Mesa Suppliers

I am a NOOB and this question will surely confirm it but do I really need to spend north of 200 dollars/euros for a card from Mesa (7i76e is what I had recommended to me)? Is there not a chinese card (maybe a cheeky copy) for half that? I ask as I am short of the readies for a Mesa card although I am sure they are worth it once you are serious about CNC. I am just learning at the moment but I do need a router to operate direct from the pc via gcode. Any advice (including go away and do some research) gratefully received.

First you won't find a copy mesa card. You could look at a mesa 7i96 or even a 7i92 with a bob connected.

There must be thousands of machines using just a simple PPort card.

So if I go the 7i96 with breakout board route (I am guessing the Mach3 bob I have would do?) what is the downside versus the 7i76e?
When you say just a PPort- is that an option with no mesa card at all? What functionality does that miss out on?
Despite my shortage of cash, I want to be able to fully control a 3 axis router via the console. Ideally, I would like the ability to go to 6D one day- if I have to buy a Mesa card I would prefer to just buy one and not have to buy a second later on.
As always, all advice is gratefully received.

steveinjava wrote: So if I go the 7i96 with breakout board route (I am guessing the Mach3 bob I have would do?) what is the downside versus the 7i76e?
When you say just a PPort- is that an option with no mesa card at all? What functionality does that miss out on?
Despite my shortage of cash, I want to be able to fully control a 3 axis router

It is perfectly possible to control a 3-axis router with just your Mach3 BOB and the parallel port.

You might find that you can't read encoder fast enough for a high-count spindle encoder, and you might need to lower the microstep ratio to get the required axis speeds at the available pulse rate. (p-port can pulse at about 25kHz, typically. Mesa card at 10MHz)

You should probably configure the machine with what you have now. You will then have a better idea what you really need.

steveinjava wrote: So if I go the 7i96 with breakout board route (I am guessing the Mach3 bob I have would do?) what is the downside versus the 7i76e?
When you say just a PPort- is that an option with no mesa card at all? What functionality does that miss out on?
Despite my shortage of cash, I want to be able to fully control a 3 axis router via the console. Ideally, I would like the ability to go to 6D one day- if I have to buy a Mesa card I would prefer to just buy one and not have to buy a second later on.
As always, all advice is gratefully received.

The 7i76e and 7i96 and the 7i92 are connected to the PC by ethernet the 7i76e and 7i96 don't require a BOB but the 7i92 does.

A simple BOB would connect to the 7i92 or just to a PC with a PPort on it running linuxcnc

manual for the 7i92 www.mesanet.com/pdf/parallel/7i92man.pdf HAve a look at the other manuals

7i76e has spindle control I don't think the 7i96 has

Hi Andy, well the 2.2kw spindle has a max rpm of 24000 although I confess I do not know how many sensors there are per rev. I will do as you say. Luckily there is a Mesa supplier in Portugal so I can buy one if and when I realise I need it. Thanks again!