7i95T & 7i77

Hello, 

i am beginner and (so far I can tell right know) successfully got my pi5 running with LinuxCNC 2.10 (which I read is required to run a 7i95T).
Sadly pncconf has no template for the Card, nor the combination of cards. So I decided to give mesact a try which at least knows the cards I got.
for my understanding, I need a firmware file to flash on my 7i95T to make the daughter card addressable. is that correct?
After downloading the firmware of the card and saving to the mentioned folder I recognized there is no firmware on the Mesa website available for my combination of cards?! or am I missing something? <screenshot appended>
can somebody help me out with it?

 

Which combination of cards do you have?

Oops should have read the title.

That's a fairly odd combination, what hardware interfaces do you need?
There is no standard firmware for the combination, but it can be built easily
 

tommylight wrote:

BloodyT wrote:

....successfully got my pi5 running with LinuxCNC 2.10 (which I read is required to run a 7i95T).
 
Where did you read that? 

 

I meant 2.10, not the pi  
what's wrong about the pi's?
for me right now the pi is just handy, because I have it here. maybe I change it to a miniPC at some point... I am not sure... but first I need to get a working cards/hal/ini

Hi @PCW

currently the machine (old Plasma) uses analog servo motors, that's why I added the 7i77. I need 10v/-10v for the Axis.
i am not entirely sure if I add encoders to the board in the future. at the moment they are hooked up to the servo drives.

my thoughts where, If at some point something breaks, and I add a more modern motor to some axis I can handle this with the 7i95T in the future.... that's why its kind of redundant(analog and step/dir).
also I don't know if everything on this machine is really working. its kind of "dead in the corner" for years, and we try to give it a second live.

is it possible to have all ports of all cards at the same time present?
or do I have to choose between?

Here is a 7I95T+7I77 configuration
I numbered the encoders and sserial ports to match
a simple 7I77 configuration, so say a 7i92+7i77
configuration can be used with just a card name change
(from 7i92 to 7i95)

All 7I95T I/O is also supported but you would probably
need to create a separate 7I95T configuration and merge hal
files to support the I/O and step/dir channels

 

 

Thanks a lot! 
if I understand correctly, you mean the FW is fine for using either step/dir on 7i95T or Analog on the 7i77? All I need to change is in ini, if I at some point have to/want to change motors?

i made it a step further. sadly the mesact tool also knows nothing about that card match, I used the 7i97T in the tool to get a basic Hal/INI and search/changed 7i95 to 7i95T. wich also wanted to startup. I kind of hacked something together. Now the machine starts at least, I see pins in halshow. so a win I guess?!
The conig is quite minimalistic. I just added the Axis xyz. the idea was to start with the basics and just go step by step - adding outputs and inputs later on, to minimize error.

my idea was to just have axis, jog them, watch for +10/-10v output in halshow.

sadly I already ran into another issue I don't quite understand. hope it is fine to ask another question in this thread. 

The issue: I can "power" the machine and as I try to jog an axis I get "follow error". I don't see any feedback/encoders configured. why?!
Also I don't see any voltage output on the analog ports. maybe there is something wrong with my ini/hal or I am looking in the wrong place in halshow. I don't really know...

I share my Hal and ini if someone wants to take a look

As I mentioned, if you want a 7I77 analog configuration, create a 7I92+7I77 configuration
(with either pncconf or MesaCT) and when done, change the boardname in the ini file from
7i92 to 7I95.

Note that following errors are expected until you get the encode scale correctly, in the proper direction,
proper feedback direction, and tuned. This is why you typically set the following error limits quite wide
in initial testing. After the basics are set up you will need to follow on of the tuning guides.



 

thanks!

7i72: oh shi.... sorry... I missed that somehow.
tried mesact with it, sadly does not put out any working stuff.
pncconf did!
machine is starting and I can jog until following error again.

in general:
if I don't want to wire encoders to the mesa, I have no feedback. so far I understand. But is that a bad thing? It would be like running with steppers open loop, isn't it?
I thought it should work, as it obviously did successfully with the old (now dead) controller before for years (so far I looked up all signals that came from the old controller was analog voltage, all feedback is in servo controllers)
if I connect back the error signal from the servo drives I should be able to estop if thinks go out of control. just like I know from another project with stepper drives. that at least was my thought to remove complexity , since I am completely new to servos.
is that a completely bad idea in your opinion?

In Office I can't test with motors because they are 400v... also the machine is a few km away and I am trying to prepare it, until I can come back to it.
I just wanted to test whether or not I get +-10v on the ports to make sure it's virtually wired correctly. Also I want to try if I can cancel movement with e-stop. is at least have to find a way to ignore feedback for now, to have room to elaborate my config. it would be kind of sad to drive there just to see I missed something essential to test-drive or tune.

i also found the 7i77 servo tune post, wich I am currently reading to get used to what I need to do in future.

any workflows / hints appreciated.
as I said, I am a beginner and just trying to figure out things, bumping into new stuff on the way

Thanks for your patience and answers