On Fri, 13 Jul 2018, Sven Wesley wrote:
Date: Fri, 13 Jul 2018 23:26:19 +0200
From: Sven Wesley <svenne.d...@gmail.com>
Reply-To: "Enhanced Machine Controller (EMC)"
<emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net>
To: "Enhanced Machine Controller (EMC)" <emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net>
Subject: Re: [Emc-users] So, how's Ethernet?
Ok, friends. This is getting interesting (AKA I'm sort of lost).
Once upon a time there was a beautiful tutorial about choosing the right
setup with Mesa boards involved, but Internet is a living thing and that
page is gone. My entire Mesa knowledge was based on that page...
So, my retrofit is not progressing because I'm lost in the
what-to-choose-problem.
The machine has DC servos with optical disc encoders, I have no data on the
motors nor the encoders but the controller has a sign saying 5A fuse +/- 60
V. I hate when the encoders are crimped to the motor shaft and even though
they are sweet I am more than willing to rip them off and replace them with
capacitive encoders tomorrow.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/svenneduva/albums/72157698570971564
I need a few pins extra. The spindle is a HF air bearing (50 k RPM) with a
pneumatic tool changing mechanism. There goes a few extra pins. The tool
changer itself is fixed but has a motor driven cover with limit switches.
So two limit inputs, motor +/- direction and then signals for releasing the
tool.
The machine itself only has homing switches so three extra inputs, or one
if serial wired. I would like to add end switches though.
The easy way out would getting a Mesa 7i92 + 7i76 combo (no LPT) and some
step/dir servo drives. But I thought the nice thing with for example a 7i77
board is that it handles all the loop back and I only need some simple
amplifier drivers to run the servos and then feed the encoder signals to
the 7i77. But, all the drivers I find they want the encoder input? And I
though they were supposed to go to the 7i77? Even worse, I bought a 7i77
card to host a set of super fancy Omron drivers once upon a time and know I
don't even understand how I was thinking when I bought them. Correct, they
were never installed and are still collecting dust.
So, IF I am going with the Mesa boards, what on Earth is the driver I
should use, and what boards? Simply, I am lost on this one... I don't know
if I'm getting old and lack the googling skills, I can't find a decent
combo anymore. Step/dir is a breeze to setup compared to this jungle. I do
understand Mesa is supporting us and everything, I just don't understand
how little documentation there is to find _how_ to choose boards and to set
them up.
An alternative is Rene's STMBL driver which looks very nice but need
another breakout board as far as I understand. If I make it to the
Stuttgart meeting next weekend we might have a German solution to my
problem. Who knows...
If you have existing (good) analog drives, a 7I77 makes the most sense since
it will read the encoder directly and control the analog drives.
If you have a newer drive that has encoder feedback to the drive itself you
can still be able to get the to work well with a 7I77 if the drive has a
analog velocity mode and has emulated encoder outputs to feed back to LinuxCNC
Both above systems have advantage of having feedback to LinuxCNC this means
you can for example disable the drives and not lose position and the homing to
index is easy to set-up, in addition linuxcnc "knows" the actual position so
the drive tuning and performance (following error )can be monitored from
LinuxCNC.
I believe you have the same advantages with the STMBL drives
A basic step/dir drive would be easier to setup however...
On Thu, Jul 12, 2018 at 10:25 PM Sven Wesley <svenne.d...@gmail.com> wrote:
These little babies. I have a few of them already and my kids have the i7
version and they are fast. Linux just runs, no trouble. One Ethernet and
Wifi in the same box. Perfect.
https://www.dustin.se/product/5011010658/nuc-kaby-lake-wifi
On Wed, Jul 11, 2018 at 3:32 PM Eric Keller <keller...@gmail.com> wrote:
Which Intel NUC did you get? A couple of years ago I got a zotac box with
dual ethernet ports thinking that I might use it as either a router or to
drive an ethernet mesa board. I think it will end up as a router.
Eric Keller
Boalsburg, Pennsylvania
On Wed, Jul 11, 2018 at 4:05 AM Sven Wesley <svenne.d...@gmail.com>
wrote:
Yes, looks like your email with the link went to me and not to the list.
Anyway, the Mesa card looks promising. Intel NUC and Mesa boards on the
way!
/S
On Tue, Jul 10, 2018 at 5:14 PM Les Newell <les.new...@fastmail.co.uk>
wrote:
I beat you to it with the same link but it looks like my email went
directly to Sven, rather than to the list. For some reason when I
reply
to this list the replies usually end up going direct to the sender
rather than to the list.
Les
On 10/07/2018 13:38, andy pugh wrote:
On 10 July 2018 at 11:47, Sven Wesley <svenne.d...@gmail.com>
wrote:
You too late, Andy. ;)
Too late in the sense that you have already bought the UC400 ?
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Peter Wallace
Mesa Electronics
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