A blog of ideas and improvements for Tormach CNC mills. PathPendant for Tormach Mills & Lathes. The PathPendant is a USB hot-pluggable pendant for Tormach mills and lathes running PathPilot (not compatible with Mach 3 or 4 machines). They can be built however you like, but they typically include three encoders (to adjust Feed Rate, Spindle RPM and Max Velocity) and three to six buttons which are completely customizable. Not only are they customizable, but they are hot-editable, meaning you can change what they do inside PathPilot without exiting or rebooting PathPilot. Anything that you can enter on the MDI line can be a button. Machine moves (G0 X5, G1 F40 X10 Y-2, etc). WCS changes (G54, G55, etc). Spindle Start (M3 S5000). You can also do Cycle Start and Stop. You can do all those, and change them around by editing a simple text file. The scale of the knobs is also completely adjustable. Installation is simply dropping two files into /gcode/python and restarting PathPilot. And just plug the pendant into the machine via an available USB port. I will also help walk you through the process, as necessary. This is the knob-only version, for adjusting Feed Rate, RPM and Max Velocity.