Prototrak Plus Retrofit with Mesa 7i77 & 5i25 cards

forum.linuxcnc.org/10-advanced-configura...ning-detailed-how-to

Still not finished, but plenty of info so do give it a go and report back, also feedback on how useful it is or what should be added/removed/changed would be greatly appreciated.
Tom

tommylight, you have done a great job putting that sequence of steps together, many thanks!! Knowing with total confidence that I have gotten the setup close enough that I should see motion, but this is not so. I have gotten to this part of your Servo Tuning post.
" Plug only one and check if it functions properly enabling the drive when you press F2 on Linuxcnc. If it works, plug in the next one, if nor reverse the wires on the plug and test again, repeat for each drive separately. "

I know very early in the process, the one thing that I may have not considered enough is that earlier while moving all the components I shorted out the servo drive card thus allowing out some "magic smoke" and even though the power supply and servo drive work together with the original Ptrak, it appears it may have goofed up, this plug and play conf of linuxcnc. If there is something I'm missing in my approach or if possible to test another set of non standard, say go to (TB3 & TB4) ENCODER 2 & ENCODER 3 with (TB5) DRV 2 & DRV 3, just wondering.

You can change ports as you like, but you will have to edit the hal file to get what you need at those ports. If i understood correctly, you asked if you can use other ports on the mesa card for tuning, right?
It does not mater what port for the output/enable/encoder you use, as long as you have them properly set in hal.
Please be aware that pncconf sometimes puts axis X at the analogout3 and encoder0, it did that twice on my configs, so it has to be edited or connectors plugged acordingly.
Just keep in mind that the first connector on the mesa board is always 0 in hal, for everything like analogout/encoder/input/output.

tommmylight, thank you for all your help! Attached are the error files after trying ENCODER 2 & 3; DRV 2 & 3 with "z" configured to 4. I had a few errors that I missed when reconfigured and have fixed those.

But cannot find " 'axis.3.motor-pos-cmd' does not exist"

Found line that looks close but it looks ok to me, for what thats worth. I attached all files that may help, please point me in the right direction.

Many thanks to all who may be able to help!

That error is should be expected (unless you have a 4 axis config)
since with a simple XYZ machine you would only have

axis.0.motor-pos-cmd
axis.1.motor-pos-cmd
axis.2.motor-pos-cmd

Also you have a rather bizzare axis --> hardware mapping

Normally you would have
X mapped to encoder 0, analog out 0, axis command and feedback 0
Y mapped to encoder 1, analog out 1, axis command and feedback 1
Z mapped to encoder 2, analog out 2, axis command and feedback 2

Hi,
I am a novice but starting with pncconf looks, well... For instance it has you using joints 2, 3, and 4 rather than 0, 1, and 2. I've never started with pncconf so can't say. I started with the 5i25-7i77.zip from Mesa. I can't find the link with a google search, they must have a no robots on the folder. I'll find it if you are interested.

But it just worked pretty much right out of the box with x,y, and z where they should be. I'm going to do the research as to why you don't have linux joints above axis.2. But out of the box I've only ever see x,y, and z.

I'm following a long as I'm learning as much as talking too much. But personally I'd use 0,1, and 2 rather than try to make it work with 2,3, and 4.

Best, Dan.

jAnd there it is from Peter. You can change your ini and hal files that you have now or get the zip.