I wanted a handheld controller for Mach 3 that I could use when laying out materials and validating tool paths as well as for jogging the torch around for manual cuts. I wanted to use a small wireless keyboard but I was having trouble finding one that had the dedicated F keys to fire the torch and such. I also wanted dedicated arrow keys to make it easy to jog around. This is the $20 solution I found. It came with a tiny 2.4ghz dongle and it’s rechargeable via micro USB.
I realize there are actual Mach-3 compatible jog controllers out there but they are 4-5 times the cost and this had all the functionality I needed for this table.
that is pretty cool, I have been thinking about printing some “hot” keys and attaching the wall behind the machine as my grey matter doesn’t store things like it use too. With a good reference I bet that hand controller could be pretty handy.
Keith, Thats not what I was looking at because I wanted a wireless option but it seems like it would work just fine. The wireless versions of that style controller are also available for ~$100.
I have one on mine and use it all the time. It’s much easier to use to jog the head to where you want it lined up on the material than going back & forth between the laptop & the table. I hang it off the torch cable support when I’m not using it so it is always right there.
