Hardware Reccomendations

Okay, So...

I have 2 X Servo motors + 1 Y Servo Motor (require pulse trains), + THC (currently standard DC motor, but might change to stepper to get more accurate initial torch height) + Air Scribe once again, DC but possibly changing to stepper + stepper for mill + mill spindle.

So, 3 servos + 2 steppers + 1 spindle = 6 Axis

almost 20 inputs (limit switches, manual control etc)

So would the 7i95 be the best board, or is there a cheaper alternative that will let me do what I need?

Everything inside my control cabinet is currently 24V, so am I correct in assuming I will need a 5V power supply for the Messa board, or can this be powered off the odroid??

I'd use a separate supply 5v supply.
There doesn't seem to be any rating for how much 5v power you can take off the Odroid. And you should at least have a little protection if anything goes pear shaped.
Compared to the Odroid what is a PSU going to cost ?

I had a look at your drives and it looks like they are step and direction (pulse train) and the encoders on the motors connect to the drivers. I did not dig into the manual. On that basis, i think you would be better off with a 7i76e. That gives you 5 stepgens, 32 inputs and 16 outputs and spindle control so it should be enough.

Get rid of your DC motor and replace it with a nema 23/24 stepper motor and add a float switch if you don't have one. If your plasma has a shield tip also plan on ohmic sensing.

For power, the 7i76e just needs 24 volts and has an onboard 5V regulator, so you won't need a 5v power supply.
Ocean controls has a good range of bits and pieces and power supplies

The only thing you need to sort out if your machine has active high or active low inputs and select between a 7i76e or 7i76eD

i think you would be better off with a 7i76e. That gives you 5 stepgens, 32 inputs and 16 outputs and spindle control so it should be enough.

If i change my plasma Z and air scribe to stepper motors, and add a Z axis for milling functions, won't I need 6 axis control?

If your plasma has a shield tip also plan on ohmic sensing.

Will this give better thc control than relying on arc voltage? I have heard that ohmic sensing can be problematic on water tables due to splash back.

Is the Odroid a better solution than raspberry pi or Asus tinkerbox?

Thanks for all the help and sorry about all the dumb questions. I'm just trying to get my head around it all before I commit to buying more hardware

As the Odroid is a true x86 platform (ie: PC), in very small form factor, I'd choose the Odroid over the RPi any day of the week.

The Odroid gives you 3 options for a boot device, 2 SATA (we'll call this one), NVME & an emmc module. Plus there are twin 2.5G Ethernet ports (which can be booted from but not really useful important for most users).

htdave wrote:

If your plasma has a shield tip also plan on ohmic sensing.

Will this give better thc control than relying on arc voltage? I have heard that ohmic sensing can be problematic on water tables due to splash back.

Ohmic sensing is a way to probe for the material. Yes its normally problematic on water tables but not round here! We have a solution that uses a THCAD-5, a 390 ohm resistor, a 25k 5 W resistor and a Meanwell HDR-15-24 isolated power supply (source from Ocean Controls) and a software component that seems to have solved this. What plasma cutter do you have?

htdave wrote:

Is the Odroid a better solution than raspberry pi or Asus tinkerbox?

I'm with Rob here. Its a darn quick little PC. I only have 4gb memory and you can tuck them in anywhere (NC control for pressbrake)

I'm with Rob here. Its a darn quick little PC. I only have 4gb memory and you can tuck them in anywhere

Odroid it is then. Is there any benefit to going to 8GB of Ram, or is 4GB plenty?

What plasma cutter do you have?

I have a Hypertherm Powermax 125. It has a standard tip at the moment, but I can see that ohmic sensing would have a big benefit on the thinner sheetmetal, so I guess I had better add the THCAD-5 to my Mesa list.


Based on the Chinglish wiring diagrams that came with the table, it appears that the outputs either go to the Panasonic Servo drive units, or a Delta dvp40es00r2 PLC. Does anybody know if that would need a sinking or a sourcing version?

Thanks

Is there anywhere in Aus selling Mesa, or do you just buy direct from Mesa?

Either here
mesaus.com/
or
store.mesanet.com/index.php?route=common/home

Odroid: (way way way cheaper than local dealers)
www.hardkernel.com/shop/odroid-h2plus/

I went with 2x 4GB sticks of RAM, just to get that little extra performance as they will run in Dual Channel Mode.

I brought from here:
eusurplus.com
I received after order in 4 days from Portugal to Japan, very professional, well package.