How to center workpiece after homing?

[lorenolepi]

Hi Guys,
Just upgraded my shapeoko 3 to the XXL that includes homing switches. Im really excited to use it but running into a little trouble right from the start and it with the basic zeroing of the machine. Before I had homing switches I would zero the router on the workpiece and then turn on machine... boom it was set to zero! All I would have to do is jog the machine up on the machine and hit run. Now the machine goes to the home and I need to jog over to the work piece to set sero. Does this mean I need to fixture the workpiece and somehow automatically jog to the workpiece??
I'm not understanding how I can jog the machine to zero from my computer while still seeing where the endmill is on the workpiece as they are some distance away (I'm using a desktop with usb extenders). How is this magic done???

[WillAdams]

This may help: http://carbide3d.com/docs/tutorials/tool-change/

c.f., https://www.shapeoko.com/wiki/index.php ... te_Systems

[lorenolepi]

Thank you... that document was very helpful and was exactly what I was looking for.
It also confirms that I need to jog to the work-piece. This is problematic for me as I'm on a desktop that is located about 15ft away from my machine.. making it really hard to see the work-piece. So I was thinking of ways to be able to jog "remotely" from my shapeoko XXL. A cheap and effective way I found was using "Real VNC".
Real VNC allows me to remote into my desktop via a phone/tablet and I'm able to hit the jog buttons on the desktop remotely on the wireless devices. Although not the ultimate solution, it is a working solution for now and its free! Kinda slick too when you show your friends that your controlling your machine through your phone...lol

So what are other people using/doing for jogging remotely?? Is there any jog wheels that can be plugged in (thinking of what I see on CMM machines)
Also is there any probe solutions for the XXL? And do probes only work on metal parts?

[WillAdams]

If your machine has Bluetooth it's easy to connect a Wii Remote and map its buttons to the keyboard controls, or just use a numeric keypad:

https://www.shapeoko.com/wiki/index.php/Pendant

Surprised maintaining a connection isn't a problem at that distance.

[lorenolepi]

That's awesome... I like the numeric Keypad option!

To maintain the connection between the desktop and machine I'm using active usb2 extender cables, as I don't want my computer too close the action.
https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Hi ... able&psc=1

[lorenolepi]

I tried it out with a keyboard and a wireless keyboard and I'm really liking the ability to jog using the key commands
I was able to get X&Y to move using the arrow keys but unable to get the Z to move, nor change the increments on either keyboard. I tried num locks on/off... used both numbers sets 1,2,3,4,5 and other page up/page buttons, etc.. but still no luck with either keyboard.
Any clues? I was thinking about getting the wireless numeric keypad but wanted to make sure it will work before spending the $$
Running build 4.0.406 of carbide motion

[WillAdams]

I do not know if they changed the default keyboard options for CM4 --- I'd hope not.

I'd thought we had the keys broken out....