Best MPG / Pendant for Mach 3 - Vista CNC 

Thanks just received my new p4-s after watching your video. Nice bit of kit. Had to dail my cnc in after using the new pendent. It made it so easy. Working to hundreds of a mill on my 6040 cnc I'm out 0.003 of a mm so I'm good at 0.00 of a millimeter. It's the cnc not the pendent. Thanks again

I have a Centroid Acorn XHC wireless MPG. I found that for it too be accurate and responsive the MPG client process has to run with a priority higher than the CNC mill software. Otherwise it loses pulses and acts the way you describe.

Thanks for doing this video! I was trying to decide between a Centroid Acorn control and UCCNC or Mach4 and this kinda seals the deal! The Acorn uses a proprietary pendant, which is made by XHC, and looks like the one you were having issues with. I've always wanted to get a VistaCNC pendant, so it was nice to see you had good luck with it.

I’m using an XHC HB04 Wireless with linuxcnc. I agree that the input lag is something to consider, but I’m fine with that. The behaviour you demonstrated looks very much like an incorrect config, as the two displays are obviously not showing the same information. The other one is nice though

nice MPG I did not realize the others were not Accurate that is crazy. the whole point is to jog the machine Accurately into position.

Thats the exact same MPG I bought! I didnt go the cheaper route first thankfully, I went all in for the P4-S, though I use it in mach 4 rather than 3/ I agree, I absolutely LOVE it!

I just messed around with the xhc one last night for about 6 hours. It nose dived my Z-axis twice. Kept losing it's position and the spindle would turn on and off randomly.

I have the same pendant and use it with LinuxCNC and I love it.

I have been looking for a better mpg for my mill this looks like it will fit the bill nicely thanks Nerdly.

I've got one of their other models that I use with UCCNC, I do really like it but it pays to be a bit cautious with their interface plugin. My model has a rotary switch to switch between step modes, and I found that if I switched too quickly between modes after rotating the dial that the axis would run away and the only way to stop it is to estop the machine. I wouldn't be surprised if it's a controller or even model specific problem.

I'd argue the x box controller is the fast pendant you could use Because you don't have to switch between the axises. You can actually move all three at the same time. There is 10 bottoms you can program as well. There is no screen with dro readout but I've never needed that personally anyway.

Hope the Syil X5 rigging and review video you'd mention a while ago is still in the pipeline. Cheers.

Wow. Love that "wine rack style" tool changer idea. I think I can do this on my mill since I have a PDB!!! Any vids on this???

Does the vistaCNC have a step/vel mode? I got the same XHC pendant just with a cable and the reason it is so bad is because its not using the MPG mode in mach. It is just pulsing the "arrow buttons" so it will not cashe imputs and will have to complete the move before it can register a new one. I got arround this issue by running the MPG wheel directly to the breakout board and setting it up in MPG mode in mach, the rest of the MPG is controlling mach via usb. But I cant get step/vel mode to work(the problem is in mach).

That looks like a calibration issue to me. The first pendant was not linear. Somehow there should be a way to perform a two point calibration.

Thanks for this review

Same experience with the cheap one

Glad that worked! Awesome!

I like the e-Stop :)

I have a P2-S from VISTA CNC. It stopped working after about a year. Tried to contact the tech support but no response. It is an expensive "brick" in my shop for now...

You didnt say it name or disciption to where to buy it

Hi Nerdly, excuse me but I need your help. I setting my cnc with mach3. Axis are calibrated. When I lead a gcode, it run ok one turn. At the second round run and stop. No errors message, go to zero run. All run but the program no. Why? The depth of piece is 9mm in 5 tours. Excuse me for my english.

Hi there, just trying to the XHC controller working with Mach 4, lost the USB and recevied a new one and cant get the pendant to communicate with USB stick. Driving me nuts, do you have an email would like to speak to you about the vista CNC pendant and to see if anything new on the market for mach 4. I think I will purchase one of these Vista's but I see its a few years since last post so maybe thinks have moved on

I don't quite understand how this works? I looked at the vista site your using I think the P4 S so all you need to do is load software somehow? like to understand more if you can. I keep running into trouble with my set up. I have a Taig mill using their micro proto 3 axis driver there is little to understand how it works. I can't add limit switches as I have no instructions on where to install them etc.

I have one of those XHC units on my Centroid Acorn machined and it works flawlessly. Must be something to do with the interaction with Mach 3?

Put it on the multi-step mode

How hard was it to hook up and setup. I have Mach3 with a smooth stepper board on a homemade cnc mill.

Hi Nerdly, Would a cheap MPG / Pendant for HAAS be possible?

Centroid acorn is the way to go

Wiring

i once crashed my haimer thanks to one of those xhc pieces of shit misinterpreting the direction i was rotating my dial, which resulted in the z going down rather than up. and because the input lag is so high, i couldn't even stop it before it had permanently damaged the haimer. smh