Hi,
I want to share my setup, how I control Estlcam (or other CNC software that works with keyboard shortcuts) with a cheap 7€ bluetooth Gamepad.
Have a look on my video.
I Used JoyToKey software to map activation/direction/speed keys to the joypad.
F2 is the jog activation key in Estlcam. I mapped F2 and direction key together to the gamepad cross/buttons. So I dont have to press/click the activation key.
The rear buttons I mapped with the different jogging speeds (Key 1-5 on the Keyboard).
Pushing the cross on the gamepad without an speed button results in very slow movement (setting is 0,1% in Estlcam). This allows to jog 0,01mm steps and is a safety feature.
If you want to move faster, you need to press 2 buttons at the same time.
After a few minutes of doing nothing, my gamepad goes in sleep mode, and I have to reconnect it by pressing the home button on the pad. Not a big issue and another safety thing actually.
Everything works very well. It always behaves as expected, no delay, no lag, just perfect!
I autostart and auto-minimize JoyToKey, so everything stays in the background and works from the beginning with the start of Estlcam.
Also I assigned the JoyToKey profile to the Estlcam Controller Programm, so the inputs are working in the Estlcam control software, even when another program is active.
Unfortunately the keyboard input appears in other programs, too. So be careful. Maybe this can get solved somehow.
This might work with other CNC control software, too, if there is no native Gamepad support.
I also tested a setup with the analog joysticks.
I got it working, but its not intuitive, so I discarded it.
Here es how it looks in JoyToKey
Not shown in the video: I mapped also the feed rate and spindle speed override and “program stop” on the gamepad. But due to the sleep mode of the pad, this does not work all the time and using the program stop as a emergency button on the gamepad is not save.