SouthBend magnaturn 612 Conversion to Linuxcnc

I acquired a SBL Magnaturn 612 lathe for a conversion project. I have replaced all of the controls and steppers motors for ease of later service. I have now completed the hardware conversion and have been playing with single tool cuts (So far so good). But, now it is time to add the controls of the turret. The Magnaturn has an eight position turret controlled by a Stepper and mechanical stop controlled by a 110VAC solenoid. It previously had an encoder on the turret axis for tool position feedback. This seemed like overkill to me (Maybe I am wrong), so I removed it. I plan on adding a single index position sensor for tool 1 position with the remaining tools being X number of steps away from Index.. I have been running straight out of the paraport, but now I am using a 6i25 and 7i76.
So, my questions are these:
1) Can I simply load a configuration that someone has already determined that will work out of the box? Yes, might be the answer... If a configuration exists, but needs modification, I am up for the learning opportunity... I just need some direction on how/where to learn. I know PLCS, I have piddled with python (online exercises only), I have some programming experience, etc... I might struggle, but I can learn if needed.
2) If no configuration exists, Where do I start? Looking for general direction.
3) I have seen a few mentions of conversational lathe tools within linuxcnc. Are those available to add?
4) I almost decided make it gang tooling or have a QC post and manually change tools as needed since either would be tool offsets only. But, I thought that was defeating the purpose. Any thoughts here?

Thanks!

Thanks for the direction. I really appreciate it. Funny you responded. I was just watching your Hobbing video on youtube yesterday. I plan on digging in this upcoming week. Thanks again for the reference.

I decided to give the Boxford turret control a try. I am having trouble with the setup. I continue to get errors as I manually configure the ini and hal file. The error I continue to get is the following:
../lathe.hal:331: Can't find module 'toolchanger.comp' in /usr/realtime-3.4-9-rtai-686-pae/modules/linuxcnc/b]

Any help is appreciated.

Once I figured out to use sudo halcompile --install toolchanger.comp it worked.
So, it compiled and is located in the correct location.
My next question might need to be asked directly at ArcEye since he originally wrote the toolchanger.comp?
The original 240F Boxford configuration was written for parallel port interface. I am using a Mesa 6i25 (Default 5i25 config) with a 7i76 daughter card. So, my question relates to the differences in parallel port and 5i25 pins. Linuxcnc starts okay, and my X and Z axes home without issue. I have removed the C axis from the homing sequence. So, there are no issues until I try to move the C axis. When I try to move the C axis by jogging I get no movement. I looked at the toolchanger.comp file and think I see an issue, but I am not sure. I thought a question would be better than another wrong direction by me.
The original 240F. hal file had the following line:
net apos-cmd toolchanger.position-cmd => stepgen.3.position-cmd
When I check the comp file I find the following line:
pin out float position_cmd "Sends location required";

Is this a typo? I changed my hal file to reflect the position_cmd found in the comp file, but it had no effect.


In my hal file I had the following line:
net apos-cmd toolchanger.position_cmd => hm2_5i25.0.stepgen.02.velocity-cmd

And, in the Closed loop stepper section I did the following:
# ---closedloop stepper signals---

net c-pos-cmd <= axis.3.motor-pos-cmd
net c-vel-cmd <= axis.3.joint-vel-cmd
#net c-output <= hm2_5i25.0.stepgen.02.velocity-cmd
net c-pos-fb <= hm2_5i25.0.stepgen.02.position-fb
net c-pos-fb => axis.3.motor-pos-fb

I tried it also with the toolchanger.position-cmd, but it also did not cause any motion.

Please review my latest hal, ini, and the comp file for any issues you may observe. Help is greatly appreciated!!!

Too late to try, but would this be the correct line?

#net apos-cmd toolchanger.position-cmd => stepgen.3.position-cmd
net c-output toolchanger.position-cmd => hm2_5i25.0.stepgen.02.velocity-cmd
net chomed axis.3.homed => toolchanger.ishomed

And, in # ---closedloop stepper signals--- section...

net c-pos-cmd <= axis.3.motor-pos-cmd
net c-vel-cmd <= axis.3.joint-vel-cmd
#net c-output <= hm2_5i25.0.stepgen.02.velocity-cmd

Thanks

Thanks for the reply.
I originally used PncConf to generate my hal and ini files.
I was wondering why it configured my ctrl_type as velocity since position is what is typical.
setp hm2_5i25.0.stepgen.instance.control-type 1
I ran a new PncConf last night to see if there was somewhere to choose, but I did not see it.
Should I go back and change my control-type lines to 0 for position?
If so, I think I need only to update my files to reflect the following:
setp hm2_5i25.0.stepgen.instance.control-type 0
net axis-output <= hm2_5i25.0.stepgen.instance.position-cmd
Would this be correct?