Question: Is there a way to program keyboard for axis movement in Lightburn?
I didn’t find any reference in the docs.
It seems tedious having to make movement via mouse clicks versus using the keyboard as in Carbide Motion software.
Should this not exist, I’d like to request is be added. (if possible)
Is there a third-party software to do this?
There are two methods to do this:
Not in any elegant way that I’m aware of although you could create a hardware based solution to possibly do this.
What does this mean? I don’t have a camera.
Is this a setting in Lightburn or is it just the keyboard numlock?
This is not related to optical focus on a camera. This is referring to window focus. In this case, the workspace must have window focus by mouse clicking somewhere in the workspace.
There is referring to the Num Lock key on the numeric keypad.
Whether the keyboard Num lock is on or off the keypad does not move the Z or Y on my Shapeoko axis?
You’re saying X moves but not Z or Y?
I’m not aware if numeric keypad can be used for Z-axis but it should definitely work for Y.
Can you confirm that you’ve clicked onto workspace before trying this?
If so, try toggling “Continuous jog”. If that makes no difference, try disabing “$J jogging” in Edit->Device Settings.
Also, pleae confirm the following:
I have fat fingers and the X&Z are right next to each other.
Yes X & Y are what I meant to type.
My machine is capable of 31 X 31 in size of cutting for the CNC. I have a laser attached but am only using 24 x 24 for that aspect.
As far as operation it is fine, I am not sure what you are trying to troubleshoot with these questions.
I was just thinking I’d be able to increase production a little by being able to operate jogging with the keyboard rather than mouse clicking buttons in the software.
I may or may not totally understand what you are asking.
I’m trying to suss out root cause for why your numeric keypad jogging may not be working. It depends on several pre-requisites for it to work properly. I’m trying to narrow down which one may be causing the issue.
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Sorry, I have been busy with other projects needing completed.
It is difficult for me to follow instructions from the forum while working on my machine. Forums are on a computer in the house and my machine is in the garage.
As far as your 1. question and keyboard, I use a laptop if that answers the question.
I tried 2. and no, it didn’t work.
3. I’ll have to write these down and give an answer later.
Forgive my ignorance but, what does “return the full output” mean?
I truly appreciate your trying to help me with this along with your patients with my not grasping everything.
Can you take a photo of your keyboard?
When you run the commands output will be generated by the controller and be passed back to LightBurn. I’d like you to capture that output and include that output in a reply on this forum. Ideally you’d be able to copy/paste the text but that may be difficult since your shop computer doesn’t seem to be connected online. So a screenshot or photo would also work but make sure that all of the output is captured as the information can scroll over multiple pages.
That keyboard numpad should work fine for jogging. Can you confirm that the numpad works correctly in a Calculator app?
Yes, it does.
By clicking in the workspace, you mean clicking the artwork/project on the screen, yes?
Then it should move the direction and the distance set on the move screen.
Not necessarily the artwork itself but the actual workspace behind the artwork. Although it’s likely that clicking the artwork would function in also focusing the workspace but I haven’t explicitly tested that.
I believe numpad follows whatever is in Move window but haven’t looked at that in some time.
There are the “Arrange / Move Laser to Selection / Jog Laser [Left|Right|Up|Down]” hotkeys, which are global and assignable in the Hotkey Editor, but there are no assignable hotkeys for the Z axis moves or A axis rotations. This seems like an unfortunate oversight.
In the programs I use for sending gcode to my grbl devices, all those functions can be mapped to hotkeys, which let me use a $4 Raspberry Pi Pico microcontroller to make a cheap and easy jog controller. I have it sending key combinations that are perfectly cromulent (and in the USB HID spec) but not available on keyboards these days, e.g. F13-F24 (with or without shift/ctrl/alt/etc), so my jog controller’s always available without any potential conflicts from using the actual keyboard.
There’s an old feature request that’s almost relevant, but it’s not really what we really want. What’d really be useful is having all jogging hotkeyed and mappable with the Hotkey Editor, and if that ever happens, I wouldn’t mind at all whipping up a RPico jog controller recipe (code and design) if anyone would want it.
