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NWE wrote:

For slow cheap I/O I used to not like modbus, but tried it some more recently and am pleased how it is performing. This would not do for limit or homing switches, for those you'll want ethercat or Mesa for sure.
 

Thats interesting. I never thought of this either. If you look at this diagram in the docs. it clearly shows what can be run in non-real time mode
linuxcnc.org/docs/stable/html/code/code-...rchitecture_overview

So spindle, coolant and auxillary devices could be modbus and I can see modbus I/O modules locally for < AUD $50 for 16 inputs and 16 outputs. I'm might also play with some now there is good modbus support in hal
 

saxa wrote:

Can you share more details on what are you looking for to use for the retrofit ?
 

I have not yet started shopping for servos for my machine, but I plan to use ethercat servo drives. I'm thinking likely Stepperonline or Lichuan or Delta brand. For I/O I expect to use Mesa or Beckhoff EK1100 with EL1809 and EL2409. I've used both in multiple projects without any problems that I can remember.
If connecting multiple encoders I nearly always use Mesa because Beckhoff encoder counters are so much more expensive.

For slow cheap I/O I used to not like modbus, but tried it some more recently and am pleased how it is performing. This would not do for limit or homing switches, for those you'll want ethercat or Mesa for sure.

Not quite the same but I did a component that had 2 belts and several positions except it was manual selection. It may help
belts 1-4 one group, 5-8 another.
I used a laser tachometer to read the rpm and then calculate the ratios 
github.com/rodw-au/vmnmillqt/blob/main/scalebelts.comp

I did a GUI to go with this for QTdragon and its now part of QTdragon! Look for it in the docs.

You are welcomed, always.
And thank you for taking the time to thank us.

saxa wrote:

Hi RodW, many thanks for answering. Seems you are telling me to use an EtherCAT Beckhoff module for the THC ?

Should I be using only Beckhoff modules or can I go with any other producer, there is a lot of stuff out there. I was evaluating Triomotion modules for motion controll, IO and Analog IO. The Flexslice series (www.triomotion.com/public/products/flexsliceExpansion.php). Seems they should work with LinuxCNC.

Linux-CNC is the Ethercat master. You just need ethercat slaves. Have a look at the Beckhoff EK1100 and the many various modules that attach to it. Many of these modules have native support in LinuxCNC. There may be other brands of modules available but you would need to write the driver and you'd need to be sure they have 500v or so over voltage protection in case something goes wrong. Beckhoff and Mesa have that.

What is the workflow you use? I am not hooked on versaprobe. I wouldn't mind using any workflow to do manual tool change and work piece probing using a tool length sensor and touch probe. But I couldn't make anything work yet.

It was a lot easier to configure it with grblHAL.

Just putting this out there as advance notice. 27 July 11:00am Brisbane, Australia time GMT+10:00

I was approached by Freecad Developer Brad Collette to discuss work he's done to bring MTconnect and LinuxCNC. He and I are going to do a Podcast style discussion on this topic.
youtube.com/live/b_S-p2nylr8

I've never done anything like this and if nothing else it should be worth a laugh seeing if I can put it together with me in Australia and Brad in the USA!

MTconnect is a standards based system used by all of the major CNC machine manufacturers that publishes read only machine parameters. I was blown away how MTconnect saved an automotive factory from incurring downtime costing $1.8m just because the data showed a motor on a CNC machine was failing..... So I for one is keen to hear what Brad has to say... 

This works. Today I bent a 1.5" x 10" x 3/16" pc. of steel at 90 degrees. Some more loose ends then I will share the config. I am starting to plan the gui for it. I ended up with two position pid's, one per side, then one sync pid for correcting the tilt between left and right sides. The sync pid has a commanded value = 0 and gets its feedback from the difference between Y1 and Y2 then acts by slowing the one that is ahead.

This goes out to everyone on this forum. Anyone who has ever asked a question and for all those who have taken time out of there day to answer those question. Thank you! I have several machines that are now all on Linuxcnc and running great. Without everyone's help in this forum it would have not been possible. There are too numerous individual's to mention so this goes out to everyone. Again THANK YOU!

I've not thanks to my patch confirmed that the drives are resetting. statusword goes to 0. controlword to 6 on the same frame, just after the pll spike. on that same frame the encoder goes to 0 or somethings a random bad number.

Joint error does not always trip (without the patch). i guess it depends how long the drive takes to recover.

Im not monitoring to see if its one or all drives, in what order, is it only the omrons, what if i swap cables around, etc.

Fun fun.

I'm converting a parallel lathe to Linux CNC. It has nine speeds, which are manually changed using two levers with three positions each. The motor always runs at the same speed, and direction changes are achieved via electromechanical clutches. I want to control the motor speed at each speed using a NIETZ AT20 VFD with speed feedback from an encoder. Therefore, the motor speed at each speed will vary between 0 and 1630 RPM, and the gearbox will convert this to a range between 0 and the maximum of that range. For example, range 1 would be from 0 to 36 RPM, range 2 from 36 to 90, range 3 from 90 to 155, range 4 from 155 to 200, and so on. I know there's a gearchange component, but it only supports two speeds.  For the speed selection logic, I think I can use 3 instances of lut5 and mux16, what I don't understand is if I can use the gearchange component or if a version that handles 9 speeds is required.

The button is disabled because the routine is not tested enough.

last time we worked on it:
forum.linuxcnc.org/qtvcp/51138-qtdragonh...-maker-space?start=0

We, me and the ai, tripped over what may be the root cause. I will have better power supplies tomorrow and report back. Thanks for your time and attention!

I wanted to pick this up again to try to get the macros working, but I've noticed that the conversational tab in Probe Basic Lathe no longer appears. Would it be possible to get it back?

This is getting aggravating, you should be capable of checking a simple LED and reply here with yes or no.
Power the Mesa board, start LinuxCNC, look at the Mesa board, does a red LED turn on?
That is NOT Linux, nor something ChatGPT can answer for you.