Emulated Tormach PathPilot Operator Console Controls

R&D, Software and Electronics by Steve Richardson (steve.richardson@makeitlabs.com)

This is the 2023 version of the custom pendant built for the MakeIt Labs Tormach CNC mill. Unlike the legacy version (circa 2017, contained in branch pathpilot1-custom-integration), which required extensive customization to PathPilot 1.x to function, this version emulates the official Tormach controls that have recently become available. This means it works with unmodified versions of PathPilot 2.9.2 onward - a vast improvement, allowing us to keep the control software up-to-date without a tedious manual patching process each time.

Physical pendant based on Teensy LC (or Teensy 3) hardware

• physical CYCLE START, FEED HOLD, STOP buttons (potentially others)
• physical rotary encoder for max velocity control 0-100%, good when proving new G-Code or for new users
• physical rotary encoder for feed rate override 0-200%
• physical rotary encoder for spindle RPM override 0-200%
• RGB LED status indicator for error conditions, ready, etc.
• handheld pendant wheel support for step/continuous jogging of X,Y,Z,A axes with various step distances

Note that other Teensy 3 devices will work if you do some work to remap the pins appropriately. The changes to the Teensy cores should work on any Teensy 3 or Teensy LC, but will not work on Teensy 4 unless the changes are ported. To date only Teensy LC and Teensy 3.5 have been tested.

Firmware Environment

The firmware builds using Teensyduino, the Arduino environment wrapper for the Teensy series of microcontroller boards. A customized version of the Teensy 'cores' are required, as it contains the customized USB HID implementation necessary for the controls to work.

This firmware was developed using the Linux version of the Arduino environment, but it should be possible to use any of the supported platforms with some changes to the process.

Extract "Legacy" Arduino 1.8.x and rename the extracted directory to denote that it is modified for this purpose, since the Teensy "cores" files will be modified.

steve@ubuntu-22:~$ cd
steve@ubuntu-22:~$ tar xvJf Downloads/arduino-1.8.19-linux64.tar.xz   

[tar output...]

steve@ubuntu-22:~$ mv arduino-1.8.19 arduino-tormach

Download and install the Teensyduino add-ons from https://www.pjrc.com/teensy/td_download.html

steve@ubuntu-22:~$ wget https://www.pjrc.com/teensy/td_157/TeensyduinoInstall.linux64 -P ~/Downloads

steve@ubuntu-22:~$ chmod 755 ~/Downloads/TeensyduinoInstall.linux64 

steve@ubuntu-22:~$ ~/Downloads/TeensyduinoInstall.linux64 

The Teensyduino installer will ask for your Arduino folder. Make sure you point it to the one you just extracted and renamed above.

Move aside the installed cores files and clone https://github.com/makeitlabs/teensyduino-cores branch tormach-controls in its place. Be sure to clone that repo into the cores directory.

steve@ubuntu-22:~$ cd ~/arduino-tormach/hardware/teensy/avr

steve@ubuntu-22:~/arduino-tormach/hardware/teensy/avr$ mv cores cores.orig

steve@ubuntu-22:~/arduino-tormach/hardware/teensy/avr$ git clone -b tormach-controls https://github.com/makeitlabs/teensyduino-cores cores

Note: alternately, use SSH to clone if you're going to be editing the repo, e.g. git clone -b tormach-controls git@github.com:makeitlabs/teensyduino-cores.git cores

Clone this repository to your Arduino projects folder.

steve@ubuntu-22:~$ cd ~/Arduino/
steve@ubuntu-22:~/Arduino$ git clone https://github.com/makeitlabs/tormach-pendant

Note: alternately, use SSH to clone if you're going to be editing the repo, e.g. git clone git@github.com:makeitlabs/tormach-pendant.git

Back up the installed Teensyduino boards.txt file and replace it with the one cloned from this repository

steve@ubuntu-22:~/Arduino$ cd ~/arduino-tormach/hardware/teensy/avr
steve@ubuntu-22:~/arduino-tormach/hardware/teensy/avr$ mv boards.txt board.txt.orig
steve@ubuntu-22:~/arduino-tormach/hardware/teensy/avr$ cp ~/Arduino/tormach-pendant/boards.txt .

Run the modified Arduino environment and open the .ino file

steve@ubuntu-22:~$ ~/arduino-tormach/arduino &

Select "Teensy LC" for the board and "Tormach Controls" for the USB type

Board: Teensy LC

USB Type: Tormach Controller

If these options don't show up, something likely went wrong with your install process above.

Build code and program the Teensy

Avoid the Updates pitfall

The Arduino evironment will helpfully try to suggest upgrading your libraries. Don't do this, as it will overwrite the customized version you installed. This will happen every time you start the Arduino environment, so watch out in the future.

Hardware Pinout

(This mapping is based on the legacy hardware with some additions, subject to change)

Pin name	Pin number
PIN_BEACON_BLUE	0
PIN_BEACON_GREEN	1
PIN_BEACON_AMBER	2
PIN_BEACON_RED	3
PIN_BTN_START	4
PIN_BTN_STOP	6
PIN_BTN_FEED	7
PIN_BTN_M1	8
PIN_BTN_FOV	10
PIN_BTN_SOV	18
PIN_ENCODER_A	11
PIN_ENCODER_B	12
PIN_JOG_A	14
PIN_JOG_B	15
PIN_LED_START	5
PIN_LED_FEED	16
PIN_LED_M1	17
PIN_LED_RFID	21