Hardware recommendations for VMC retrofit:

I'm converting a lagunmatic VMC 3516.

The drives are all analogue servos with Glentek GA 370 drivers.

I'm planning on running an Odroid H2+ with Mesa 7i92 and 7i77 - will need a lot of inputs and outputs for ATC, coolant, gearbox etc

I want to run probe basic with a touchscreen, something around 22". Are there any particular touchscreens that I should be looking at?

I also wanted to add a tool height setter and possibly a touch probe. Does anyone have recommendations?

On my control panel, I was going to have a start button, stop button and E-stop. Do i need any other physical buttons such as jog, or is everything else easy enough from the screen?

Anything else I should consider?

I used this touchscreen. The decision for size and aspect was based on available space. I find that I don't need a large screen but I have not used the Probe Basic GUI yet.
www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=6960

No experience with the Odroid. I built a J3455 ITX and placed it in the control panel with the single ethernet running back to the electronics cabinet where the 7i92/7i77/7i84 are sitting. If you place your computer in your electronics cabinet you will need to run peripheral wires up to your control panel, touch screen needs an (HDMI and USB in my case), plus keyboard, mouse etc.

Here are some probes/setters that are reasonable. I have not used either:
This option is $1000 for both and I know of people that can vouch for its accuracy.
drewtronics.org/s5100-wireless

This option is more affordable and I believe the maker is a LinuxCNC user. There are a few users out there but not as many.
vers.by/en/16-touch-probes

For the control panel I would highly recommend analog knobs for feed override, spindle override and rapid override. I have found these very helpful in proofing programs. Yes you can do this via the gui screen but to be able to hold a knob and watch the cutter is very valuable.

Past that the control panel options are endless and up to user preference. I like a rotary wheel for jogging but didn't want a pendant. Also different buttons to select each axis and increment and continuous mode. Yes you can use the keyboard but I have fat fingered the wrong button and spun a $450 Haimer at 6000 rpm.

One thing I would do different and may still change is moving the 7i84 or another mesa IO card into the control panel to eliminate wire runs. There would just be one Cat5 run back to the 7i77 in the cabinet. I currently have some 30 wire cable that isn't user friendly.

Why the Odroid?

I already have one with LinuxCNC installed as I was going to use it for our plasma upgrade. But otherwise, no real reason. I am still planning to do the plasma upgrade down the track, so perhaps I'm better off saving it for then and just getting a mini-ITX. Will look a bit more at the mesa boards

Are you using the 7i92 as a mother card and the 7i77 and 7i84 as daughter cards?

I'm thinking I want 1 card in the console for human inputs, and then the 7i77 in the cabinet for machine control.

The 7i84 looks like a good choice for the console, but not sure how to interface the 2 cards. I probably have about a 5m cable run between the 2 boards

htdave wrote:

Are you using the 7i92 as a mother card and the 7i77 and 7i84 as daughter cards?

I'm thinking I want 1 card in the console for human inputs, and then the 7i77 in the cabinet for machine control.

The 7i84 looks like a good choice for the console, but not sure how to interface the 2 cards. I probably have about a 5m cable run between the 2 boards

The 7i84 connects to 7i77 via RJ45. Cut a connector off ethernet cable on one end and wire that in the 7i77 rs422 port and plug the RJ45 cable in the 7i84.

The 7i84 connects to 7i77 via RJ45. Cut a connector off ethernet cable on one end and wire that in the 7i77 rs422 port and plug the RJ45 cable in the 7i84

So, I need to go: Odroid > 7i77 > 7i84 and can't go Odroid > 7i84 > 7i77

tommylight wrote:

For console there is Mesa 7i73.
It goes:
Odroid>7i92>7i77>7i84 OR 7i73
since 7i77 has only one SSerial port on it.
And yes, 7i84 can be used for console as if i am not mistaken it should have 4 analogue inputs and two MPG inputs, but might want to double check that, to much stress lately so i might be off.

So I can't go straight from Odroid to 7i77?

In that case, would I be better off mounting the Odroid and a 7i92 in the console, and the 7i77 in the cabinet, doing away with the 7i84 all together.

I assume that the 7i92 would require a DB25 plug to access all the i/o.