ShuttleXpress as MPG

[HowHardCanItBe]

I have an already installed keyboard emulator (via USB/Win10) from www.contourdesign.com/product/shuttle.

It's app (which tracks the foreground app and sends a keystroke macro to it after the user presses a ShuttleXpress key) was previously configured for Mach3 (unfortunately that PC died). I'm using KMotionCNC on the new PC.

To move an axis with ShuttleXpress (and Mach3), we would;
- select an axis (by pressing the X, Y, or Z button), then
- rotate the;
- - inner jog knob, or
- - outer shuttle ring.
- or press the Step + or Step - buttons (move size determined by KMotionCNC radio button selection).

I was able to find the KMotionCNC keyboard commands for the three axes;
- X: ctrl + <-, <-, shift + <-, ctrl + ->, ->, shift + ->.
- Y: ctrl + up arrow, up arrow, shift + up arrow, ctrl + down arrow, down arrow, shift + down arrow.
- Z: ctrl + page up, page up, shift + page up, ctrl + page down, page down, shift + page down.
But I don't see how I can use them with ShuttleXpress.

Are there other keyboard commands (e.g. select axis) which mirror the ShuttleXpress workflow we used with Mach3?

Or do I need to write code which could be called via hidden buttons?

[TomKerekes]

Hi HowHardCanItBe,

Maybe you could create 3 settings for the Shuttle. One where the scroll wheel would move X, another for Y and Z. Then configure the X Y Z buttons to load the corresponding settings. A manual I found seems to allow the "Computer Response" for a Button Action to be "Switch Settings".

We recommend an MPG to be connected directly to KFLOP. See the wiki here.

[HowHardCanItBe]

Thanks again for your incredibly quick support!

Unfortunately the ShuttleXpress "Switch Settings" feature just sequences through a list of settings, vice selecting a specific setting (the PC monitor isn't close by - I wouldn't know which axis was selected). From their User Manual:
suppose you have three (3) different settings for a specific program and that Button 1 is defined as “Switch to the Next Setting” for all the three settings. When the program is first loaded, the first setting is the default. When you press Button 1, you will switch to the second setting. And when you press it again, you will switch to the third setting. Press Button 1 again to go back to the first setting.

I was hoping Button 2 could select settings for my X axis, Button 3 for Y, and 4 for Z (1 & 5 unused), but alas their app doesn't provide this capability.

Looks like our quickest solution is using a Gamepad (https://www.dynomotion.com/Help/KMotion ... ionCNC.htm scroll 2/3s of the way down), since we already have one.

Thanks for the "directly to KFLOP" wiki link (and links there). That is a future goal.