A slip ring test? What does this have to do with PoKeys? Well, we needed a cheap slip ring for one of our test projects and we got some from China. Slip rings are devices that transfer electrical signal from stator (non-rotating part of the device) to the rotor (rotating part of the device) using … Read more
This short tutorial will show you how to configure the PoKeys57CNCdb25 with Mach3 as an USB motion controller. We’ll go through plugin installation, plugin configuration and device configuration. Installation PoKeys plugin is automatically installed by PoKeys setup to C:\Mach3 folder. It requires .NET 3.5 to be installed on the PC prior installation. Note: If the … Read more
This tutorial will show how to trigger an action in Mach4 based on signal change. In Mach4, user customization options are available via simple LUA scripting language. We will map the signal to one of the PoKeys inputs and configure it to trigger the ‘Cycle start’ function. We assume you have configured the PoKeys device … Read more
It’s Easter time and we have a new product to announce – PoKeys57CNCdb25. As its name suggests, it is a PoKeys57CNC in a smaller package, a package that allows it to be directly connected to a DB-25 connector of your old CNC machine. One would think that PoKeys57CNCdb25 is only a USB to parallel port … Read more
PoKeys update 4.1.58 was just released with a few new features for PoKeys devices. New features in PoKeys update 4.1.58 We changed the PoKeys update versioning scheme. We try to release both software and firmware for PoKeys devices with the same versions in order to improve the user experience. Until now, we based our versioning … Read more
Some users asked us to implement the support RC simulator interface, that would decode the data from a general purpose R/C (remote control) receiver in order to control outputs of the PoKeys device and/or allow the PoKeys device to be used as RC simulator interface. Allow us to present how easy is to use PPM … Read more
Art Fenerty, the original author or Mach3 CNC machine controller decided to share a Christmas surprise – free version of Auggie, an augmented CNC machine controller that supports PoKeys devices directly. This gives PoKeys devices even more useful. The software supports USB CNC controllers and Ethernet CNC controllers based on the PoKeys device family (PoKeys56U, … Read more
Have you ever imagined that the same device family that is able to function as a fully fledged USB CNC controller can be used in a completely different application, like a flight simulator interface? Look at the following flight simulator (courtesy of Beau Williamson and Christopher Link). PoKeys as flight simulator interface in simulator by … Read more
We just released a new PoKeys update 3.1.67 that contains some bug fixes and new features. New features in PoKeys update 3.1.67 PoKeys update 3.1.67 brings firmware update 3.1.67 for PoKeys56 series devices and firmware update 4.1.44 for PoKeys57 series devices. The update can be downloaded here: PoKeys v3.1.67, PoBlocks, Mach3 plugin (30.11.2015).exe Matrix mapping … Read more
Have you ever considered switching your CNC from LPT to USB? Let us point out 5 reasons to do so and use a USB CNC controller instead of an ancient LPT port. 1. LPT ports are disappearing Computer industry these days has no more interest in maintaining LPT port functionality. This is a legacy port … Read more