5i25 + 7i77, 3 servos and one stepper *SOLVED*

I've been banging my head against the wall again...

I've had my Hurco Hawk 5M mill running quite smoothly for a while now. It has 3 DC servos that are running off the 7i77. I decided today to hook up my 4th axis to the machine. It has a closed loop stepper that accepts step/direction signals. I have been using this thread as a reference: forum.linuxcnc.org/27-driver-boards/2750...a-7i77-5i25?start=50 . I have the same 5 axis BOB and am wanting to do the same thing as this guy but I'm unclear as to what his actual solution was. I have flashed the 5i25 with the 7i77_7i76 firmware, setup a stepgen for the A axis, but can't seem to get any output on the BOB. I know the BOB is working as I can swap it into one of my other CNCs and it works fine there. I suspect pin mapping is the issue but I don't know how to correct it. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

You should not use 7I77_7I76 firmware for anything but a 7I77+ a 7I76 since it will
be completely incompatible with parallel port BOB pinouts

I think 5i25_7i77_BSTECH firmware should be a lot closer.

You can verify the pinout by loading the firmware and running mesaflash with the readhmid option:

sudo mesaflash --device 5i25 --write 5i25_7i77_bstech.bit
( write new bitfile to flash memory )
sudo mesaflash --device 5i25 --reload
( load FPGA from new bitfile image in flash memory )
sudo mesaflash --device 5i25 --readhmid > pinout.txt
( read the new pinout and put it on the pinout.txt file )

Thank for the fast reply. I loaded the 5i25_7i77_BSTECH firmware, restarted the computer because the reload command wouldn't work, read out the pinout and it looks the same is he 7i77_7i76. the step gens are on 1/14 2/15 3/16 and 4/17. Pncconf doesn't show the bstech firmware either.

Edit: Nevermind, after shutting down killing power and booting back up the pins changed and now it runs all 4 axis properly Thank you again for all the help.

After checking this I noticed that the bitfile date on 5i25_7i77_bstech.bit was 2014,
this predates some sserial noise immunity fixes so its probably best that you use this fresh bitfile:

freeby.mesanet.com/bs.zip

Note that you should be able to use the reload command now ( it needs relatively recent bitfiles )

Hello!

Piggybacking on this thread - sorry for resurrecting the dead!

I am using a 6i25 (in 5i25 mode) with one 7i77 and an additional stepper that i plan to wire directly to P2 (Z axis controlled by stepper and not servo).

Flashed the 6i25 with the 5i25_7i77_bstech.bit file and checked it with readhmid -> pins look OK.

Problem is in PNCConf.

Initially throws a strange error 'currentboard is not defined'. I've hardcoded the currentboard value in the script and all is good, i can see the list of XML files loaded manually in /lib/firmware/hm2/5i25.

The problem that i have is when i select the 5i25_7i77_bstech.xml file in PNCConf it only populates the P2 and P3 tabs, but does not create the 7i77 tabs (and automatically configures P3 for 7i77).

Being an absolute noob at this, i have no idea how to do that manually. I am guessing i can use a hal file for 7i77_7i76 and copy the 7i77 part in the incomplete hal file generated for bstech...but it's just a guess

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!

Later edit: or i could simply use the 7i77_7i76 configuration and connect to a set of step/dir pins (without the 7i76 board of course)?

Thanks!
Alex

Thank you, tommylight!

That did the trick for me!

Merging the two .hal and .ini files was actually much easier than expected. One pncconf config was done for 7i77_7i76 and another for 7i77_bstech.

Managed to connect the stepper driver directly into the P2 port of the 6i25. Please be mindful of the pin number when doing this, the pins do not start at 1 as in the .pin file, so you would need the board’s manual to figure out the exact ones. I’ve left the P2 power jumper to off and it works just fine.