Mesa Control Card Recommendation

Hey guys,

I have put together a design for a machine that I am going to build, and have sorted most of the mechanical aspects.

The main issue I am having at the moment is deciding on software & electronics, there seams to be so many options its hard to find the best option for my needs. I have done a lot of reading on the forum and the wiki pages and have come to the conclusion that a Mesa card is the best solution. I would quite like to run Linux CNC on a touchscreen laptop, which will be housed in a case similar to the Fanuc or Haas controls. For this reason the ethernet versions of the Mesa cards would be good.

I really like the path-pilot screen but realise its a bit of a pain to install, so will probably get up and running on one of the standard screens and then update if needed later. I want a professional looking interface with the ability to include extra features, (external MPG & physical buttons - cycle start, feed hold, home etc.) and a robust and easy to setup environment. I feel LCNC is perfect for this.

I will be running on stepper motors, (servos would be nice but I am on a budget) and am currently looking at the Mesa 7i76e. Is this the best card to buy, or are there any other options I should look at? I haven't really found anything that compares the many cards that Mesa produce, which is a little confusing sometimes!

If somebody could give me a rundown of the best options for me that would be great! Thank you!

Jack

Go to the linuc cnc forum and find there which is the most supported controller at the moment. Thats it. Avoid exotic or new stuff.

Hi Jack,

This is an old thread, and I was wondering what you ended up getting? Did you continue with Mesa and LinuxCNC or did you go another way?

Kind Regards,
Hamish.

Hi Hamish,

Yep I got a 7i76e and am still using it, works great. Im using the QTPYVCP screen on LinuxCNC.