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  1. #11
    Ross77's Avatar
    Lives in Devon, United Kingdom. Last Activity: 2 Weeks Ago Has been a member for 9-10 years. Has a total post count of 759. Received thanks 27 times, giving thanks to others 52 times.
    Really tempted with EMC2, mesa boards and path pilot. I was looking at Tormach in the first place so now that they have moved to Linux and pathpilot in beta for non TM machines then that will be good enough for me.

    Just put off by learning Linux.

    Which Mesa cards do you use?

  2. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Ross77 View Post
    Really tempted with EMC2, mesa boards and path pilot. I was looking at Tormach in the first place so now that they have moved to Linux and pathpilot in beta for non TM machines then that will be good enough for me.

    Just put off by learning Linux.

    Which Mesa cards do you use?
    You won't need to learn Linux, you'll end up with a desktop and mouse like a windows machine, you'll only need to go "deep" if you want to.

    If you can run win and mach you can run LinuxCNC, allot of people get spooked by the word Linux :).

    .Me
    Last edited by Lee Roberts; 13-07-2016 at 10:54 PM.
    .Me

  3. #13
    Ross77's Avatar
    Lives in Devon, United Kingdom. Last Activity: 2 Weeks Ago Has been a member for 9-10 years. Has a total post count of 759. Received thanks 27 times, giving thanks to others 52 times.
    Thanks Lee.
    Ive been on the linuxcnc page and the cnczone tormach section and it seems you have to tinker with the settings quite a bit for non tormach machines.

    If I could pick up a disc and cheap mesa card in the Uk then Id probably have a crack at it.

  4. #14
    Clive S's Avatar
    Lives in Marple Stockport, United Kingdom. Last Activity: 22 Hours Ago Forum Superstar, has done so much to help others, they deserve a medal. Has been a member for 9-10 years. Has a total post count of 3,333. Received thanks 618 times, giving thanks to others 78 times. Made a monetary donation to the upkeep of the community. Is a beta tester for Machinists Network features.
    I use the mesa 5i25 + 7i76 which from the manual gives:-


    The 7I76 is daughtercard/breakout board for use with MESA's 25 pin I/O FPGA
    cards like the 5I25. The 7I76 is designed for interfacing up to 5 Axis of step &dir step
    motor or servo motor drives and also provides a spindle encoder interface, isolated analog
    spindle speed control and 48 isolated I/O points for general purpose field I/O use.
    All step and direction outputs are buffered 5V signals that can drive 24 mA. All
    outputs support differential mode to reduce susceptibility to noise. An isolated analog
    spindle voltage with direction and enable outputs is provided for spindle control as is a
    single spindle encoder channel with TTL or differential inputs.

    48 points of isolated field I/O are provided for general control use including limit
    switch and control panel inputs, coolant enable and tool changer control outputs. Isolated
    I/O includes 32 sinking inputs and 16 sourcing outputs. Inputs can sense 5V to 32V signals
    and the outputs can switch 5V through 32V signals. Maximum output load is 300 mA.

    Outputs are short circuit protected. Field I/O is powered by an isolated 8-32V field power
    source.

    The 7I76 provides a one channel encoder interface with index. This is intended as a spindle encoder but can be used for other purposes. The encoder input can be programmed for differential or single ended encoders. The encoder interface also provides short circuit protected 5V power to the encoder. When used with single ended encoders, the ENCA+, ENCB+ and IDX+ signals are wired to the encoder and the ENCA-,ENCB-, and IDX- terminal left unconnected.

    Mesa cards can be purchased in Europe.

    Last edited by Clive S; 13-07-2016 at 11:25 PM.
    ..Clive
    The more you know, The better you know, How little you know

  5. #15
    Ross77's Avatar
    Lives in Devon, United Kingdom. Last Activity: 2 Weeks Ago Has been a member for 9-10 years. Has a total post count of 759. Received thanks 27 times, giving thanks to others 52 times.
    Do you use Pathpilot with that? how difficult was it implement the spindle encoder?

  6. #16
    Clive S's Avatar
    Lives in Marple Stockport, United Kingdom. Last Activity: 22 Hours Ago Forum Superstar, has done so much to help others, they deserve a medal. Has been a member for 9-10 years. Has a total post count of 3,333. Received thanks 618 times, giving thanks to others 78 times. Made a monetary donation to the upkeep of the community. Is a beta tester for Machinists Network features.
    Quote Originally Posted by Lee Roberts View Post
    You won't need to learn Linux, you'll end up with a desktop and mouse like a windows machine, you'll only need to go "deep" if you want to.

    If you can run win and mach you can run LinuxCNC, allot of people get spooked by the word Linux :).

    .Me
    Lee it is a leaning curve but so is a cad or cam program. Linuxcnc is very easy to install from the live CD. and there is a wizard for setting up the drives and motors but after that you have to edit the ini and hal files to tweak it. One problem is homing with a slaved axis but it has been addressed but still not easy to do. (For me anyway)
    Last edited by Clive S; 13-07-2016 at 11:32 PM.
    ..Clive
    The more you know, The better you know, How little you know

  7. #17
    Clive S's Avatar
    Lives in Marple Stockport, United Kingdom. Last Activity: 22 Hours Ago Forum Superstar, has done so much to help others, they deserve a medal. Has been a member for 9-10 years. Has a total post count of 3,333. Received thanks 618 times, giving thanks to others 78 times. Made a monetary donation to the upkeep of the community. Is a beta tester for Machinists Network features.
    Quote Originally Posted by Ross77 View Post
    Do you use Pathpilot with that? how difficult was it implement the spindle encoder?
    No I don't use PathPilot but do use the spindle encoder for the lathe and that is very easy to setup I have also setup jog wheels for X and Z on the lathe.

    There is a tutorial on the other channel by cncbasher to set up PP. https://forum.linuxcnc.org/forum/pat...tutorial-part1

    I used the same control box for the Mill and the Lathe and just use two different profiles.
    Last edited by Clive S; 13-07-2016 at 11:39 PM.
    ..Clive
    The more you know, The better you know, How little you know

  8. The Following User Says Thank You to Clive S For This Useful Post:


  9. #18
    Ross77's Avatar
    Lives in Devon, United Kingdom. Last Activity: 2 Weeks Ago Has been a member for 9-10 years. Has a total post count of 759. Received thanks 27 times, giving thanks to others 52 times.
    Hi Clive
    Could you elaborate on using PP without a mesa card? all the posts I read say that PP wont install without a mesa card.

    Do you not need the control card to take some processing power off the main pc?

  10. #19
    Clive S's Avatar
    Lives in Marple Stockport, United Kingdom. Last Activity: 22 Hours Ago Forum Superstar, has done so much to help others, they deserve a medal. Has been a member for 9-10 years. Has a total post count of 3,333. Received thanks 618 times, giving thanks to others 78 times. Made a monetary donation to the upkeep of the community. Is a beta tester for Machinists Network features.
    Quote Originally Posted by Ross77 View Post
    Hi Clive
    Could you elaborate on using PP without a mesa card? all the posts I read say that PP wont install without a mesa card.

    Do you not need the control card to take some processing power off the main pc?
    Ross I think I might have mislead you. When I said using the PP I meant parallel port You can use LInuxcnc with the parallel port and a simple BOB to do threading on the lathe with an encoder on the spindle.

    I am at this time using just Linuxcnc with the axis front end. But I might have a go with PathPilot

    But I am pretty sure you can setup PathPilot also with the parallel port and a simple BOB. Did you have a read at the link by cncbasher on the tutorials to set it up. Tutorial three mention setting up PathPilot with the PP.
    ..Clive
    The more you know, The better you know, How little you know

  11. #20
    Ross77's Avatar
    Lives in Devon, United Kingdom. Last Activity: 2 Weeks Ago Has been a member for 9-10 years. Has a total post count of 759. Received thanks 27 times, giving thanks to others 52 times.
    Ah that make sense. yes I have been al over the place trying to get up to speed with it all. I've been watching the Path pilot demos and it look really good. so quick and easy for R&D as well as production. it looks like it can be fussy on the PC used so the costs are slowly creeping up. Might just try Linixcnc and shift to Pathpilot later.

    Thanks

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