How to select Mesa boards for my CNC project.

Good morning all,

I am new to LinuxCNC, been using Mach3 for years but now want to move on from that product. I am watching the Raspberring pi thread as I see great potential to use it for the computer hardware to run LinuxCNC.

I have read a lot of the documents and watched a lot of videos, and read a good amount of the threads on this forum, but I am still stuck in the planning phase of my project.

It looks to me like using a Mesa board is a good idea, especially because I am going to use a RPI-4 as the host computer. I have spent a lot of time on the Mesa websites but I simply cannot wrap my head around the selection process of which board / daughter board to select for my project.

Can someone walk me through the process of selecting the correct board(s) to be used?

For reference, this is what I am re-controlling with LinuxCNC.

• 2 Axes lathe (X,Z), stepper driven, Step & Dir signals
  X - Step
  X - Dir
  Z - Step
  Z - Dir
  X axis limit/home switch
  Z home / limit switch
  VFD spindle drive
  FWD/REV
  0-10V for speed
  Spindle encoder for precise threading
  Encoder 'A'
  Encoder 'B'
  Encoder - Index
  E-Stop input
  Cycle start button
  Feed hold button
  Spindle speed override (pot or encoder switch or ?)
  Feedrate override (pot or encoder switch or ?)
  Jog rate override (pot or encoder switch or ?)
  Buttons to jog (X+, X-, Z+, Z-)
  2 MPGS to allow for "manual machine" operation
  X MPG 'A'
  X MPG 'B'
  Z MPG 'A'
  Z MPG 'B'
  MPG increment = .0001
  MPG Increment = .0010
  MPG Increment = .0100

Thanks much in advance!

Chris D

as you already use mach3
it woudt be very easy to get the system to a 7i96 Mesa Board
or guessing you use 2 Parports simply use a 7i92H

if you are in Europa see the eusurplus for gettung parts

If you want to go down the Ethernet route I would go with a 7i76e that would give you everything you need.

store.mesanet.com/index.php?route=produc...oduct&product_id=290

Clive wrote:

If you want to go down the Ethernet route I would go with a 7i76e that would give you everything you need.

store.mesanet.com/index.php?route=produc...oduct&product_id=290

X 2

Possibly a bit overkill in regards to the number of inputs but it supports 2 MPG encoders plus dedicated spindle control with encoder input. The 7i96 is nice, but has fewer inputs and isolated relays built in on the outputs but I don't think it covers your 2 x MPG's

Probably a bit early Here is how to get your MPG's running on a 7i76e
forum.linuxcnc.org/show-your-stuff/32029...build?start=20#85305

I ended up with with a single 6 axis jog wheel on a pendant and have thought about using the unused 3 axis selections for overrides etc. You could do this as well on both MPG's

Thank you all for the responses.

So, if I understand this correctly, the MESA board must have actual MPG inputs in order to connect an MPG?

Also....

"four input pin voltages are readable with 8 bit resolution"

I assume this means that the board provides 4 analog inputs?

Chris D

An MPG can also be used with ordinary hardware encoder inputs, or using any ordinary inputs using a Hal's software encoder interface.
linuxcnc.org/docs/html/man/man9/encoder.9.html

(and yes that does mean analog)

as well you can use the standards of XHC-WB04 axis Mach3 Handheld

there are components that support this MPG if needed
prior is the Amount of rewirering you like to go
there are eays plug and play versins that may fit yur system already
OR as so many Mach3 Upgreaters to Linucnc will get a better performence use the called 7i76e upgread

with the 7i92 you are at the same system that you worked on within 1minute as the WIZARD will change the Mach3 config to a running
linuxcnc config

Thanks for the information and answers!
Sorry to keep asking but even after a lot of reading, I am not confident I am anywhere near having a solid understanding.

I loaded the GMOCAPY lathe GUI and it looks really great. Is it safe to assume that any of the mesa boards will work with any of the GUIs? I think the area that confuses me is for example, I don't see MPG functionality on that GUI, but the boards I am looking are capable of MPGs and I certainly need them.

CHris