Remora - ethernet NVEM / EC300 / EC500 cnc board

 
Hi,
I am currently doing a project with EC500_v5 using remora firmware. I have flashed the controller board with the remora firmware and have done all the necessary steps mentioned in the remora documentation. When I faced certain problems, I had refered this forum and I could solve those issues on my way, Now I am able to open the LinuxCNC, but I am not able to come out of the e-stop. I am adding all the steps that I had done till now. I would like to get some help from this community for solving this problem.These are the steps that I had followed. I would like to know whether I have done anything wrong in this. I am new to LinuxCNC and trying to learn more about it. So sorry if I ask silly questions.
 

1. Flashed EC500_V5 with Remora Firmware
   1. File downloaded from the Github link ( github.com/scottalford75/Remora-RT1052-cpp/tree/main/Firmware )
   2. Latest version of firmware was installed: remora-rt1052-3.1.2.bin
2. Raspberry Pi LinuxCNC image downloaded from the link provided in Remora Documentation ( github.com/Expatria-Technologies/remora-flexi-hal/releases ) and installed to RPI4 Model B
3. Connected RPI4 with EC500_V5 (RT1052 Chip) by Ethernet cable
4. Copy files to upload the configuration file to the LinuxCNC
   1. Downloaded the files from Github ( github.com/scottalford75/Remora-RT1052-c.../remora-rt1052-basic )
   2. Copy the folder remora-rt1052-basic to the folder LinuxCNC > Configs
   3. Copy the folder components to the folder LinuxCNC
5. Installing the Remora Components
   1. sudo halcompile –install remora-eth-3.0.c
      1. Result: Success
6. Ethernet Setup
   1. Open DHCP configuration in terminal
      1. sudo nano /etc/dhcpcd.conf
   2. Navigate the file to the section ” Example static IP configuration ” , uncomment this section (by removing the #), modify it as follows, then save and exit nano (ctrl X, then Y then enter)
      1. interface eth0
         static ip_address=10.10.10.11/24
   3. Reboot you Raspberry Pi
   4. Verified that the ip address of the RPI4 has changed to 10.10.10.11/24 from the network settings window
      Terminal Emulator Command: hostname -I
      Result:
      10.10.10.11 192.168.40.209 2401:4900:4bbf:1813:83b0:6004:289d:6227
7. Upload the configuration file to the LinuxCNC
   1. Upload the configuration file – python3 upload_config.py ec500-rt1052.txt
      1. Result:
         Traceback (most recent call last):
         File “upload_config.py”, Line &, in <module>
         import tftpy
         ModuleNotFoundError: No module named ‘tftpy’
   2. Tried to install tftpy using the command
      pip install tftpy
      It showed that tftpy-0.8.2 got installed successfully
   3. Upload the configuration file – python3 upload_config.py ec500-rt1052.txt
      1. Result:
         Traceback (most recent call last):
         File “upload_config.py”, Line &, in <module>
         import tftpy
         ModuleNotFoundError: No module named ‘tftpy’
   4. Installed : pip install selenium
   5. Upload the configuration file – python3 upload_config.py ec500-rt1052.txt
      1. Result:
         Valid JSON config file, uploading to board
         Config file length (words) = 1716
         Config file length (bytes) = 6862
         Reminder = 2
         Padding added = [0, 0]
         Config file length with padding (bytes) = 6864
         CRC-32 = 0x580751a8
         (Furthermore sentences were there: Attached with this message)
8. Reboot the Controller Board and RPI4
9. Open LinuxCNC: Application > CNC > LinuxCNC
10. Open the configuration: My Configuration > remora-ec500 basic > remora-ec500-rt1052
    1. Error:
       Debug file information:

Note: Using POSIX realtime
remora-nv: dlopen: /usr/lib/linuxcnc/modules/remora-nv.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
./remora-nvem.hal:9: waitpid failed /usr/bin/rtapi_app remora-nv
./remora-nvem.hal:9: /usr/bin/rtapi_app exited without becoming ready
./remora-nvem.hal:9: insmod for remora-nv failed, returned -1
1798

1. 1. Downloaded the file from github.com/scottalford75/Remora-NVEM/tre...Components/Remora-nv
      and copied the file Remora-nv to LinuxCNC > Components
      Installed the file using the code:
      sudo halcompile –install remora.c
   2. Rebooted RPI4 and tried opening LinuxCNC
   3. Error: nvmpg file is missing
   4. Copied nvmpg.c file to LinuxCNC > Components
      Installed it using the command:
      sudo halcompile –install nvmpg.c
      Installed successfully
   5. LinuxCNC Axis GUI opened
2. Rebooted RPI4 and EC500
3. Check out of E-Stop - Failed

I had tried reflashing EC500 but no change. 
Hope to get a help on this.

- Aravind
 

Attaching the image of Linuxcnc window 

Hmm, that selenium is a new one

install this component
github.com/scottalford75/Remora-RT1052-c...omponents/Remora-eth


change this line in your config

github.com/scottalford75/Remora-RT1052-c.../remora-ec500.hal#L9

change it to this




It looks like all the configs except one are calling for remora-nv, anyone wanna do a PR to fix it?

Hey guys, been away from this for a while. Awesome progress and big thanks to everyone who's making this work.

Does anyone have a config for the EC500 RT1052 with all the inputs on the MPG port working? Looked through the EC300 config but saw a lot of conflicts with other pins. I've got WHA and WHB working and will try a few more today if I get the chance.

Cheers

Had a little time to play with it and got the MPG working as well as pins 6,7,8and 15. Couldn't get any further and have other stuff to work on. If anyone has the info I need to get Pins 1,5,9,13 and 14 working it would be greatly appreciated.

Just want to use pins 1 and 9 as inputs... don't know if that changes anything.

Cheers.

Hi,
Thanks for your reply.

Well I tried these steps, installed remora-eth-3.0.c and edited the file remora-ec500.hal line 9 . And I rebooted my board.

But now when I try to open linuxcnc > remora-ec500, it is showing the board is unreachable. And when I try to ping 10.10.10.10. it is showing Network is unreachable.

Previously I was able to open Linuxcnc and when I tried to exit e-stop the Red LED light near to the ethernet port was blinking. Now it is not there. I don't understand what happened. Did I missed any step?

Kindly help me to solve this issue.

Edit:
[SOLVED]
The issue got resolved when I reinstalled the RPI4 image and do all the steps again with the above mentioned step.
Thanks Cakeslob. Thanks all for your support.

-Aravind

[EDIT]
Issue: Stepper Motor was not running
<SOLVED>
- Issue was with stepper driver. 

-Aravind

Hi Everyone
I was able to flash my 2 boards and make my servo motors work with them with the DMA config:
EC500 RT1052 & EC500 STM32F407
But I have differents problems with both boards:

-My NVMPG work great on the STM32 but on the RT1052, I dont have any update on the display, is there differents components or files somewhere. The inputs and encoder are all working but nothing change on the display, it stuck at X0 Y0 Z0 while axis is moving. Maybe I also have a bad MAX3232 chip on my board, anyone know how to check this.

I before had these weird values (attached picture) but after reflashing the board everything is at 0
I use the same NVMPG on the 2 controllers for my tests, It's probably the the STM32F103RCT6 chip inside, I bought it 5 years ago. 


-My other issue is with the STM32 board, I cant get the spindle 0-10V working, It's stuck at 9.7V and this was working in Mach3 . On my RT1052, it work fine and I use the same HAL spindle commands. 

Any help would be really appreciated. 

Anyone able to get the single channel encoder working ? Also will the optocouplers on the EC500 handle 40khz

Hi Everyone,
= = = = =   t f t p y   i n s t a l l a t i o n   l i n k   = = = = =
I have progressed to getting the upload_config.py to work for me.  The roadblock was installing tftpy; thank you to @raf1110 for the key instruction at 27 Jan 2024 02:49 #291712 .

= = = = =   s t e p   &   d i r e c t i o n   t i m i n g   q u e s t i o n s   = = = = =
I have HBS860H drivers with 57HBS30 stepper motors (including encoder feedback to driver).  I was getting very 'rough' and non-repeatable motor rotation although the hybrid driver-to-motor feedback wasn't indicating a missed step, so I wished to investigate the step/dir signal provided by the Remora EC300 to the driver.  I hadn't fully understood the DMA conversation but I saw the significance of the Step Length/Step Space/Dir Hold/Dir Setup definition by Scott here 17 Nov 2023 05:35 #285690 , thank you. These values were intended for DM860H stepper drivers.  I adopted these values and now have a 'normal' feel and sounding stepper motor; a big step forward.
The issue that remains is that the '12800 pulses/rev divided by 5 mm/rev equals 2560 pulses/mm' does not produce the correct degrees of rotation.  I have to suspect still the 'Step Length/Step Space/Dir Hold/Dir Setup' values as these are 'borrowed' from another driver type.
This video decribes the drivers and provides the 'best' datasheets (similar Leadshine HBS86H)
Is there a conservative set of values that is likely to work well as a starting point, as just blindly increasing all 4 values may not be appropriate?