MP2CPKit

Texas MicroCircuits CNC Mini Pendant DIY Kit - MP2CP
USB "plug-n-go" Interface to Mach3
as featured in the Summer 2010 issue of Digital Machinist magazine

On June 22, 2010 at the Digital Machinist Workshop in Ann Arbor, Mi., we announced the newest products of our CNC pendant line. Based on our popular USB CNC Mini-Pendant 2 (MP2), the Mini-Pendant 2 Control Processor (MP2CP) is the heart of the pendant product we have been selling since December 2008.

Back in early 2008, one of our early design goals was to produce a CNC pendant for $99. After much development and "feature adding", our "$99" pendant would become a $275 pendant. Much of this cost was from a few expensive components such as the anodized extruded aluminum enclosure, the custom engraved panel, the high-quality pushbuttons and selector switch knob. The assembly was also labor intensive and our cost for these parts and labor far exceeded the $99 goal we had strived for early in our design goals. We opted to produce a very high quality pendant that cost much more to manufacture than we expected and many of our clients saw the value in this product and we sold many of these (along with our Z-Axis Touch-Off - ZTO) in the last 18 months. We truly believe (and have proven) that the higher cost is soon forgotten if you produce a high quality turnkey product that performs well for the client who can justify purchasing one.

However, we still believed that there had to be a way we could provide a "full featured" pendant function (equivalent to, or better than, our MP2) for $99...or less. After a lot of thought and talking to users and potential customers the answer became clear. Our customers (and potential customers) were the key to our producing a low cost, feature-rich pendant!

You see, our target audience (sales speak) was not a wide range of the general public, but a very narrow segment of highly skilled, creative artisans and craftsmen who by owning and operating CNC equipment possessed the skills and motivation to produce their own customized pendant given the proper hardware base and guidance. Many potential clients were not electrical and/or software engineers who could design their own printed circuits or write their own firmware...BUT, they WERE skilled in the fabrication and creation of CNC generated products. Even the "newbies" show a motivation to design, create and learn.

With this simple "epiphany", and TMC providing the proper electronic and firmware "heart" of the pendant function, there was now a way to produce a fully featured pendant for $99........actually as low as $69.95. With a few parts and some labor supplied by the user, and with some guidance from examples of different pendant configurations, we believe we have provided a base platform that a creative user can build a customized pendant for his specific needs, far surpassing even the MP2.

This led us to write the first of a 3 part article for the Digital Machinist magazine. The first article explains how our MP2 works and how we came to see the need to manufacture it. We then introduce the MP2CP Do-It-Yourself (DIY) kit and show a few examples of different pendant creations to help meet the budget of the DIY user. If you haven't yet acquired a copy of the Summer 2010 Digital Machinist magazine (I recommend subscribing), you can click here and read an early draft of the article complete with links to the photos and tables.

Note: Our kits are based on the assumption that the customer is skilled in simple soldering techniques (and tools) such are needed to strip wires and solder them to switches and possibly to solder LEDs to a printed circuit board. These are the only soldering skills required. All other skills needed are simple shop skills such as drilling enclosures and mounting hardware. Even text panel creation can be as simple as printing, laminating, and using an X-acto knife to cut out the front panel.
If you don't possess these skills or don't have someone with these skills who can help you, please consider purchasing a "turnkey" CNC pendant such as our MP2 instead of the MP2CP kit. Click here to enter our MP2 and ZTO main site.

Our MP2CP DIY kit is based on the functions of our MP2 pendant. The current version is only programmed for the Mach3 controller application environment under Windows. Later versions will be totally programmable by the user and will be available later this summer (and the focus of Part II of our article series in the Digital Machinist magazine.) The future "programmable" features can be retrofitted to the MP2CP products currently available (by installing a new user microchip). Detailed operation of the MP2CP functions are the same as the MP2 and are discussed in detail in the current MP2 User Guide. (click here).

To purchase any of our Kits, Combos, or Options, click here.

Below is a description and photo of the various kit models and the options that are presently available. Click on any of the photos to see a higher resolution image. We have introduced new options since the first magazine article was written.

All Kit Contents We have 3 models of MP2CP boards (listed below). These models only differ in the way the Rotary Selector Switch is mounted. Each of our MP2CP kits comes with the following: - MP2CP board with Rotary Selector Switch, assembled, tested and configured for Mach3 (Functions are equivalent to our MP2) - 4 nylon standoffs (lengths depend on flavor of board) and 4 4-40 nuts and hex key button head screws for mounting - 10ft PS2 male-male keyboard cable - High quality, robust PS2 keyboard to USB adapter (works on Windows with no special driver) - 5-18" shielded cables with 4 conductor connectors (3 wires) that are used to connect the MP2CP with joysticks, push button or toggle switches, and LEDs. These cables can be cut so each provides 2- 9" cables that plug into the MP2CP and are soldered to the external LEDs, Switches, or Joystick units. Note: Our Rotary Switch comes from 2 sources (Mouser - USA and Futurlec- Australia). The ones from Futurlec have long plastic shafts (and can be cut to length with a knife or saw) and the Mouser ones have a short plastic shaft. We can't guarantee you the long shaft one so we offer a shaft coupler, panel bushing, and aluminum shaft extender in our Enhanced Mounting Hardware Option for those that may need a longer shaft.
MP2CP with Top Mounted Rotary Selector Switch Customers ordering this MP2CP kit would most likely plan to mount the printed circuit board inside the enclosure on the bottom with all the components (Rotary Switch and connection pins) facing up. The enclosure would be relatively thin (unless they used the shaft extender provided in the Enhanced Mounting Hardware Option. All of our MP2CP kits come with all the components listed in the box above. Click on the photo on the right to see a larger view of the mounting of the Rotary Switch and the 1/4" standoffs.
MP2CP with Bottom Mounted Rotary Selector Switch Customers ordering this MP2CP kit would most likely plan to mount the printed circuit board inside the enclosure on the top panel with all the components including connection pins) facing down. The MP2CP board could be mounted by just the Rotary Switch but will be more sturdy if it is also mounted using the 5/8" supplied nylon standoffs. All of our MP2CP kits come with all the components listed in the box above. Click on the photo on the right to see a larger view of the mounting of the Rotary Switch and the 5/8" standoffs.
MP2CP with Remote Rotary Selector Switch This MP2CP configuration is new since we wrote Part 1 of the Digital Machinist article. Customers ordering this MP2CP kit would most likely need to mount the MP2CP board in a location physically apart from where they wished to mount the Rotary Selector Switch. In addition to the standards items that come with each kit, the Rotary Selector Switch is mounted on its own printed circuit board and connected to the MP2CP board with a extra cable. It comes with 1/4" nylon standoffs. Click on the photo on the right to see a larger view of the mounting of the Rotary Switch and the 1/4" standoffs.
ThumbStick Option The ThumbStick Option is new since we wrote Part 1 of the Digital Machinist article. Customers ordering this option in addition to one of the MP2CP kits above would be able to very easily add the same ThumbStick we use in our MP2 to their custom pendant. It also includes 3 green LEDS (2 of which function like the Mode LEDs in our MP2) and a dual color (red/green) status/activity LED like is used in our MP2. The ThumbStick can be cabled directly to the MP2CP. The only soldering required is to install the supplied LEDs adjusting them to the thickness of the panel. Click on the photo on the right to see a larger view of the ThumbStick Option. The engraved panel is not included or available and is only shown to demonstrate an example of the possible implementation in the user's custom pendant.
Remote Rotary Selector Switch Option The Remote Rotary Selector Switch Option is new since we wrote Part 1 of the Digital Machinist article. Customers wanting this option would most likely have ordered the MP2CP with Remote Rotary Selector Switch kit above and this is only for those who need a replacement part or want to retrofit another MP2CP kit that did not have the remote Rotary Switch option. Click on the photo on the right to see a larger view of the Remote Rotary Selector Switch Option. The engraved panel is not included or available and is only shown to demonstrate an example of the possible implementation in the user's custom pendant.
Enhanced Mounting Hardware Option This option is offered as a convenience to our customers who need extra mounting hardware to meet the needs of their custom pendant enclosure. We will post the Bill or Materials and sources for these parts should he decide he can save some money by ordering direct from these sources.
Firmware Upgrade We will keep a log posted of any firmware fixes and/or new features for the MP2CP board. At any time a customer can purchase the latest version of the firmware to update their MP2CP pendant. This upgrade replaces the microchip. It is not downloadable.
Extra Cables Option Should any of our customers require more of the cables that connect to switches, joysticks, LEDs, etc., we will sell a bundle of 5 cables. We will post a part number and source for these cables should the customer decide he save some money by purchasing them elsewhere.
Configuration Option - (Coming mid to late September 2010) This option consists of a special USB configuration cable, a connector to adapt to the PS2 keyboard cable of the pendant, and a microchip (firmware) upgrade. It should be available (along with the free PC application) sometime in mid-August 2010. It will the focus of Part 2 of our article series in the Digital Machinist magazine. We will post the Bill of Material and source for most of these parts should the customer decide he can save some money by purchasing them elsewhere.

To purchase any of our Kits, Combos, or Options, click here.

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