Others will have more experience, mine is relatively recent. The 7i92 in my setup interfaces to the BOB (PMDX132 in my case). It is driving 4 axes on a shop made gantry-type mill. The actual stepper drivers on the PMDX132 are Gecko 201's, nothing stellar but it was almost free, and it works 😊
If you pick the right 7i92 version it has a DB25 as one of the 2 connectors. The Mesa board would directly connect to your PC using an ethernet cable. Gerrit -----Original Message----- From: R C <cjv...@gmail.com> Sent: June 13, 2021 9:13 PM To: emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net Subject: Re: [Emc-users] all the MESA cards talk made me think I just looked up what a PMDX132 is, part of my problem is that the parallel PCI card I used appears to be broken, and of course they are harder to get. So I wouldn't mind switching to an ethernet based controller in the PC side (Dell T5500/T7500). I have seen the 7i92 mentioned, and others, can they do multiple stepper motors? (right now I am using a parallel BOB, that connects to steopper drivers (ala DM542), which drive the actual steppers.) thanks, Ron On 6/13/21 7:03 PM, Gerrit Visser wrote: > I choose a 7i92 to connect my PC with a PMDX132 to run PathPilot (which has > LinuxCNC inside). Depending on your BOB it might be plug-play with pre-build > .bit files to configure the Mesa card. > My reason for going with ethernet version was to reduce electrical grounding > issues. Had too many of those in the past with direct connected stuff. It > also expands the choice of PC to run LinuxCNC on, doesn't need a pci or pcie > slot this way. > > Gerrit > > -----Original Message----- > From: R C <cjv...@gmail.com> > Sent: June 13, 2021 8:43 PM > To: linuxcnc-users-list <emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net> > Subject: [Emc-users] all the MESA cards talk made me think > > Hello, > > > I have a 'desktop' mill and lathe (both Sherline), and I am using a parallel > BOB and printer ports to run them. Of course one of them just gave up > (PCI printer card), I do have a spare but they are harder to come by, > besides, the setup is not really ideal? > > > What would be the best way to replace the BOB-LPT stuff? (these things are > desktop CNC machines, I am playing/learning for fun, I am not trying to > reliably machine F22 raptor jet engine parts, I am mostly turning stock into > scrap). > > > I see some cards that are in the $50 etc range, and there are the > ones that use ether/cat5 connections (are 'regular' ethernet cards > used with > those?) > > > I am looking at a lathe that has 2 steppers, and it has a quadrature encoder, > the mill has 3 steppers, and planning on adding a quadrature encoder). > > > thanks, > > > Ron > > > > _______________________________________________ > Emc-users mailing list > Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users > > > > _______________________________________________ > Emc-users mailing list > Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
