How difficult is Linux CNC to wrap your head around for a beginner?

The pc will live in the control cabinet (which is the size of a city apartment) so I’ll go the pci route.
I may look at finding a replacement cabinet as the Biesse one is double width and almost 300kgs.

SPH wrote:

Sorry, you’ve lost me. I’m a total beginner with Linux.
Are you saying the Cslabs controller is a better option or not so much?

I think what Grotius is saying is CSlabs said to him the Mesa cards are pretty cool! MESA is by far the best route.

I think there are a couple of build threads about Biesse machines so have a search. People will be able to help as you work through this. And definitely follow's Tommy's advice and get the other card as I'm sure you will need heaps of IO

Got it, all good.

I posted about the machine in the mesa section a while ago I think. I’m not looking for the functionality of a Rover from this machine. I’m treating it as a 3 ton set of building blocks.
The z axis will have a spindle on it and that’s it. That cuts out about 30 lines of i/o.
You’re right though, it’s small money for the extra card so that’s what I’ll do.

Yeah, I saw Bevins posts when I first brought the machine. Very cool.
My machine is a rover 23. Has 12 or 15 drills and a slotting saw. Had I should say. The boring/slotting head is sitting on the bed now. It’s not the kind of part that’s likely to have any resale value so I’ll just shelf it. That way if my needs change down the road I can always re-install it and it’s 300,000 pneumatic solenoids and sensors.
The machine is equal parts impressive and ridiculous. The shear amount of weight the z had to deal with is insane. And the speed that it all moves at too, it’s nuts. 40mm ballscrew and a 1.5kw Servo on the z. All on a single sided gantry.

Well if you are looking to unload it I have a machine that I would like to add a drilling head to.

You could probably make one for less than the postage cost from Aus.

I'm going to order my Mesa hardware shortly, I'm still a bit unsure about the 7i77 or 7i77D though. If one provides a common +24v and the other provides a common ground is it not just a difference of how everything is wired? Is there anything I need to be aware of so as to not order the wrong card?

SPH wrote:

I'm going to order my Mesa hardware shortly, I'm still a bit unsure about the 7i77 or 7i77D though. If one provides a common +24v and the other provides a common ground is it not just a difference of how everything is wired? Is there anything I need to be aware of so as to not order the wrong card?

Its really a decision dictated by any existing wiring you are going to keep.

For a new build you would choose a 7i77 but if you have existing hardware that requires sinking I/O, the 7i77d is there to accommodate this.

The whole thing will be wired from scratch so I'll go the 7i77.