Control panel hardware buttons

Working on sort of a universal LinuxCNC control panel. I might have to make a few of these to get some of the costs down. Since it's using a touchscreen, alot of the hard buttons are irrelevent with most UIs. I really only see a use for an Estop and an MPG, maybe an axis selector....

Anyway I have a little bit of space under the touchscreen. Be kind of ashamed to get it all cut and realize I want to add more hard buttons/switches. I can't really think of what would be the most necessary stuff besides what I already mentioned. I've always used Gmoccapy and it's already all pretty much there. Was thinking about trying Qtdragon out as well.

Any suggestions on what to add to that limited space? I couldn't find models for the touchscreen or keyboard I intend to use so I just made dummy models, but the keyboard is industrial with a trackball and it's a 15.6" 16:9 touchscreen. The holes are just for reference until I figure out what I'm adding there.

 
 

 

Nice.

Without dimensions it's hard to say what you could fit vs. what you want.  Also depends on what kind of machine and what features it has.

I managed to get a 4x8 matrix worth (for a 7i73) of 11mm tact buttons in a package about 3"x6".  Switches soldered to perf-board and hand-wired.

With some clever wiring you could do a 4x8 matrix but physically lay it out 2x16 to fit it under your monitor.  3d print a bezel and you're in business.

Suggestions for physical buttons... depends on what's missing from the GUI of your choice.  I'd recommend adding a matrix worth of buttons to the basic design especially if you're punching out a couple/few of them.

If you don't use them for primary controls you can still add a bunch of hard-wired macros so you don't have to flip through pages on the GUI or add screen buttons.

The previously mentioned panel- also based on a 15.6 touchscreen.

The guts, if it helps while you're in the planning phase.

Yeah I suppose that's a good idea, just to have some space for some user programmable buttons. I have my milling machine in mind but like I said, I kind of want it to be sort of universal since I'll probably have to make a few. Maybe I'll extend that portion under the touchscreen to get some grid buttons in there.

What PCB mount switches are you using on yours? Are they the kind you can pull the caps off and add a label to?

These look pretty good for matrix keys, could whip up a custom PCB fairly easily.

www.honyone.com/en/products/show_104.html