Pendant is any sort of control separate from the machine itself.
An SO5 Pro will come with an Emergency Stop/Feed-hold pendant, and a BitRunner will have a “Spindle Enable” pendant.
The typical function for a pendant is jogging the machine — there are a couple of options:
- using the computer/mouse/trackpad/keyboard/touchscreen/stylus — for smaller machines or some setups, this is perfectly workable
- using a numeric keypad (possibly w/ custom key mapping) — the standard keyboard shortcuts are set up to allow this to work: Carbide Create V7 Keyboard Shortcuts and c.f.,
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using a game controller: Using a Game Controller with CM513 and later (I find the control layout kind of confusing, and the device itself awkward)
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using a game pad and remapping the buttons as noted above
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actually building your own — there have been some really amazing efforts on this front, one on the Shapeoko forums including a Raspberry Pi and touch screen in addition to button controls and a joystick, and there was the nifty Streamdeck noted above — I sourced the hardware for this, but never got around to actually doing the project, bought a Techkeys unit instead: