   I'm still learning how to program, so this is way above my understanding.  Is there any way to see if the controller is actually sending the commands, like KEY_RIGHT?  I really need to get this working, so I really appreciate your help.  I just can't figure out what I'm doing wrong.  I have tried it on Easel, and Universal Gcode Sender, and my CNC doesn't move, but it moves if I use the up,down,left,right on my keyboard.

the commands are specific to DJs Shapeoko,

Depending on your machine you need to change the commands it sends.

If the commands are correct for your interface software it might be that the teensy does not show up as a HID for the OS, on Linux this should work find, Windows i can behave differnet depending on active drivers for other HID devices that are used on your system. MacOSX is also non problematic for most people.

Alternatively: connect the pendant directly to your machine and make it send the Gcode commands specific to your machine : this controller does pretty much that:  an Arduino micro acts as HID for an Uno that runs GRBL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOVkOZUeTwQ

Looks like the commands are the same, just sending a right,left,up,down command as a keyboard.   I'm not sure how to connect the pendent directly to my machine, I'll take a look at what you sent me and see if that will work for me.  Thanks Dave....

It's my pleasure to help, but please try to understand the code by yourself too. It's not the hardest code, well written and it's well documented.

Turning the encoder doesn't print X, Y, Z. As you can see in the code, there is no Serial.println in that part of the code.

You can test if the encoder is triggering (which I think is not the case) by adding serial.println, as an example (lines in bold):

  if (abs(newScrollPos - lastScrollPos) >= 4) { // there are roughly four presses detected from each rotation to the next detent

    if (newScrollPos - lastScrollPos > -1){ // positive increase

     Serial.println("ENCODER CLOCKWISE"); // ADDED BY THOMASVDD

      switch(activeAxis){

      case X_AXIS:

        Keyboard.press(KEY_RIGHT);

        Keyboard.release(KEY_RIGHT);

      break;

      case Y_AXIS:

        Keyboard.press(KEY_UP);

        Keyboard.release(KEY_UP);

      break;

      case Z_AXIS:

        Keyboard.press(KEY_PAGE_UP);

        Keyboard.release(KEY_PAGE_UP);

      }

    } else {

      Serial.println("ENCODER COUNTER CLOCKWISE"); // ADDED BY THOMASVDD

      switch(activeAxis){

      case X_AXIS:

        Keyboard.press(KEY_LEFT);

        Keyboard.release(KEY_LEFT);

      break;

      case Y_AXIS:

        Keyboard.press(KEY_DOWN);

        Keyboard.release(KEY_DOWN);

      break;

      case Z_AXIS:

        Keyboard.press(KEY_PAGE_DOWN);

        Keyboard.release(KEY_PAGE_DOWN);

      }

    }

    lastScrollPos = newScrollPos;

  }

Since you already mentioned the speed buttons do send characters (1,2,3,4) we know that part should work.

You could verify the CNC movement by moving the key presses to the detection of the buttons:

  if (buttonX.fallingEdge()) {

    activeAxis = X_AXIS;

    Serial.println("X");

    Keyboard.press(KEY_RIGHT);

    Keyboard.release(KEY_RIGHT);

  }

Could you tell us the exact teensy model you are using, and include a picture of the encoder connected to the teensy?

Greetings

Thomas

The controller in fact does not send any commands to the arduino directly. It sends keypresses to your PC, that's it.

Your CNC control program (Easel, universal gcode sender, whatever) interprets those and it sends the corresponding GRBL commands.

At no point is there a direct connection between the controller and arduino running grbl.

A controller like Clem made directly sends gcode, but that's a completely different project and would require the code to be re-written.

OK, I'm using the teensy 3.2   Attached are some pics of the project.  I moved the

if (buttonX.fallingEdge()) {

    activeAxis = X_AXIS;

    Serial.println("X");

    Keyboard.press(KEY_RIGHT);

    Keyboard.release(KEY_RIGHT);

  }

to the detection part of the program, and every press moves the gantry to the right, so that signal is getting through.  I changed out the encoder, but still no difference.  I took it off the breadboard and hard soldered everything together and double checked the pin connections, but no difference from when it was on the breadboard. I have the center lead of the encoder going to ground, could it possibly need to go to +    ??   Thanks Dave.....

Alright, good that we know the key pressing parts is working.

I meant a picture of the connections to the Teensy, to see how you soldered it.

Normally the encoder middle pin should be connected to ground, since the microcontroller has pullups enabled.

Look OK?

Wiring looks good too.

Try adding a println here:

long newScrollPos = encoderScroll.read();

Serial.println(newScrollPos );

The number should increase every time you turn the encoder.

As an additional check, also add these lines (will trigger if the encoder gives a pulse):

if (digitalRead(PIN_ENC_A) == LOW){

    Serial.println("ENC A TRIGGERED");

  }