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You are welcomed, always, and welcome to the "dark side" !
Used them once, worked MUCH better than advertised, got unbelievably good support from PCW, used them ever since, a lot.

Thanks for confirming this, I haven't used multiple Mesa boards at once before. What a great system.

Yes, you can use 7i76E with 7i84 with a cut in half LAN cable (see manual for wiring), and 7i85 with a IDC26 to DB25 cable (available on Mesa stores and even some older PC's have them, look for a parallel port on the back slots). BTW, 2 of 7i85 could be used as 7i76E has two IDC26 headers, or similar boards, and you can add more 7i84 or 7i79 or 7i71 or 7i72 to 7i85.

Is it possible to run all these things together: 

Mesa 7i76 E  ---- 7I84 (Isolated remote field I/O card). Will use it to output quadrature signals to the Ultra3000s, it will generate this quadrature output from the Fanuc encoders [is this possible?], remaining I/O used elsewhere. 
                               
                         ---- 7I85 (4 Channel encoder 5 channel Serial RS-422 interface). Will hook up the 4 Fanuc redcaps to 4 of these RS-422 ports. And the encoder inputs are good to have around incase I want to add linear scales (2 axis) and maybe two MPG wheels. 

Sure would be great if this system worked because it happens to be two fairly inexpensive boards. Canadian dollar isn't so great right now 
I would be pleased to have those encoder inlets, too. 

Progress pic from a little while ago: 
 

I'm under the impression that the encoders are 1 million counts per rev. I did a crude test where I rotated the pully associated with the motor one full turn as marked by a sharpie line on the face of the pulley. Seemed to deliver around 2 million raw counts, and the pulley appears like it could be 1:2 ratio. 



I also observed 4 cycles of the commutation output from the HAL Fanuc Encoder pin for one rotation (if I remember correctly!). 

These computer-side details can be adjusted as I setup the system. Now I need to figure out what extra hardware I need to talk to 4 of these at once, and also how to output either commutation to the Allen-Bradley Ultra-3000 drives or incremental encoder signals. I'm fully out of inputs and outputs on my 7i76e used on the machine so I will need to get some expansion hardware. 

Expansion needs: 
-4x serial ports (maybe just 3 if I can also use the one in the 7i76e, but Mesa seems to sell them in breakout boards of 4 or 6). 
-8 or more outputs to communicate encoder or commutation information to the Ultra3000 (still figuring out what the drives will need) 

Wondering what the most cost effective Mesa solution would be to add onto my system. 

Or maybe someone knows if there is there setup that does not require sending encoder or commutation information to the Ultra3000s. Can't seem to find whether or not these drives can be run 'open-loop' or/ with feedback only being taken care of on the LCNC side (doubtful?). 
 

I have not found any formal documentation on the encoders or any note in the machine’s schematics, so I don’t know.

You did say in a previous response that you thought my encoders are 1M units per revolution, in response to a post where I provided the model number.

Tomorrow I will do more testing - I will try to verify one complete rotation and see how the counts check out.

What is the counts per turn value for the encoder?

Back from holidays, finally got to dig a little deeper with the oscilloscope. I managed to figure out the polarity of the connections and alas, I am now receiving the response from the encoder!

Some values are showing up on my HAL Show and now I need to figure out if everything is working correctly and whether or not I need to create a custom setup string.

After a slight turn (a few degrees) of the motor shaft in the reverse direction my HAL show reads:

 

Suggestions for next steps are encouraged.

fully_defined wrote:

spumco wrote:

fully_defined wrote:

 
"Help" is a strong word for what's happening here.

You seem to be getting frustrated.  Maybe I can help.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but your situation is that you have a Mesa 7i96s and Clearpath SDSK motors.  You want to:

• Set some rational values for max velocity and accel
• Connect the HLFB pins to the 7i96s
• Make LCNC do something with the HLFB signals
  
  
  Have I got it right?
  
  
  
  
  Yes, and thank you for engaging.
  
  Those points are just what are directly in front of me, right now. It's mostly because I am at the pncconf stage, and there isn't a selection for setting the pins for drive fault there. I am not hung up on moving on, as long as I know where I need to set this function. I have LinuxCNC forum people telling me they have no idea how Clearpath HLFB works and Teknic saying they have no idea how LinuxCNC works, and here I am, stuck in the middle. That's why I thought maybe seeing an existing configuration would skip the middlemen and I could just copy someone else's homework.
  
  Beyond that, I also need to know what to expect when homing the dual-Y gantry axis. There is more I'd like to learn about autosquaring too, but that's just one thing out of a long list.

Some of these features will likely not be supported by pnccconf

It seems this post gives you some options for HLFB. 
www.forum.linuxcnc.org/10-advanced-confi...with-hlfb-mesa-7i76e
I think I would use servo-on and use  a charge pump which I think pncconf supports

The drive error is connected to 
joint.N.amp-fault-in 
ref: linuxcnc.org/docs/stable/html/man/man9/m....9.html#JOINT%20PINS

Squaring the gantry is dealt with when homing
linuxcnc.org/docs/stable/html/config/ini-homing.html
Paired joints (eg your gantry motors) will have a negative HOME_SEQUENCE of the same value
Usually you will also use a HOME_OFFSET
You can  square the gantry by editing the HOME_OFFSETS. eg  if one side is out by 2mm, the HOME_OFFSET needs be 2mm different to the other side.


 

OK, went through those, and i have to agree with PCW on number 2 here
forum.linuxcnc.org/10-advanced-configura...fb-mesa-7i76e#112557
It is pretty much useless as it does a lot of things but the thing it should do, it does not, namely amplifier fault!
I would not use it.

tommylight wrote:

No idea where or how you got those numbers, but utmost respect for effort in getting things right.
Start with 300mm/s/s, do some tests, then go higher, but most probably 750 will be to much for short fast movements like Fusion360 does.
I am refraining from further "muddying the waters" for now as:
1. i have no idea what "HLFB" is
2. -deleted-
 

HLFB "high level feedback" is many things, but it can work like a drive alarm and that's what I will be using it for. There have been a couple of posts on it, but they all go nowhere and the OP never comes back and says "I did this thing exactly like this, and it worked. Here is how to recreate what I did."

For examples of dead ends, here you go:

forum.linuxcnc.org/49-basic-configuration/41375-clearpath-hlfb

and

forum.linuxcnc.org/10-advanced-configura...with-hlfb-mesa-7i76e

and

forum.linuxcnc.org/10-advanced-configura...ervo-with-mesa-7i76e

I just want to know what to enter into what box, and move on. I am at the pncconf step, so any talk about ini files or HAL or anything past pncconf is not yet relevant to me. I need to know what to tell pncconf what to do with the inputs I connected the HLFB circuits to. And I need to know if I have connected it properly in the first place. I don't know what I don't know.
 

I'm adding a touch probe to a ChinaZone 6040 with a Mesa 7i76e card following what seems to be pretty simple instructions from forum.linuxcnc.org/49-basic-configuratio...obe-with-a-mesa-7i96.  It's really close, but generating an error. 

When I click on "Tool Touch Off Z" in the side panel, I get a blank error (see attached pic):
<l> (?) [x]

Where should I look to find the problem?  I've gone through the example a few times and am just missing it somehow.  I've checked the Linux logs, but haven't found anything yet.

• Axis 2.8.4 (I can upgrade if that would help)
• Hal Meter signal probe-in turns to true when the touch probe is triggered, so the wiring & HAL seem correct
• I've run each of the commands in the ngc file using the MDI tab and they all function as expected
• The 5 updated files are attached and each has it's full path in the comments at the top of the file
  
  Thanks,
  Ted

Hallo 
ich musste meinen Rechner neu installieren
Softwre : Debian 12, Linuxcnc 2.9.3  und ProbeBasic 4.0
Hardware NiPoGi Mini PC Ιntel Alder Lake-N100(bis zu 3.4GHz) AK1PLUS Mini Computer 16GB DDR4/512GB M.2 SSD, WiFi 2.4G/5G,BT4.2, Desktop PC 4K UHD Dual Display/LAN/VESA 
Ethnet Rialtek, Mesa 7i76e
Mein Proplem ich starte Linuxcnc  und mache einen Ping 10.10.10.10 bekomme eine verbindung.
Starte ich eine Maschine bekomme ich eine Meldung das kein Netzwerk habe , Ping keine antword.
Wenn ich Netzwerk neu starte habe ich wieder einen Ping.
Was kann Ich tun ?

mfg
Hilton
 

Okay so I have the basics working and now I want to get my toolsetter doing what I need.
It is hooked up and in QT dragon I have my positions setup so it will go to the toolsetter location. Then I can do the touch plate op and it hits the sensor and backs off properly.
From what I can tell it sets it based on the workpiece height and or tool sensor height parameters in the offsets tab which is not what I want.
I just ordered an ATC spindle so very soon I will be setting it up with multiple tools in toolholders with saved tool offsets so I can set them when I change a tool and then just have it pull the tools with the saved offsets.

For the moment though my first priority is to be able to put in a cutter, set it's offset with the tool setter, zero z to my part. Then if I break a cutter or want a different tool for the next op to be able to change the tool, set height, and have that offset to the new tool is at the right height for the next op.

Then a secondary goal would be to be able to change tools manually in multi tool setups.
So basically wanting something like Gcode calls next tool, machine goes to XYZ where I manually change the tool, then machine goes and touches off the toolsetter. Then goes back to machining the next op.

Is there a good guide for doing this? I searched a bit and didn't find anything that looked super helpful.

Hallo zusammen,
ich möchte meinen WLZ mit der "qtdragon.led-probe" verknüpfen.
dazu habe ich die folgendne Eintrag in der HAL hinterlegt:
"net probe-tool => qtdragon.led-probe" 

Allerdings meckert er beim Start dass er den Pin qtdragon.led-probe nicht hat, obwohl er in der HAL-SHOW angezeigt wird. 
--> "Pin 'qtdragon.led-probe' does not exist"
Irgendwas fehlt da, ich komme aber nicht darauf 

Die zweite Frage wäre wie ich mir die Drehzahl in qtDragon anzeigen lassen kann, EIN & AUS sowie der Schieberegler gehen aber die U/min werden nicht angezeigt.  Meine HAL-Einträge zur Spindel: