Tormach 1100MX???

So I have an application where I need a 5 axis machine. The Tormach 1100MX is about the perfect size for this project. The issue is that the Tormach is only 4 axis capable. I looked at the documentation for the machine and the machine interface they are now using is not a mesa board. It is their own FPGA board that is set up to be ethernet communication and interfaces with the drives. It only has 4 drive interfaces.

To run 5 axis I would not use PathPilot since it is not set up for 5 axis. I would run Linuxcnc with Gmoccapy or another UI.

My thought is that I could either run a 7i76e along with the Tormach interface board to get the additional axes. This would be the least intrusive with the existing Tormach hardware.

The other option would be to use mesa interfaces and rewire the entire Tormach elecrical panel. I don't have information on the drive interfaces they are using and I am guessing it would be difficult to impossible to get that information unless I can get the drive information from the drive manufacturer themselves.

The reason I am leaning towards the Tormach is that it is nearly ready to go. If I can add on another interface card and do a little configuration of Linuxcnc it will be much simpler to get going than creating an entire machine from scratch, or CNCing a manual machine.

What do you think about these options? Any major pitfalls you see here? Anybody done this with an MX. Anybody have an MX where they can get me pictures inside the electrical box to see what the servo drives are?

tommylight wrote:

Whatever they are using (shame on them for dropping Mesa) it is using LinuxCNC, so chances are it can be modified to run 5 axis, granted there are some ports/pins available.
Also changing it to Mesa 7i76E should be easy as i doubt they changed everything as that would make the changeover/support very difficult and costly.
Before you decide, have a look on youtube, there are some very satisfied customers of Tormach machines, but some are not. The main issue i have with that is that most who are ok with it, are sponsored by it.
Then again, the price is really hard to beat, so all in all they do seem very nice machines for what you pay.

I was under the impression that they used a mesa 7i92 then connected it to there own BOB

I am not sure what they are using. Per tech support and their documentation it is a Tormach controller board with the FPGA embedded on it. Per the 1100MX operator manual electrical schematics it is designated as ECM1. It has designated connectors for the servo drives used on the 1100MX. I am sure this is why they made the switch. To make it much simpler to wire up.

The main problem that I have is there is no documentation on the servo drives they are using. If anyone has information as to what servo drives are used in the 1100MX that would be a big help. I will also ask other places and post my findings back here.

My second issue is that if this is Ethernet based and the Mesa board for 4th and 5th axis is Ethernet based and they don't talk nice with each other it could be an issue. That would be when I would need to go Mesa all the way and rewire.

Stay tuned for more information as I find it out.

They probably wanted to get the hardware out of the "open source" domain as hm2 is open source firmware. It'd actually be funny if their FPGA board was running hm2 firmware.

Then there is always the chance that Mesa designed a custom FPGA board for them as well, in which case maybe it has an open SmartSerial channel or 26pin header. Then again if it's running a Spartan6 FPGA if could probably be flashed with hm2 and reconfigured. Be nice to see what's in that box when ya get it.

I kind of had the same Idea about picking up a Tormach as a turnkey mill rather than having to convert another one but I wouldn't want to be distanced from LinuxCNC by whatever it is they are doing in there.

The 1100MX's ECM1 still uses hm2_eth driver and .bit files. The related .hal file has the word 'clearpath' in it and still uses Step/Dir signals. I can't imagine them leaving hm2_eth behind given the effort required to write a new driver and all the related work. They have a lot invested in PathPilot enhancements to LinuxCNC.
The Clearpath motors will be SDSK series as they use step/dir (i.e. a direct replacment for the original steppers)

A bit more from Tormach: tormach.com/bundle-1100m-servo-upgrade-kit.html and tormach.com/ecm1v15-replacement-kit-1100m-and-770m-39718.html

gerritv wrote:

The 1100MX's ECM1 still uses hm2_eth driver and .bit files. The related .hal file has the word 'clearpath' in it and still uses Step/Dir signals. I can't imagine them leaving hm2_eth behind given the effort required to write a new driver and all the related work. They have a lot invested in PathPilot enhancements to LinuxCNC.
The Clearpath motors will be SDSK series as they use step/dir (i.e. a direct replacment for the original steppers)

A bit more from Tormach: tormach.com/bundle-1100m-servo-upgrade-kit.html and tormach.com/ecm1v15-replacement-kit-1100m-and-770m-39718.html

Excellent information. Thanks for the information. That sounds like it should be pretty simple to get the 5 axis going using another mesa Ethernet card on a different address than the Tormach interface. I was considering using the clear path motors for the 4th and 5th axis setup. This will make a good overall combined unit.

I will make another post to document the progress for this project. I will probably implement it on my current mill first and once the proof of concept is done move it to a Tormach machine.

Any info on the source of the bitfiles? The pinfile will show if a smart serial channel is to be built. It's a little tricky to tell if SS is built because halcmd doesn't show it's pins. The terminal will print a smart serial version but I'm not quite sure if that only happens when the firmware module is detected. Does the hal or ini file configure a smart serial channel?

That square black square underneath the rj45 port the use to connect the "controller" looks suspiciously like an unshielded RJ45 that would typically be used for smart serial.

The PathPilot update files are on their web site. There are instructions on this forum for deciphering them. Although the .bit file souce is not there, the hal and ini files are. Which should get you a long way to answering your questions.

There are 3 pins related to RJ45 ilisted in the hal file.

gerritv wrote:

The PathPilot update files are on their web site. There are instructions on this forum for deciphering them. Although the .bit file souce is not there, the hal and ini files are. Which should get you a long way to answering your questions.

There are 3 pins related to RJ45 ilisted in the hal file.

I dug into it a bit, I didn't find the means to open tormachs update file here but it's easily found elsewhere.

The hal file for the MX is amazingly descriptive, it even includes the full pinfile configuration in comments. RJ45 is referenced to connector J11 which the diagram on the upgrade doc ignores so it must be that black connector. the 3 pins are connected as IO so I suppose they intended to use something like the serport component for it.

Since it's exposed to the FPGA it certainly could be used for smartserial by changing it in the pinfile for the tx and rx pins to use the SS module. SS is RS422, the rj45 can currently be wired any way. The chip near the rj45 port is likely an rs485/422 transciever and I'll bet there's some means like a jumper or something to change the mode. If I had a tormach I'd be hacking that thing. I don't believe Mesa sells a smart serial remote card with stepgens dedicated.