Re: [Emc-users] MESA card suggestions

[zz912]

Hello Alan,

You can start with one 7i96s.

Then you can add one 7i84.

Then you can add 7i74 for 8 pieces 7i84.

Or you can start with 7i96s + 7i74 + (2 to 9) * 7i84 imidietaly.

I dont like sharing inputs. For control panel you can use input matrix.

Zdenek

"-- Původní zpráva --
Od: andy pugh 
Datum: 15.12.2023 23:50:24
Předmět: Re: [Emc-users] MESA card suggestions

On Fri, 15 Dec 2023 at 22:19, alanmthomason--- via Emc-users
wrote:

> I am looking for a suggestion for the best MESA card to be used with
>
> an ethernet connection
>
> 4axes
>
> Teknic servo / stepper taking a step/direction input of 5 to 24V
>
> Ideally this would be in a format that I could mount in a simple 
enclosure.
>
> 3digital inputs per axis, so 12inputs
>
> 1 additional digital output.

The 7i96S is available (unlike the 7i76E, which would be another good
choice) but it is a little short of IO, having one input fewer than
you require. (And maybe you want a probe too? and some external
alarms, coolant level sensing...(
You can easily add extra IO with a smart-serial card such as the 7i84.
(Though there are 17 unprotected GPIO pins on the expansion connector
too, but using those as bare pins is something I would only suggest to
the electronically confident)

-- 
atp
"A motorcycle is a bicycle with a pandemonium attachment and is
designed for the especial use of mechanical geniuses, daredevils and
lunatics."
— George Fitch, Atlanta Constitution Newspaper, 1912


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Re: [Emc-users] MESA card suggestions

[andy pugh]

On Fri, 15 Dec 2023 at 23:16, Peter Wallace  wrote:

> With maximum sharing you could get away with only 5 inputs
> (4 home switches and a combined limit input)

Well, with maximum maximum sharing you can get away with a single
input for all limits and homes. But it's asking for trouble if you get
stuck on one.
Separate positive and negative limits is nice to have, as it allows
you to jog off the limits. That said, if you have good homing you
should never end up on the limits unless something goes wrong.

-- 
atp
"A motorcycle is a bicycle with a pandemonium attachment and is
designed for the especial use of mechanical geniuses, daredevils and
lunatics."
— George Fitch, Atlanta Constitution Newspaper, 1912


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Re: [Emc-users] MESA card suggestions

[Peter Wallace]

On Fri, 15 Dec 2023, alanmthomason--- via Emc-users wrote:


Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2023 17:14:51 -0500
From: alanmthomason--- via Emc-users 
To: "'Enhanced Machine Controller (EMC)'" 
Cc: alanmthoma...@icloud.com
Subject: [Emc-users] MESA card suggestions

Hi There.



I am looking for a suggestion for the best MESA card to be used with

an ethernet connection

4axes

Teknic servo / stepper taking a step/direction input of 5 to 24V

Ideally this would be in a format that I could mount in a simple enclosure.

3digital inputs per axis, so 12inputs

1 additional digital output.



I will be using a fresh build of linuxcnc on a 64bit Ubuntu platform.



Thanks very much,

Alan


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As Andy suggested, a 7I96S is close but shy of one input.
If the three inputs per axis include limits, you could save
inputs by sharing limit inputs between axis, In addition
you can share a limit and home on the same axis.

With maximum sharing you could get away with only 5 inputs
(4 home switches and a combined limit input)

Peter Wallace
Mesa Electronics


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Re: [Emc-users] MESA card suggestions

[andy pugh]

On Fri, 15 Dec 2023 at 22:19, alanmthomason--- via Emc-users
 wrote:

> I am looking for a suggestion for the best MESA card to be used with
>
> an ethernet connection
>
> 4axes
>
> Teknic servo / stepper taking a step/direction input of 5 to 24V
>
> Ideally this would be in a format that I could mount in a simple enclosure.
>
> 3digital inputs per axis, so 12inputs
>
> 1 additional digital output.

The 7i96S is available (unlike the 7i76E, which would be another good
choice) but it is a little short of IO, having one input fewer than
you require. (And maybe you want a probe too? and some external
alarms, coolant level sensing...(
You can easily add extra IO with a smart-serial card such as the 7i84.
(Though there are 17 unprotected GPIO pins on the expansion connector
too, but using those as bare pins is something I would only suggest to
the electronically confident)

-- 
atp
"A motorcycle is a bicycle with a pandemonium attachment and is
designed for the especial use of mechanical geniuses, daredevils and
lunatics."
— George Fitch, Atlanta Constitution Newspaper, 1912


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[Emc-users] MESA card suggestions

[alanmthomason--- via Emc-users]

Hi There.

 

I am looking for a suggestion for the best MESA card to be used with 

an ethernet connection

4axes 

Teknic servo / stepper taking a step/direction input of 5 to 24V

Ideally this would be in a format that I could mount in a simple enclosure.

3digital inputs per axis, so 12inputs

1 additional digital output.

 

I will be using a fresh build of linuxcnc on a 64bit Ubuntu platform.

 

Thanks very much,

Alan


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Re: [Emc-users] Mesa Card Suggestions

[Gene Heskett]

On Tuesday 15 October 2019 05:07:35 Gregg Eshelman via Emc-users wrote:

> How old is this PC you have Windows 10 on? I've found it to run pretty
> snappily on any dual core box or laptop as old as 2005, as long as it
> can have at least 4 gig RAM. Win 10 is the first version of Windows to
> have *lower* system hardware requirements than its predecessors, and
> this time those minimal requirements were not of the "Sure, it'll
> work, but you won't be able to stand to use it." variety. Win 10 will
> run-ish with only 2 gig RAM, even the 64 bit version. But if the PC
> tops out at 2 gig it's best to stick to 32 bit, in any operating
> system. What's your CPU? If it's only single core, that's the biggest
> bottleneck for Win 10. It's very much optimized for 2 or more CPUs or
> cores. The good news there is that many older dual core CPUs are dirt
> cheap. Under $20, often way under. A Core 2 Duo or Quad will run
> Windows 10 nicely. The Core Duo series that preceded it? Not so well.
> The 2 is important. Any 2+ core AMD CPU from the Phenom II series up
> will run Windows 10 at a decent pace. No previous version of Windows
> has ever run so well on 10+ year old hardware.
>
> Run CPUID on it to find out exactly what the board and CPU are, then
> it can be found out if a cheap CPU and RAM upgrade is possible to get
> it up to tolerable speed. I dunno how well (or if) Win 10 tolerates
> upgrading from a single to multi-core CPU. I do recall that it took
> some tinkering to change up from a single to 2+ core CPU on XP without
> having to reinstall.
>
> Places like Newegg, Tiger Direct and others have surplus and
> refurbished Dell, HP and other OEM PCs that are cheap, a couple of
> years old, and will run Windows 10 very well, most of them shipped
> with Win 10.
>
Well, I bought the least expensive ($375) all-in-one desktop from 
wally's.  Obviously not that well endowed. It runs the application well, 
once it get thru calling home or whatever it does before it decides to 
let me run the app, which is to act as a display for a vector network 
analyzer. For low frequency stuff up to 62 megahertz.  Which itself is 
about the size of a pair of rpi's.
 
> I just built a Ryzen 5 3400G box for a client. 16 gig RAM and a 1TB
> NVME style SSD. Boots in about 30 seconds. I haven't timed it yet but
> it is *fast*. The SSD benchmark with ATTO topped out around 3,000
> megabytes per second. Total cost, including an OEM copy of Win 10 Pro
> x64 and a refurbished 32" HP 2K monitor was around $850. The most
> difficult part was finding a case with two 5.25" bays *without* a
> silly front door, *without* silly tempered glass or clear plastic side
> panels, and *without* silly RGB LED lighting. Still couldn't come up
> with a decent mATX Socket AM4 motherboard that didn't have integrated
> RGB LED lighting control. Turned those off in BIOS first thing after
> assembling the parts. On Monday, October 14, 2019, 10:56:41 PM MDT,
> Gene Heskett  wrote: But whats the cost of that
> level of integration?  Which will be paid for by the seat. Whoever
> that IT guy is that can do that, likes to eat and drive nice cars.
> I've one windows 10 home edition pc, and its at least 10 minutes to
> boot and run the application I bought it for. But because that app
> needs superuser to run it, and windows makes it extremely non-obvious
> how to get "root", I have to learn how to do that all over again each
> time. And success at acessing that part of the menu apparently is
> controlled by the phase of the rip tide in the Bay of Fundy and which
> side of your mouth is holding a wad of Kentucky Twist. And I don't use
> tobacco now since 30 years ago.  If it wasn't for that app, there
> would not be a windows pc on my property. I don't have time for that
> level of obnoxiousness they call security.
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Cheers, Gene Heskett
-- 
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
 soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable.
 - Louis D. Brandeis
Genes Web page 


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Re: [Emc-users] Mesa Card Suggestions

[Gregg Eshelman via Emc-users]

How old is this PC you have Windows 10 on? I've found it to run pretty snappily 
on any dual core box or laptop as old as 2005, as long as it can have at least 
4 gig RAM. Win 10 is the first version of Windows to have *lower* system 
hardware requirements than its predecessors, and this time those minimal 
requirements were not of the "Sure, it'll work, but you won't be able to stand 
to use it." variety.
Win 10 will run-ish with only 2 gig RAM, even the 64 bit version. But if the PC 
tops out at 2 gig it's best to stick to 32 bit, in any operating system. What's 
your CPU? If it's only single core, that's the biggest bottleneck for Win 10. 
It's very much optimized for 2 or more CPUs or cores. The good news there is 
that many older dual core CPUs are dirt cheap. Under $20, often way under.
A Core 2 Duo or Quad will run Windows 10 nicely. The Core Duo series that 
preceded it? Not so well. The 2 is important. Any 2+ core AMD CPU from the 
Phenom II series up will run Windows 10 at a decent pace. No previous version 
of Windows has ever run so well on 10+ year old hardware.

Run CPUID on it to find out exactly what the board and CPU are, then it can be 
found out if a cheap CPU and RAM upgrade is possible to get it up to tolerable 
speed. I dunno how well (or if) Win 10 tolerates upgrading from a single to 
multi-core CPU. I do recall that it took some tinkering to change up from a 
single to 2+ core CPU on XP without having to reinstall.
 
Places like Newegg, Tiger Direct and others have surplus and refurbished Dell, 
HP and other OEM PCs that are cheap, a couple of years old, and will run 
Windows 10 very well, most of them shipped with Win 10.

I just built a Ryzen 5 3400G box for a client. 16 gig RAM and a 1TB NVME style 
SSD. Boots in about 30 seconds. I haven't timed it yet but it is *fast*. The 
SSD benchmark with ATTO topped out around 3,000 megabytes per second. Total 
cost, including an OEM copy of Win 10 Pro x64 and a refurbished 32" HP 2K 
monitor was around $850. The most difficult part was finding a case with two 
5.25" bays *without* a silly front door, *without* silly tempered glass or 
clear plastic side panels, and *without* silly RGB LED lighting. Still couldn't 
come up with a decent mATX Socket AM4 motherboard that didn't have integrated 
RGB LED lighting control. Turned those off in BIOS first thing after assembling 
the parts.
On Monday, October 14, 2019, 10:56:41 PM MDT, Gene Heskett 
 wrote:  
But whats the cost of that level of integration?  Which will be paid for 
by the seat. Whoever that IT guy is that can do that, likes to eat and 
drive nice cars. I've one windows 10 home edition pc, and its at least 
10 minutes to boot and run the application I bought it for. But because 
that app needs superuser to run it, and windows makes it extremely 
non-obvious how to get "root", I have to learn how to do that all over 
again each time. And success at acessing that part of the menu 
apparently is controlled by the phase of the rip tide in the Bay of 
Fundy and which side of your mouth is holding a wad of Kentucky Twist.
And I don't use tobacco now since 30 years ago.  If it wasn't for that 
app, there would not be a windows pc on my property. I don't have time 
for that level of obnoxiousness they call security.  
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Re: [Emc-users] Mesa Card Suggestions

[Gene Heskett]

On Monday 14 October 2019 21:57:50 Gregg Eshelman via Emc-users wrote:

> If the new PC is setup right so it boots and launches the CNC software
> - and exiting the CNC software shuts down the PC, and the GUI of the
> CNC software is identical or close to the old (if it's not exactly the
> same program the old PC ran, then there will be little if any updating
> of operator training because they won't have to deal with Windows 10.
> There's a lot of equipment out there that runs on various versions of
> Windows, Windows Embedded, Pocket PC, Windows Compact Edition and
> others where the user has no clue (and doesn't need one) about what
> operating system is on it because they never see it - just the one app
> or program the thing is built to use. Many newer oscilloscopes under
> the hood are nothing but a micro PC running some embedded version of
> Windows, with a fancy input card to read the signals. People do crazy
> things like hack them to run games, while still being able to function
> as a scope.
>
> On Monday, October 14, 2019, 8:10:04 AM MDT, Gene Heskett
>  wrote: At what cost and downtime while
> retraining the operators to deal with a new os. Didn't your folks ever
> hear of TANSTAAFL?  They are about to.

But whats the cost of that level of integration?  Which will be paid for 
by the seat. Whoever that IT guy is that can do that, likes to eat and 
drive nice cars. I've one windows 10 home edition pc, and its at least 
10 minutes to boot and run the application I bought it for. But because 
that app needs superuser to run it, and windows makes it extremely 
non-obvious how to get "root", I have to learn how to do that all over 
again each time. And success at acessing that part of the menu 
apparently is controlled by the phase of the rip tide in the Bay of 
Fundy and which side of your mouth is holding a wad of Kentucky Twist.
And I don't use tobacco now since 30 years ago.  If it wasn't for that 
app, there would not be a windows pc on my property. I don't have time 
for that level of obnoxiousness they call security.
> ___
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> Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users


Cheers, Gene Heskett
-- 
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
 soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable.
 - Louis D. Brandeis
Genes Web page 


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Re: [Emc-users] Mesa Card Suggestions

[Gregg Eshelman via Emc-users]

If the new PC is setup right so it boots and launches the CNC software - and 
exiting the CNC software shuts down the PC, and the GUI of the CNC software is 
identical or close to the old (if it's not exactly the same program the old PC 
ran, then there will be little if any updating of operator training because 
they won't have to deal with Windows 10. 
There's a lot of equipment out there that runs on various versions of Windows, 
Windows Embedded, Pocket PC, Windows Compact Edition and others where the user 
has no clue (and doesn't need one) about what operating system is on it because 
they never see it - just the one app or program the thing is built to use.
Many newer oscilloscopes under the hood are nothing but a micro PC running some 
embedded version of Windows, with a fancy input card to read the signals. 
People do crazy things like hack them to run games, while still being able to 
function as a scope.

On Monday, October 14, 2019, 8:10:04 AM MDT, Gene Heskett 
 wrote:  
At what cost and downtime while retraining the operators to deal with a 
new os. Didn't your folks ever hear of TANSTAAFL?  They are about to.  
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Re: [Emc-users] Mesa Card Suggestions

[Gene Heskett]

On Monday 14 October 2019 08:26:30 Todd Zuercher wrote:

> It isn't the reliability of Linuxcnc that is in question we already
> have several machines running it.  It is the down time for the
> conversion. The old system is still working, but it's PC is showing
> signs of its age, (bad CMOS battery, flaky booting, pending HD
> failure...)

All of which should be prima-facie evidence of a half dead cmos battery.
Downtime of 45 minutes max, and 5 bucks to replace it. Next excuse...

> Buying a new Wincnc PC with the current Wincnc version and 
> Windows 10, appeals to them (and our IT guy who isn't a Linux guy).

Your IT guy?  Should be you just from the content of the posts you made 
to this list...
 
> And should just be plug and play, not to mention supported by the OEM
> who is setting up and sending us the new PC.

At what cost and downtime while retraining the operators to deal with a 
new os. Didn't your folks ever hear of TANSTAAFL?  They are about to.

> Todd Zuercher
> P. Graham Dunn Inc.
> 630 Henry Street 
> Dalton, Ohio 44618
> Phone:  (330)828-2105ext. 2031
>
> -Original Message-
> From: andrew beck 
> Sent: Saturday, October 12, 2019 12:12 AM
> To: Enhanced Machine Controller (EMC)
>  Subject: Re: [Emc-users] Mesa Card
> Suggestions
>
> That's a pretty good record!
>
> On Sat, Oct 12, 2019, 3:24 PM Jon Elson  wrote:
> > On 10/11/2019 02:56 PM, Todd Zuercher wrote:
> > > Thanks Jon,
> > >
> > > >From the sound of if, the powers that be are not going to let me
> >
> > convert this machine to Linuxcnc.  They want to buy a new Wincnc PC.
> > (The machine operators and myself would rather switch it over.)  Oh
> > well.
> >
> >
> > Well, you can tell them that I've been using EMC/EMC2/LinuxCNC since
> > 1998, and it has not crashed EVER in that whole time.  If that
> > doesn't convince them, then I guess that is what will happen.
> >
> > Jon
> >
> >
> > ___
> > Emc-users mailing list
> > Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net
> > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
>
> ___
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>
>
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Cheers, Gene Heskett
-- 
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
 soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable.
 - Louis D. Brandeis
Genes Web page <http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/gene>


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Re: [Emc-users] Mesa Card Suggestions

[Todd Zuercher]

It isn't the reliability of Linuxcnc that is in question we already have 
several machines running it.  It is the down time for the conversion.  
The old system is still working, but it's PC is showing signs of its age, (bad 
CMOS battery, flaky booting, pending HD failure...)
Buying a new Wincnc PC with the current Wincnc version and Windows 10, appeals 
to them (and our IT guy who isn't a Linux guy).  And should just be plug and 
play, not to mention supported by the OEM who is setting up and sending us the 
new PC.

Todd Zuercher
P. Graham Dunn Inc.
630 Henry Street 
Dalton, Ohio 44618
Phone:  (330)828-2105ext. 2031

-Original Message-
From: andrew beck  
Sent: Saturday, October 12, 2019 12:12 AM
To: Enhanced Machine Controller (EMC) 
Subject: Re: [Emc-users] Mesa Card Suggestions

That's a pretty good record!

On Sat, Oct 12, 2019, 3:24 PM Jon Elson  wrote:

> On 10/11/2019 02:56 PM, Todd Zuercher wrote:
> > Thanks Jon,
> >
> > >From the sound of if, the powers that be are not going to let me
> convert this machine to Linuxcnc.  They want to buy a new Wincnc PC.  
> (The machine operators and myself would rather switch it over.)  Oh well.
> >
> >
> Well, you can tell them that I've been using EMC/EMC2/LinuxCNC since 
> 1998, and it has not crashed EVER in that whole time.  If that doesn't 
> convince them, then I guess that is what will happen.
>
> Jon
>
>
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Re: [Emc-users] Mesa Card Suggestions

[Gene Heskett]

On Saturday 12 October 2019 00:12:11 andrew beck wrote:

> That's a pretty good record!
>
I've been useing it  since the BDI version, which was hell to setup for a 
newbie.  And I've had to reboot 2 or 3 times because of poor hardware, 
and because I like to be on the bleeding edge, have had maybe 3 
instances of that bleeding edge miss-behave that would not have happened 
if I wasn't running code straight from master.  In effect I am playing 
the part of the canary in the coal mine.  An outright crash?  Hasn't 
happened. Lost one machine from a lightning strike on the transformer 
pole across the street.  I think thats a heck of a good record, zero 
problems since I updated the service from 60 to 200 amps AND brought it 
up to code in 2005. I found several places where ID10T so called 
electricians had grandfathered in some poor grounding because this place 
was built before there was an NEC. In that not quite 20 years, I have 
found and reported 3 or 4 problems that were fixed in hours.  These guys 
who write this code are GOOD. You don't converse with the authors of ANY 
other proprietary code, without buying, on a per seat basis, the updated 
code that *might* fix your problem.

Finally, I spent a couple months last winter trying to work with the Mach 
that came with a new machine I bought around this last Christmas and 
found it incapable of doing what I expected, not even capable of telling 
the spindle to do anything more than start-stop, couldn't reverse it or 
vary its speed, giving up on it and the shoddy electrics supplied, and 
replaced everything between the computer and the motors with quality 
stuff from these vendors that live on this list, pico or mesa, or ebay 
and installed linuxcnc.  Now it does everything I've tried, at 2 or 3x 
the speeds that Mach and its off the sidewalk in Honshu electrics could 
muster, and I suspect, far more accurately.

The biggest problem I still have is because its epoxy paint and ceramic 
spindle  motor bearings prevents a truly grounded spindle, the last 
major mod will be to install a brush that touches and grounds the tool, 
and extend that back to a real system ground. Until then I make do with 
alligator clips I have to install when I want to do a tool length 
compensating measurement within the gcode I write. I don't have a 
cad/cam, my brain does that. I'm fond of loops, and have written 90 line 
programs that take 3 days to run. But the end result was the sharpest, 
longest lasting blade I've ever had on my table saw. Lasted 4x longer 
than any $60 blade I've bought. Cutting white ash, oak, maple, cherry or 
walnut for furniture whose Green and Green joints I also cut with the 
g-code I wrote.

I'd hang it up and go fishing if it wasn't for LinuxCNC. Here in WV, 
thats generally a waste of time. I spent a decade (the 60's) in RCSD, 
and the fishing and hunting there kept us from starving.

> On Sat, Oct 12, 2019, 3:24 PM Jon Elson  wrote:
> > On 10/11/2019 02:56 PM, Todd Zuercher wrote:
> > > Thanks Jon,
> > >
> > > >From the sound of if, the powers that be are not going to let me
> >
> > convert this machine to Linuxcnc.  They want to buy a new Wincnc PC.
> >  (The machine operators and myself would rather switch it over.)  Oh
> > well.
> >
> >
> > Well, you can tell them that I've been using
> > EMC/EMC2/LinuxCNC since 1998, and it has not crashed EVER in
> > that whole time.  If that doesn't convince them, then I
> > guess that is what will happen.
> >
> > Jon
> >
> >
> > ___
> > Emc-users mailing list
> > Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net
> > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
>
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Cheers, Gene Heskett
-- 
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
 soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable.
 - Louis D. Brandeis
Genes Web page 


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Re: [Emc-users] Mesa Card Suggestions

[andrew beck]

That's a pretty good record!

On Sat, Oct 12, 2019, 3:24 PM Jon Elson  wrote:

> On 10/11/2019 02:56 PM, Todd Zuercher wrote:
> > Thanks Jon,
> >
> > >From the sound of if, the powers that be are not going to let me
> convert this machine to Linuxcnc.  They want to buy a new Wincnc PC.  (The
> machine operators and myself would rather switch it over.)  Oh well.
> >
> >
> Well, you can tell them that I've been using
> EMC/EMC2/LinuxCNC since 1998, and it has not crashed EVER in
> that whole time.  If that doesn't convince them, then I
> guess that is what will happen.
>
> Jon
>
>
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Re: [Emc-users] Mesa Card Suggestions

[Jon Elson]

On 10/11/2019 02:56 PM, Todd Zuercher wrote:

Thanks Jon,

>From the sound of if, the powers that be are not going to let me convert this 
machine to Linuxcnc.  They want to buy a new Wincnc PC.  (The machine operators 
and myself would rather switch it over.)  Oh well.


Well, you can tell them that I've been using 
EMC/EMC2/LinuxCNC since 1998, and it has not crashed EVER in 
that whole time.  If that doesn't convince them, then I 
guess that is what will happen.


Jon


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Re: [Emc-users] Mesa Card Suggestions

[Todd Zuercher]

Thanks Jon,

>From the sound of if, the powers that be are not going to let me convert this 
>machine to Linuxcnc.  They want to buy a new Wincnc PC.  (The machine 
>operators and myself would rather switch it over.)  Oh well.

Todd Zuercher
P. Graham Dunn Inc.
630 Henry Street 
Dalton, Ohio 44618
Phone:  (330)828-2105ext. 2031

-Original Message-
From: Jon Elson  
Sent: Wednesday, October 09, 2019 9:27 PM
To: Enhanced Machine Controller (EMC) 
Subject: Re: [Emc-users] Mesa Card Suggestions

On 10/09/2019 10:06 AM, Todd Zuercher wrote:
> Jon,
>
> What would be the approximate cost estimate for your setup?
>
>
Oh, the two stepper controller boards can be "daisy-chained" 
on one parallel port.  If you buy both at the same time, I will throw in the 
daisy chain cable for free.  You will need an EPP (IEEE-1284) parallel port on 
the computer.

Jon


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Re: [Emc-users] Mesa Card Suggestions

[Jon Elson]

On 10/09/2019 10:06 AM, Todd Zuercher wrote:

Jon,

What would be the approximate cost estimate for your setup?


Oh, the two stepper controller boards can be "daisy-chained" 
on one parallel port.  If you buy both at the same time, I 
will throw in the daisy chain cable for free.  You will need 
an EPP (IEEE-1284) parallel port on the computer.


Jon


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Re: [Emc-users] Mesa Card Suggestions

[Jon Elson]

On 10/09/2019 10:06 AM, Todd Zuercher wrote:

Jon,

What would be the approximate cost estimate for your setup?

No, the VFDs are each set to same speeds, with a single analog output.

That would be $550, for 2 ea. Universal Stepper Controllers 
and one Spindle DAC.
Now, I can see a possible noise problem if the analog 
grounds of all the VFDs are tied together.
But, if it is running that way now, then I guess they have 
suitable noise immunity.


A DIP switch can be flipped on a channel-by-channel basis to 
set the step/direction outputs to be in quadrature mode 
instead. Optionally, encoders can be fed to each axis.
Opto-isolated digital inputs are provided for a contact 
closure to be sensed.  Optionally, you can use NPN-type 
sensors for inputs. Positions are on the board for Solid 
State Relays to be plugged in for digital outputs.


Jon


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Re: [Emc-users] Mesa Card Suggestions

[Todd Zuercher]

Jon,

What would be the approximate cost estimate for your setup?

No, the VFDs are each set to same speeds, with a single analog output.

Todd Zuercher
P. Graham Dunn Inc.
630 Henry Street 
Dalton, Ohio 44618
Phone:  (330)828-2105ext. 2031

-Original Message-
From: Jon Elson  
Sent: Wednesday, October 09, 2019 10:57 AM
To: Enhanced Machine Controller (EMC) 
Subject: Re: [Emc-users] Mesa Card Suggestions

On 10/09/2019 08:49 AM, Todd Zuercher wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I'm considering converting a machine currently running Wincnc over to 
> Linuxcnc.
> The Wincnc control has a pci card with two 37pin connectors, that are 
> connected to a proprietary breakout board. (40 GPIO-in, 20GPIO-out+6step/dir 
> pairs, and 1 analog-out) Most of the IO on those connectors are simply TTL 
> 5v, except for 3 pins that are used for the analog output of a digital pot.
>
> This machine has 7 joints, (one slaved) and 6 axis.  The Wincnc control is 
> limited to only 6 axis of control, so the slaved axis is just sharing the 
> pulse signal, with a Rube Goldberg design of relays for squaring the gantry 
> when homing the machine.
>
> The joints are Kollmorgen S200-VT-S servos, currently commanded in position 
> mode with quadrature pulses.
> Then there are 4 VFDs controlled by some of the GPIO and the analog output.
>
> For GPIO there are 18 digital inputs used, and 10 digital outs.
>
> I don't want to reuse the existing strategy for controlling and homing 
> the slaved axis, I want to do it right, so I will need 7 sets of quad 
> commands (or analog if I go that route, but that would mean a lot more 
> rewiring to add encoder feedback.) What is probably my best Mesa card options?
> At this point I am leaning toward a
> 7i76E + 7i78
> Anyone see a better option?
>
>
Well, it would also be possible to use two units of the Pico Systems universal 
stepper controller to get up to 8 channels of quadrature position command.  You 
would have 30 uncommitted digital inputs and 14 digital outputs (plus drive 
enable).  This could leave some digital inputs and encoder channels for spindle 
encoder, MPG and a jog pendant.  There is a spindle DAC option to have one 
analog 
+/- 10 V output for spindle speed command.  Do you need
DIFFERENT speeds on the 4 VFDs?

It would also be possible to use the Pico PPMC board set 
with a few extra cards to get the required inputs and 
outputs, if you decide to go the analog route.

Jon


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Re: [Emc-users] Mesa Card Suggestions

[Jon Elson]

On 10/09/2019 08:49 AM, Todd Zuercher wrote:

Hello,

I'm considering converting a machine currently running Wincnc over to Linuxcnc.
The Wincnc control has a pci card with two 37pin connectors, that are connected 
to a proprietary breakout board. (40 GPIO-in, 20GPIO-out+6step/dir pairs, and 1 
analog-out)
Most of the IO on those connectors are simply TTL 5v, except for 3 pins that 
are used for the analog output of a digital pot.

This machine has 7 joints, (one slaved) and 6 axis.  The Wincnc control is 
limited to only 6 axis of control, so the slaved axis is just sharing the pulse 
signal, with a Rube Goldberg design of relays for squaring the gantry when 
homing the machine.

The joints are Kollmorgen S200-VT-S servos, currently commanded in position 
mode with quadrature pulses.
Then there are 4 VFDs controlled by some of the GPIO and the analog output.

For GPIO there are 18 digital inputs used, and 10 digital outs.

I don't want to reuse the existing strategy for controlling and homing the 
slaved axis, I want to do it right, so I will need 7 sets of quad commands (or 
analog if I go that route, but that would mean a lot more rewiring to add 
encoder feedback.)
What is probably my best Mesa card options?
At this point I am leaning toward a
7i76E + 7i78
Anyone see a better option?


Well, it would also be possible to use two units of the Pico 
Systems universal stepper controller to get up to 8 channels 
of quadrature position command.  You would have 30 
uncommitted digital inputs and 14 digital outputs (plus 
drive enable).  This could leave some digital inputs and 
encoder channels for spindle encoder, MPG and a jog 
pendant.  There is a spindle DAC option to have one analog 
+/- 10 V output for spindle speed command.  Do you need 
DIFFERENT speeds on the 4 VFDs?


It would also be possible to use the Pico PPMC board set 
with a few extra cards to get the required inputs and 
outputs, if you decide to go the analog route.


Jon


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[Emc-users] Mesa Card Suggestions

[Todd Zuercher]

Hello,

I'm considering converting a machine currently running Wincnc over to Linuxcnc.
The Wincnc control has a pci card with two 37pin connectors, that are connected 
to a proprietary breakout board. (40 GPIO-in, 20GPIO-out+6step/dir pairs, and 1 
analog-out)
Most of the IO on those connectors are simply TTL 5v, except for 3 pins that 
are used for the analog output of a digital pot.

This machine has 7 joints, (one slaved) and 6 axis.  The Wincnc control is 
limited to only 6 axis of control, so the slaved axis is just sharing the pulse 
signal, with a Rube Goldberg design of relays for squaring the gantry when 
homing the machine.

The joints are Kollmorgen S200-VT-S servos, currently commanded in position 
mode with quadrature pulses.
Then there are 4 VFDs controlled by some of the GPIO and the analog output.

For GPIO there are 18 digital inputs used, and 10 digital outs.

I don't want to reuse the existing strategy for controlling and homing the 
slaved axis, I want to do it right, so I will need 7 sets of quad commands (or 
analog if I go that route, but that would mean a lot more rewiring to add 
encoder feedback.)
What is probably my best Mesa card options?
At this point I am leaning toward a
7i76E + 7i78
Anyone see a better option?

Todd Zuercher
P. Graham Dunn Inc.
630 Henry Street
Dalton, Ohio 44618
Phone:  (330)828-2105ext. 2031


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