What all can the joystick do?

I just got my joystick and it makes moving the spindle around much easier! I’m wondering if there is anything else I can do with the joystick?

Q: Can it be used to control the cursor on the tiny screen, and select items?

Q: Can it be used to set the zero mark?

Thanks all!

Sorry, no and no.
All it can do is drive xy and z around.
But! At 4 different speeds and able to lock x, drive y or lock y drive x.

Now don’t underestimate just how useful this is.

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Darn right its useful! I just clamped down a fixture I had (a Shopsmith planer blade sharpening fixture), inserted my 13 inch DeWalt planer blades and skimmed them nice and sharp using a Dremel diamond wheel in my 1/8 Makita collet. I skimmed them using the screen .5mm button on the Z axis. I was careful to skim several passes before dropping another .5mm. When all nicks were cleaned up on both sides of all 3 blades I installed them back in the planer. Planes like new now. Be sure to mark the blade sides 1 and 2 and skim them to the same depth. Side 2 does not have to match side 1 if it needs more or less depth. Just keep all side 1’s the same and all side 2’s the same. Now that’s a way to save some money!
I am going to try some 1/4 inch shank wheels which I think will work even better.

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Does anyone use the joystick similar to a manual Mill lead screw? IE for flattening boards so you dont need to build a CNC file to skim cut a board?

Yes I have done this both on my spoil board as well as on a few signs I created, saves you creating files and you can just hit the spots you want.

Just make sure you hit one of the TOP buttons to lock out Z or you’ll have holes you were not anticipating.

-Alex

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Wait - lock x, y, and z? How? I really need that!

-Tom

On top you have two long horizontal buttons. Hold the left one while pushing left or right on the top left joy stick and your router will run along the x axis without wavering. Hold down on the right button while pushing the same joystick up or down and the router will travel along the y axis without wavering.

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-Alex

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Alden & Alex, thank you for this info & pic… hidden tips & tricks no more!

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This was SUPER helpful! Thanks for posting this. I’m BRAND new to CNC and just got my Onefinity set up yesterday. Was trying to figure out what all the controls did. Thanks again!!

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Glad I could help and welcome to the OF Team.

-Alex

If the top two quadrants are Onefinity mode, what are the other possibilities, or are there none.

Too bad it’s not possible to switch to one of the other modes and be able to control the cursor.

It sounds like the X and Y lock buttons are momentary not toggles, so you have to press and hold for as long as you want to use the lock feature.

Is that how it works?

The other modes are for video games on a PC.

So there is currently no way to utilize those other modes with the
Onefinity or I guess more correctly a Buildbotics controller on a Pi 3B.

And the X and Y lock buttons?

You must press and hold the shoulder buttons to lock x y.