Mesa Card Combination Tool

The whole Mesa card combination thing can be very confusing for newbies, hence all the "Will x card work with y?" threads. Also, finding the cheapest combination for your needs can be a bit time consuming.

Event though questions on here get answered pretty quickly (thanks for that!), I thought I could maybe help some of the people with basic questions.

I made a simple tool that lets you input your needs (I/Os, encoders, axis, etc.) and it will suggest some card combinations, sorted by price. You can also check if your combination of cards will work.
I just made this, so there will probably be some bugs. Feel free to test it out and let me know what you think.

Combination Tool

Thank you, the 7i76S was a typo, fixed now.

The 7i96S doesn't have a dedicated floating enable output, that's why you need a 7i77 which has that. I'm not super deep into that topic, does it make sense to change it so any output counts as enable?

Okay, it seems that the "enable" option causes more confusion than help, I've decided to just remove it so it's clear.
The form was based off spumcos thread, I haven't looked very deep in every cards datasheet.

Nice, thanks klopp.  Just curious, will the 7C80 and 81 be added?  

Couldn't message you here nor IRC, sorry. Not sure; perhaps a grandkid got ahold of my computer.  Gotta hide the remotes when they're over... they've already bought Paramount+ and Amazon Prime just with that!

Interesting idea. I plugged in my lathe:
2x analog axis
1x analog VFD speed control
3x high speed encoders
5x low speed control interface encoders in two locations
17x 24V outputs
5x 5v outputs
13x inputs
One 7x7 Multiplexed keyboard (not counted in the I/O above).

It seems to default to adding a 7i76 to a 7i77 to meet higher number of encoders and I/O required, which seems like a somewhat unlikely solution, as additional I/O will typically be done more cheaply with 7i84, and additional encoders are often low speed usage like control panel overrides, jog wheels etc, which will be better interfaced through 7i73's located close to them, rather than wiring them all the way back to a big card in the main cabinet.

In my case, one think I overlooked in my card selection was that I needed both 5V and 24V outputs. I didn't consider that, and splitting the Vfield rails on the 7i84 left me short of 24V outputs. I picked up a couple more from unused axis on the 7i83, but should really add a second 7i84, rather than switching 24V relays with unused 5V outputs.
This tool does not seem to consider the use of 7i92+7i85 screwed together as the heart of a system, with other SS cards (2x7i84,  7i85, 2x 7i73 in my case) for specific functions.
To be honest, I dont think many new users are capable of correctly identifying all required I/O at the point in the project when the cards are ordered. Had I used this tool, it would have offered suboptimal solutions rather than the 7i92/7i85 based system recommended by PCW (or was it Andy or Tommy?). As such I am glad the wisdom and support of this forum is available.

I know we all like to save money on this stuff, but a 7i73 can save so much time and effort in wiring, and pretty near all CNC machines will have some form of control panel and/or pendant,  it should be a basic recommendation in every project, as for the price it is a steal.
Mark