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I'm another with a KMB-I. Mine is 1981 B control, and is fully functional as is. Pretty much original. Parajust VFD, ServoMate ±12V signal Servo boards and has the same Electro-craft 90volt brushed motors with built in tachos and Litton 200 cpr quadrature encoders almost as described here. forum.linuxcnc.org/12-milling/39662-hurc...s-cnc-update?start=0  It has the Bristol Erickson quick change #30 spindle. Oh yes, I do also have Buddy Maughon's tape emulator. It had stood unused in a private workshop from 2001 to 2021. Had to replace a variety of electronic pieces in the control and parajust to get it to start and run, six month entertainment, prodding with a scope and voltmeter, but worth is as only run for 1938 hours, so straight and true. Oiler, spindle, brake safety pressure switch coolant systems, flood and mist etc all in good order.

My requirement is 'only' that I want to be able to send it some G-code so I can machine some weird 3D shapes.
So, I'd like to be able to swap to a Linuxcnc front end, but in a way I could perhaps swap back to the conversational system I have come to admire and like. I guess in one dream, maybe a Hurco conversational front end could be built for linuxcnc...
Yes, I know the obvious solution would be a B to BX controller upgrade. Would I think do all I need, but the current price is so much more than what I paid for the whole machine, I'm having a hard time justifying that kind of expenditure.

So, I've a running linuxcnc 2.9.2 app as well as mesact installed on a Raspberry PI-5 and a 7i95T ethernet on order from JT, too many axes I know, I am also aware the the three shaft encoders will need more pulses, and can handle that as have already fitted one USdigital item to deal with the Y encoder that had a chip out of the glass scale and several lines missing. The USD part needed a mounting base making, but otherwise worked straight out of the box. 
But then I kind of missed the point with all the daughter board options, and I would appreciate some clear sighted and informed opinions on which ones I really need to make this dream a possibility. 7i77 or 7i83 for instance might be ok for the servos, but then they've 10V versus 12V output that the ServoMate is expecting. Secondly I probably also need maybe a 7i73 to interface with any jog generator and buttons on the panel.

Apologies for writing so much, but I'm hoping that the detail will be helpful to someone some day.

Fingers crossed.

Ok so i tried the following:
-swapping the two DB25 cables
   => sadly no change in behavior (since this would have been so easy to fix)
-changing my C-Axis from encoder 03 to 04 and Spindle from 05 to 03
   => C-Axis now turning endless during homing routine
   => Spindle Index actually visible in halscope on highest sample rate when turning by hand


I also tried (but failed) to rewrite my hal to change between the two DB25 ports on the 5i25 to pin the cause to the 7i77.
Then I created a test machine with PNCCONF to get the 7i77 connected through the internal DB25 port of the 5i25 (P2), but I couldn’t get it to work. After some googeling I now think this is embedded in the firmware of the 5i25, if that is so, is there a firmware where the ports are swapped (7i77 + 7i74)?
See readhmi attachment for current configuration.

What are my options if the 7i77 is damaged. I have a 7i73 laying around waiting to be mounted into a pendant. Can it be used to connect the spindle encoder? Or is there a similar card to the 7i77 without the I/O pins to use for all the encoders and analog signals for the drives?

Hello,
Today I ran into a problem trying to connect my spindle encoder via a Mesa 7i77.
The Pin encoder.05.input-index is always shown as high, even when I hardwire that input to ground. See the Picture of the Halscope.
The Index Signal is OK, I confirmed it with my Oszi. I have also tried quadrature mode and single ended mode on both +I and -I inputs, always with the same result.

Could it be that the Mesa card input is somehow fried? This was my first thought but on the currently free encoder 04 it gives the same behavior, but maybe this one is also toast. I did not test any other encoder channels, as there are the four axis connected. No issues there at all.

How is the encoder input-index connected in software? I looked at the HAL pins to see if maybe something else is overwriting that signal, but this isn’t even connected to a net, as far as I could see.

Would it be possible to use a different input (not an encoder input) as the Z-signal, as it is named in the Encoder documentation?

I did an SM-1 (the knee mill cousin of the KMB-1) with a 5i25/7i77 combo and reused all servos and drives. I think the only electronics I added were the computer with 5i25/7i77 and a VFD for the spindle. I did away with the vari-speed mechanism in favor of VFD control.

klopp wrote:

The 7i96S doesn't have a dedicated floating enable output, that's why you need a 7i77 which has that. I'm not super deep into that topic, does it make sense to change it so any output counts as enable?

Pretty sure 7i96S has two (or more) high current outputs and pretty sure they are all fully isolated.
I might be wrong though.
And, yes, i would see any output as enable output.
The only stuff that might require isolated outputs are spindle VFD and Plasma, not always. So 7i96S is good for both.
Again, thank you, this should help a lot.

Just did a quick test and found some bugs:
-7i96S is always named 7i76S, should be 7i96S
-see attached, 6 inputs 4 outputs 1 enable 4 stepgens 1 encoder and 1 spindle comes back with 7i76S (should be 7i96S) and 7i77 and all combos using 2 cards, while everything should be only a 7i96S
Nice idea and implementation, though, thank you. And showing connection between cards is also very nice.
Great job!

Hello.
7i77d and other analog cards allow for multiple analog outputs, which can be used to interface with servomotors or simply to control a potentiometer type of device (VFD spindle speed, or others).

My intention is to control XYZ with Step/DIR from some typical board, and have 7i77D or other analog card output 3 different signals to regulate a few devices.

The GCode for regulating spindle speed would be "S1000". How could i regulate "multiple" spindle speeds if this is my intention, through gcode?

Are there any publicly available libraries for me to read to get more in-depth information on this?

Thank you!
 

Mesa started making pci/pcie cards, then the made the 7i92 ethernet card which more or less was the same as their PCIe cards and needs daughter cards connected. Then they released the 7i76e  which was equivalent to a 7i92 + 7i76. If you needed to control 0-10v servos, you used a 7i77 with the 7i92.
Now with chip availability, they have moved on. The 7i96s is a great entry level card. It includes a spindle control and encoder. The earlier 7i96 was missing spindle control. It has fewer inputs and outputs than the old 7i76e but more than enough for a lathe. Its outputs are SSRs so in many cases it is not necessary to use external relays that you needed on earlier cards. It supports 1 daughter card and also the smart serial interface. You can't go wrong. There is no practical difference beween a PCIe card or ethernet.

2 - SHORT VERSION (TLDR)

Too impatient to read?  The bare minimum hardware you need to easily connect LCNC to the outside world using Mesa cards is:
    • An FPGA ‘main’ card
    • Screw terminal connections for drives and IO (depending on selection, these may be on the FPGA card or a daughter card)
    • Power supply for the FPGA card

That’s it; no network switch or other ‘stuff’ required.  Below are just a couple of examples out of the numerous Mesa options:

For simple stepper machine
    • You will need one step & direction ethernet FPGA main card with onboard IO
        ◦ Example - 7i96S
            ▪ 5 step/dir axes
            ▪ 11 inputs
            ▪ 6 outputs
            ▪ 1 analog spindle output
            ▪ 1 encoder input
            ▪ 1 Smart Serial port
            ▪ 1 25-pin expansion port

For analog servo machine
    • You will need one analog ethernet FPGA card with onboard screw terminal IO
        ◦ Example - 7i97T
            ▪ 6 +/-10v analog axes
            ▪ 6 encoder inputs
            ▪ 16 inputs
            ▪ 6 outputs
            ▪ 1 Smart Serial port
            ▪ 1 25-pin expansion port
OR
    • You will need one ethernet FPGA card with no screw terminal drive outputs or IO
        ◦ Example - 7i92TH
            ▪ 2x26-pin header
      AND
    • You will also need one daughter card with analog outputs & IO with a connector that matches the FPGA card
        ◦ Example - 7i77
            ▪ DB25 input (connects to 7i92TH 26-pin header with adapter cable)
            ▪ 6 +/-10v analog axes
            ▪ 6 encoder inputs
            ▪ 32 inputs
            ▪ 16 outputs
            ▪ 1 Smart Serial port
            ▪ 1 DB25 to 26-pin adapter cable

Do yourself a favor and go read the rest of this guide.

smc.collins wrote:

it's been -4 F here for 3 days, I haven't been able to power up the lathe. Put powerchuck in the main hal file mazak.hal, and put those 4 lines in that mazak.hal file as well, load the component in the mazak.hal file as well. I didn't design this to get the signal outside of the main hal file. you'll also have to connect the spindle enable to the spindle.ena , spindlebrake to spindle brake signal etc. You will obviously connect your footswitch to the 7i77 input pins and it you have you want to reverse the grip of the chuck , you'll need to add wiring for the  ID OD grip settings  IIRC and I haven't looked at the source recently, the pin routes through the powerchuck hal component. 

these all go in you mylinuxmachine.hal file if you catch my drift. 

thank you MR.smc.collins
I try change
net SpindleEnable
to
net spindle-enable
now it's can link signal  and change other net too.
youe powerchuck.comp good for my CNCLathe  I edit some and cut some function now working with my cnc
Thank you. ^^"
 

Did you try turning off the encoder digital filter?

setp hm2_7i76e.0.encoder.XX.filter false

(Where XX is the spindle encoder channel)

There's probably  a:

setp hm2_7i76e.0.encoder.XX.filter true

already in your hal file

This is described in the hostmot2 manual (in the encoder section)

Hello folks,

I am facing the problem with loosing velocity value from Mesa 7i77 card which is plugged to P1 of Mesa 7i76e. I have tried each channel of board and each are behavior same same... Encoder is Heidenhain quadrate full TTL 5000 increments per rev means 4*5000 = 20000 in encoder resolution... When the spindle speed rised over 1500rpm(equals ((1500/60) * 20000) = 0,5MHz), velocity feedback in encoder component of 7i76e is disappearing and thats all.. I checked wiring and shielding the cables. Each cable have separate shielding connected to the ground....

I am think there should be problem with encoder limit frequency. I can not find any informations about this limitation in the any Mesa manual. I there any limitation setup in the mesa ?

thanks for any suggestions


Regards Slav

it's been -4 F here for 3 days, I haven't been able to power up the lathe. Put powerchuck in the main hal file mazak.hal, and put those 4 lines in that mazak.hal file as well, load the component in the mazak.hal file as well. I didn't design this to get the signal outside of the main hal file. you'll also have to connect the spindle enable to the spindle.ena , spindlebrake to spindle brake signal etc. You will obviously connect your footswitch to the 7i77 input pins and it you have you want to reverse the grip of the chuck , you'll need to add wiring for the  ID OD grip settings  IIRC and I haven't looked at the source recently, the pin routes through the powerchuck hal component. 

these all go in you mylinuxmachine.hal file if you catch my drift. 

for the IO, I would add 3 of these store.mesanet.com/index.php?route=produc...83_88&product_id=110

and a 7i77 or similar should be able to handle the servos, spindles etc. I thought those drives were all serial or can though, but I might be wrong.

Hello everyone,I have a CHIRON FZ 22L it has sinumerik 810M controll on it, the machine is unreliable and the wireing of the digital inputs/outputs is done bad, and the automatic tool change is not working, I would like to rewire the inputs/outputs and put Mesa boards on it, the drivers motors and spindle are good I would keep them, it has SIMODRIVE 611, I thought of using 7i92TH 7i77 7i74 7i71 7i71 7i70 7i70 7i70 can I connect 3x 7i70 and 2x 7i71 on 7i74?The machine orginally has 136 inputs and 64 outputs,
Any suggestions?
See pictures below
Thanks for info
Dominik