Ethercat Setup help needed for beginner

In seriousness though, I find its less about beginner vs expert in CNC stuff, and more about if you are well versed in linux usage. Most of my troubles setting up were because the instructions just assume you know everything about linux already and leave a lot of critical details out.

Exactly. And i dont rallye have any prior knowledge to this in linux.

Well, i tried just copying the files and the call to the halfile in axis_mm.ini and now i get the error trivkins already exist. Tried removing the x axis parts in core_sim.hal, and i cant save it, as it has root as owner. How do i Bypass this?

When you start lnuxcnc with sim config from the window system menu, there is a question
whether to make a copy of the config, say yes. You find it then at $HOME/linuxcnc/configs/sim_axis or similar
and your user should own the files.

In the ini file, remove all HALFILE= that has "sim" in them.

coresim will still be in the hal lib, which is symlinked and cannot be modified by user.

try to make a base configuration with pncconf, I think that is how I started.

it makes it easier to understand what is happening, also read the docs, very insightful.

Tried removing all halfiles with sim, still get error trivkins already exist.

It's because it is loaded twice, and once it is from coresim.hal
you will see loadrt [KINS]KINEMATICS or loadrt trivkins or something similar in your hal, that conflicts with the same thing that is written in coresim,hal you can only load kinematics once
and you cannot modify that, it's in the libraries, you can remove the
HALFILE = core_sim.hal
from your ini file
Or as I advised before start from a pncconf configuration, that is more local, and it is easier to understand, as you change settings in pncconf and you see the hal changing, it is more intuitive, just take it easy, it is a steep learning curve.

 

I did that, but it didn't work. Then remebered i am in mm. And i changed axis.ini and not axis_mm.ini. Commented out everything except the cia halfile in the mm file, and it worked. I can now drive the servo from the gui. But i get an immediate following error on the joint.

I can see the number changing on the DRO when i turn the shaft of the motor, i guess there is some setting missing on the pitch/turns per mm ?

lcec.0.n.pos-scale
Set it to how much the encoder increases when moving the axis one mm.
setp lcec.0.2.pos-scale 500
for example, or maybe you have one of those with crazy big numbers. Same anyway.
Read encoder value from lcec.0.2.actual-position (before any scaling)

ihavenofish wrote:

andrax wrote:

Er, no. It’s not that simple; LinuxCNC isn’t plug-and-play. If you don’t have any prior knowledge, you should put the A6 aside for now and start with simple stepper motors. You’ll first need to learn how the system works and what each component does. With EtherCAT, you’re moving beyond the hobbyist level, and even professionals sometimes find it frustrating.

I only broke 4 mice from throwing them in anger... its fiiiinnnee.

In seriousness though, I find its less about beginner vs expert in CNC stuff, and more about if you are well versed in linux usage. Most of my troubles setting up were because the instructions just assume you know everything about linux already and leave a lot of critical details out. I am working with one of my customers to trying an make a true step by step guide.

If you do know "nothing", step and direction with a mesa card is generally pretty safe cause its mostly done by a wizard. You aren't mucking in the terminal or doing much editing in HAL.

(also important to note ethercat in linuxcnc has some quirks too, its not quite "final" in my opinion)

This sounds familiar to me.
I just ended up tearing the whole setup apart in frustration every time and starting over from scratch.

@Spezidrone, this isn’t meant to be a criticism. But it really is an advantage to build a test system with steppers first. That’s the best way to get to know the system and all its configurations.
Etercat sounds simple. Plug the LAN cable into the servo and it’s plug-and-play. If only it were that easy...
If you really want to go through with this, we’d be happy to help, of course.
Welcome to the world of jitter, EMC, XML errors, Hall errors, jumps, and dmesg error logs.