Question: Capability of LinuxCNC for 3d printing

Hi,
I am new here and my experience with CNC machine is limited. I stumbled upon linuxCNC while searching for a replacement controller for a bespoke 3d printer ( Binder jetting ) in my lab. It was built a while ago by a previous student (10yr ago). Before embarking in retrofitting the printer with linuxCNC, I would to check if linuxCNC is indeed what i need.

Right now the printer is a 3 axis parker motion gantry controlled by a Delta tau turbo pmac2 unit and 5 Acc-24E2 Axis Expansion Board (X,Y,Z1,Z2,Bed,Carriage). The motor driver are AR-13AE Aries (for X,Y) and parker E-DC (for Z1,Z2,Bed and Carriage).

In principle, a PC running LinuxCNC(with the correct parrallel card) should replace the pmac2 unit? How many axis LinuxCNC can control. For example, I have two printhead. So therefore I have two Z axis. Same thing with with the carriage, I have two platform that moves up and down. Can I control those as if they were different Z axis?

It seems the Ar-13AE takes a 10V analog signal as input (did I read that right?). Does LinuxCNC support that?

In the python part, when I implement a custom G-code command, does the python interpreter have access to all the peripheral the computer is connected to? Or does it run in a sandbox? I have a two printhead that I need to communicate with using RS232.

And What peripheral card you guys suggest? I see Mesa being mentionned a lot.

Cheers

you can do this

considder heyapot at 200mm/sec if the hotend can follow

Tehe mesa woudt be Ethernet 7i96 best for this projekt

if you already got a parport printer then use the 7i92 and just hook it up

For the analog controlled servos (+/-10v) a Mesa card combination inducing a 7i77 daughter card would probably be the best option.

Linuxcnc has the ability to control up to 9 axis. XYZ (linear Cartesian), ABC (rotary Cartesian), + UVW (extra parallel axis to XYZ). All of these are arbitrary as to their purpose and configuration, except ABC do have some hard ties to rotary motion in the motion planner, at least before the Joint/Axis merger in Master.

Or a 7i92 or 7i80 Ethernet card.

Hi,

Thank you everybody for the replies. It was very helpful.

Cheers