Installing Plasmac

Just out of curiosity why would you recommend the Chinese servos over the clear path units? One thing that was so appealing about the clear path units was that I could read information from the motors during a run sequence. This would allow me to get the mechanical system as aligned as possible. Though I probably don't need the data to get a decent machine, I do like to look at it. The data should help me develop a very robust system that will last a long time and run smoothly.

I have actually already added a link to interfacing with a hypertherm unit to my ever growing LinuxCNC notes.

PurduePete wrote:

Just out of curiosity why would you recommend the Chinese servos over the clear path units? One thing that was so appealing about the clear path units was that I could read information from the motors during a run sequence. This would allow me to get the mechanical system as aligned as possible. Though I probably don't need the data to get a decent machine, I do like to look at it. The data should help me develop a very robust system that will last a long time and run smoothly.

I have actually already added a link to interfacing with a hypertherm unit to my ever growing LinuxCNC notes.

Don't get me wrong, I have thought of the clearpaths to upgrade my step and direction machine. But it was really to alert you that Linuxcnc has a lot to offer than just step and direction interfaces. I don't have any experience with servos but I thought I heard it mentioned that there are advantages in closing the encoder feedback loop in Linuxcnc rather than having it done at the controller.

Bob mentions the Chinese drives on his build thread here and shows the Mesa cards he's using with them.:
forum.linuxcnc.org/plasma-laser/36667-bo...lasmac-build?start=0

One day I'll find an excuse to play with servos.

Glad you found that Python script for the Hypertherm RS485. I Was going to try and play with the RS422 interface on the Mesa 7i76e but I bought a Thermal Dynamics machine instead!

Gotcha! I actually think that a closed loop system is a little over kill in a plasma system. It would be really cool, and is something I may consider. Plasma tolerances are just so wide open. I'm still in the design phase of my build, though it's pretty far down the list. Powder coat oven is my current project followed by a downdraft grinding station. I have the z axis mostly defined, though still need to add the scribe and tether to the magnetic break away mount.

I was wondering if you did have any suggestions on the issue I was having. "configure: error: Python requires use of Tcl 8.6 and Tk 8.6. Install this version and specify --with-tclConfig and -- with-tkConfig if necessary" I unstalled the 8.5 files, reinstalled 8.6, and tried to find any dependencies that might have been missed but required and nothing has really worked. Had some dependencies missing as I went through the config and it basically told me what needed to be installed, so that was super handy. This one has me stumped though.

Its been a while since I built a machine from scratch so don't really have any advice. This is one of the reasons why I say compile master branch form source before you tackle plasmac. This is not a plasmac issue but a LInuxcnc issue.

I find its good to post new threads with a much more specific title to attract help from somebody who knows. A lot of people might just breeze past something about plasma/plasmac and not read about your problem.

Sometimes the problem is related to a wrong input to the configure script. I did write some instructions for plasmac here
forum.linuxcnc.org/plasma-laser/36410-co...fig-for-any-hardware
Only the first post is relevant at this point.

So first type uname -v and make sure you are running a PREEMPT_RT version of Linux. (which the stretch iso is)
Then make sure that you are using the right configure option. From my how to aboveIf you get this wrong, you might be looking for a dependency that is not required for PREMPT_RT

I still refer to this private wiki from time to time when building Linuxcnc.
www.wiki.eusurplus.com/index.php?title=LinuxCNC_Run_In_Place

Hope you get past this. It will be worth it!

I will create a new topic and ask for some additional help. This thread has been a life saver this far.

*Edit: Got it. I actually removed linuxcnc and plasmac from the system. The folders anyway that hadn't been working. Went back and found the post that this started with and installed linuxcnc. Once I got into that and looked around a bit I then went back to working on plasmac. Found some dependencies that I had missed or something and just googled the error. Finally let me "make" the file. I did get an error at the end of that, but things are nearly there.