Intercon wish list.

[cnckeith]

hey guys, thanks for the suggestions, i am logging them.
at some point in 2023 we hope to start a complete rewrite of Intercon, all your suggestions will be part of that project! so keep them coming.

Kieth,

Thanks for being open to input. My suggestion is the addition of Intercon stick lettering, or bonus points for stick lettering & TrueType fonts. It would be nice to engrave text along a line, or wrapped around a radius. It would also be helpful to be able to edit character height, width, and spacing independently.

Even without, intercon is great!

thanks!

for engraving we recommend Cut2D

or you can draw stick lettering in qcad and import into intercon using the 'engraving' option in intercon or DXF import.

would be nice to have basic conversational style text engraving inside of intercon kinda like Millwrite did all those years ago for sure.

[Scary]

YES! definitely some form of basic engraving text and crosshairs. Would be brilliant for part labelling or marking alignment points on workpieces for field identification/fabrication.

[Scary]

Hi all.
I was wondering if it is possible to allow you to write subroutines in intercon? I have manually edited the programs after posting to the controller and it works but it would be nice to be able to make a repeated routine in intercon, possibly after the "end program" line that you can call therefore keeping it all together rather than opening other program files.

[cnckeith]

You can Insert any macro inside of intercon simply by using the insert M & G code key

You can also turn any intercon generated g code program into a macro and call it from any other program. Look up m98 in the user manual

There are also all the basic repeat, rotate mirror etc built into intercon. So if you're just trying to do that stuff, use the ones that are built in anything more complicated than that. You can write your own macro and call it within dinner or have intercon be the sub program

[amegger]

I would like to see a a manual chamfering or “dual jog” function for lathe. I’ve used a bridgeport Ezpath lathe that had this function and it was very handy. Basically you handwheel to a position to start a chamfer, select 1 of 4 directions for the chamfer then when the function is active moving one handwheel would jog both axis, at the selected angle. Very quick when you just need a chamfer and don’t want to spend the time programming one.
I apologize if this is already a thing but couldn’t find anything when searching.

[cncsnw]

That is exactly what the one-shot Chamfer operation is for; except that it moves at a specified feedrate, rather than moving with an MPG handwheel.

With current software, you can create a dual jog button on the VCP that will do jogging moves on Z and X simultaneously.

There is no provision for moving both axes simultaneously with one MPG handwheel.

[rollinschris61]

I would also love to see a way to quickly enter in a value of angle and hand wheel a chamfer/taper or radius on lathes. Similar to what the Bridgeports and prototraks have. It’s so valuable for being able to blend things together in the repair type of work I do. It’s literally the only reason I haven’t retrofitted my lathe with a oak or acorn 6 because it’s just so dang handy.

[rollinschris61]

Also being able to pickup on an existing taper that you don’t know the angle of is super simple with being able to handle wheel it. Just enter in a degree that’s close and sweep it back and forth with an inductor, adjusting the degree value till dialed in. I know there are other ways of picking up on a taper but I feel this is by far the fastest and most accurate.
I feel like having those kind of capabilities really bridges the gap between manual lathes and full blown cnc. It’s almost like having a compound lol. Anyone that’s ran a EZ path, prototrak or like I have an older Chevalier lathe with a dying anilam controller, knows how useful it is. I think it would be a popular option (even if it was a paid add on) because in the repair world you need to do these kind of things daily. Anyway Love your product and would love to see it grow.