7i96 Spindle Wiring

I'm working on the wiring for the spindle motor for my CNC conversion and I'm at a bit of a loss on how to wire the motor to the Mesa 7i96. From what I understand, I need to wire the motor to the Encoder inputs on the Mesa card as per page 17 on the documentation for the Mesa card ( www.mesanet.com/pdf/parallel/7i96man.pdf ).

I have this motor, www.sensata.com/sites/default/files/medi...-19-bdna_drawing.pdf , which drives the engraving spindle via a belt.

Any help understanding this part of the process would be appreciated.

Do you have the manual for the spindle drive?

The 7I96 encoder inputs are intended to connect to a quadrature encoder
Do you have a encoder connected to your spindle?

I do not currently have an encoder connected to the spindle that I know of. Would it be physically attached to the motor or would it be connected via wires or some other interface?

Currently, the spindle motor is connected to the gantry (the silver motor on the right with the belt attached to the spindle):


There is a box of electronics that came with the machine, so if it is connected in another way then I am guessing it would be in there. Is there a good rule of thumb to know what I am looking for in this case?

Also, is it safe to assume that my understanding of the encoder on the Mesa 7i96 is wrong? From my limited understanding I assumed that the Mesa card would act as an encoder. Not true?

There is no encoder there, so spindle feedback is not possible unless an encoder was
added, _but_ this looks like an engraver or router where spindle synchronized motion
(the main reason to have a spindle encoder) is not really useful so that should not
be an issue

For the 7I96 to control the spindle (on/off and possibly speed) you would need to find
documentation on the spindle drive (the electronic circuit that connects to the spindle motor)

dzawacki wrote: ........... I assumed that the Mesa card would act as an encoder. Not true?

Nope, Mesa reads the encoders and sends data back to linuxcnc.
What does activate the spindle now? A switch or a relay ?
For simple on/off operation you would need to add a relay wired to one of the Mesa outputs, that in turn would power on or off the spindle. Since that is a small spindle, i see no reason to have speed control, small bits so the faster it can spin the better.
Encoder can be used to see the RPM during work and having some feedback about the load on the spindle/tool.

Got it, I'll dig around in the electronics this evening to see what I can find.

I'm not sure how easy it is going to be to find the documentation, however, as nearly all information on this machine has been near impossible to find.