Getting started with PnCConf and my new 5i25 board

OK this provides a potentially useful information. But there is no reference to actual pins on the host board plugs P2 P3

I used a terminal and a command that produced a listing like below. unfortunately I can not remember how
I did this.

[23804.234796] hm2/hm2_5i25.0: IO Pin 012 (P3-09): IOPort
[23804.234799] hm2/hm2_5i25.0: IO Pin 013 (P3-10): IOPort
[23804.234803] hm2/hm2_5i25.0: IO Pin 014 (P3-11): Encoder #0, pin Index (Input)
[23804.234807] hm2/hm2_5i25.0: IO Pin 015 (P3-12): Encoder #0, pin B (Input)
[23804.234811] hm2/hm2_5i25.0: IO Pin 016 (P3-13): Encoder #0, pin A (Input)
[23804.234815] hm2/hm2_5i25.0: IO Pin 017 (P2-01): StepGen #5, pin Direction (Output)
[23804.234819] hm2/hm2_5i25.0: IO Pin 018 (P2-14): StepGen #5, pin Step (Output)
[23804.234823] hm2/hm2_5i25.0: IO Pin 019 (P2-02): StepGen #6, pin Direction (Output)
[23804.234828] hm2/hm2_5i25.0: IO Pin 020 (P2-15): StepGen #6, pin Step (Output)
[23804.234832] hm2/hm2_5i25.0: IO Pin 021 (P2-03): StepGen #7, pin Direction (Output)
[23804.234836] hm2/hm2_5i25.0: IO Pin 022 (P2-16): StepGen #7, pin Step (Output)
[23804.234840] hm2/hm2_5i25.0: IO Pin 023 (P2-04): StepGen #8, pin Direction (Output)
[23804.234844] hm2/hm2_5i25.0: IO Pin 024 (P2-17): StepGen #8, pin Step (Output)
[23804.234848] hm2/hm2_5i25.0: IO Pin 025 (P2-05): StepGen #9, pin Direction (Output)
[23804.234852] hm2/hm2_5i25.0: IO Pin 026 (P2-06): StepGen #9, pin Step (Output)
[23804.234855] hm2/hm2_5i25.0: IO Pin 027 (P2-07): IOPort
[23804.234859] hm2/hm2_5i25.0: IO Pin 028 (P2-08): IOPort
[23804.234862] hm2/hm2_5i25.0: IO Pin 029 (P2-09): IOPort
[23804.234865] hm2/hm2_5i25.0: IO Pin 030 (P2-10): IOPort
[23804.234869] hm2/hm2_5i25.0: IO Pin 031 (P2-11): Encoder #1, pin Index (Input)
[23804.234873] hm2/hm2_5i25.0: IO Pin 032 (P2-12): Encoder #1, pin B (Input)
[23804.234877] hm2/hm2_5i25.0: IO Pin 033 (P2-13): Encoder #1, pin A (Input)

If you need to know which 5I25 pins connect to which 7I76 inputs/outputs,
you need to refer to the 7I76 manual. That said, standard configurations
connect things in the most obvious way:
(stepgens in 7I76 order, spindle encoder on 7I76 is ENC 0, sseral I/O named like 7I76 I/O)

Thanks! I am starting to figure this out. The reason behind all this is precipitated by the
nature of the spindle logic. I need to have some extra IO pins for the drive enable and
spindle E-stop. These share the same +5V and ground as the Step and Dir logic
provided on 7i76 TB3 for spindle use.

Using the IO provided on TB5 & TB6 would require hacking the the spindle interface due
to the separate ground & +V system. So I am looking to make use of two unused pin residing
on TB2 or TB3 for my spindle enable(out) and E-stop(in).

16 RS-422 RX+, 17 RS-422 RX-, 18 RS-422 TX+, 19 RS-422 TX- Would be convenient
if I could use them leaving TB2 untouched with all the stepgens available for future use.

If not I will try unlinking one of the stepgen IO and re-net it to achieve the spindle enable
and E-stop.

If you are not using all 5 stepgens
you can reclaim two 5V outputs per unused stepgen (the step and dir pins)
simply by setting the number of stepgens to only whats required in the ini/hal file

So for example if you only require 4 stepgens, (stepgens 0..3)
stepgen 4s pins on the 7I76 become available as GP outputs

OK !
I have nearly every thing working except the B axis home. For my particular configuration I have a 5 axis
machine. The typical XYZ with an A axis indexer and a B axis spindle tilt. I have had all this working
using parports.

Using the PnCConf wizard to create a XYZA axis prototype with homing, then by cloning and modifying the A
axis I create the B axis Hal and ini configurations.

I am now having a problem with the B axis homing sequence failing to work. The axis continues to rotate past
the home point.

In this case It is convenient to use a encoder attached directly to the B axil and use the index pulse for a home
switch. Using Hal Scope I can see the index pules present at the hm2_5i25.0.gpio.031 pin. I have netted it to
the home-b signal and Hal Scope shows it as present just as I see it on other axis homing signals.

I have tried setting HOME_USE_INDEX = YES in the ini But this had no effect.


Where is the missing link? What should I look for?

I found the answer to the B axis home problem

net test_sig axis.4.home-sw-in <= hm2_5i25.0.gpio.031.in

dose the trick!

You probably dont want to be looking directly at the index GPIO pin.

There is hardware in the encoder counter that can watch for index and clear the encoder
counter when its detected. This in the normal way homing to index is done with hardware counters.
This has the advantage that you cant miss the index pulse no matter how fast the homing sequence is
or how high the encoder resolution is (index is normally only one count wide)

For HOME_USE_INDEX to work with the encoder counter hardware you
need to connect the index enable from the encoder to motions index enable pin

Is there a newer man for the 5i25 encoder? The old man encoder seems not to be apply to the 5i25