Elumatec SBZ 130/01 retrofit

tommylight wrote: What are the chances of controlling that with Linuxcnc through serial?

The chances are not great, to be honest, and not without work. It is probably more practical to sell the IO boards and use Pico / General Mechatronics / Mesa equivalents. It would probably be possible to write a driver for the existing IO boards, but is it worth the trouble?

It has Serial Absolute Encoders on all axis, is there anything i can use for them by MESA or else?

What protocol do they use? There is an absolute encoder module for Mesa if they are BiSS, SSI or Fanuc
linuxcnc.org/docs/2.7/html/man/man9/hostmot2.9.html#Synchronous Serial Interface (SSI)

Andy, thank you.
I have already given up on the serial port, just needed to confirm that it is not worth waisting time on it.
For encoders i could not find any info as they are made in 1994, made by ferrocontrol.
They have 2 input 2 output and a direction wires and power. That does not help at all as it can be any of the protocols used at that time.
I am wiling to order a mesa card and test if i can read them. What card?
I already ordered a 7i74, two 7i77, and a lot of other mesa hardware. Order should be placed today or tomorrow at eusurplus.com by a friend of mine in Austria.
Thank you for your never ending support.

It appears to be Fieldbus (which is, unfortunately, a little bit vague)
servo-repair.com/documents/ferrorcontrol...eference_10-98_E.pdf

It might be worth contacting General Mechatronics, they might have heard of ferrocontrol and know what version of Fieldbus they use.

I already went over that document, it does mention SSI serial absolute encoders, but nothing more in common with the machine i am working on. Then again i will just oder an SSI card and do some testing to see if i can get any reading from them. I also ordered incremental encoder in case all else fails, will use a 5i25 or 6i25 with a 7i77 and 7i70/7i71 for more inputs and outputs. If i am not mistaken that would also require an 7i74 so i did oder one.
The big problem will be figuring out the order of things for doing toolchanges. Oh goodie, more food for thought.
Hopefully by the end of next week i will get the ordered parts so i can start installing and testing.
Thank you very much, Andy

It might have been better to go 5i24 / 7i44 / 7i33TA just for the extra IO.
There are bitfiles out there for half smart-serial and half SSI (I think) for your 7i74.
Also consider the 7i64 for IO, as it has significant drive power. (2.5A per channel)

7i33ta is a quad analogue, 7i77 is a 6 analogue output, and i ordered 2 just in case, i need as a bare minimum 5 analogue outputs, 4 dc drives, 1 ac drive for spindle. There is also the tool changer motor. The maximum in/outs is 32/32 but i have yet to check how many are in actual use. I just thought it is much better to have separate drive/in/out boards, it is cleaner inside the box and troubleshooting is simpler. All the inputs are on a single cable, so are the outputs on the other, so less mess.
I still did not get the order confirmation, so i have to call tomorrow that friend in Austria to check.
Thank you very much Andy.
I am sorry if some info seems vague, i only spent 4 hours in total with the machine, found the initial problem (faulty e-stop switch), managed to switch the machine and all electronics on, checked all 5 servo drives and motors and actually moved 3 axis and the spindle. I could not move the long X axis as it has brakes controlled by air and i had no air there, but i did try to move it at a very low speed for a very short period of time and listened to the sound of the drive, it does buzz (not very technical but efficient).
The afore mentioned faulty switch is the reason why that machine is collecting dust for over a year, as some lousy service had a look at the machine, it did not start so they found it pertinent to promptly f.......................................................badly.