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I don't take that negative a view of clone cards, if they get more LinuxCNC users,
that's basically a good thing. They really should supply source however, but there is no legal
requirement that they do, it just seems it would make the card more useful, and its practically
a necessity with card having expansion connectors and thus the common need to make custom
configurations.

Note that you should be able to safely test different firmware by writing it to the fallback location
then loading the FPGA from this location, then if the card doesn't work, a power cycle will fix it:

mesaflash --device cardname --addr 10.10.10.10 --write somebitfile.bit --fallback
mesaflash --device cardname --addr 10.10.10.10 --reload  --fallback


Note that this only works on Xilinx based cards ( I think all clone cards are Xilinx based )
DO NOT try this on Mesa Efinix based cards.
 

I have a similar machine but also has Z1-Z2 for backgauges.
Something new about some gui that fits to these types of machines ?

unknown wrote:

They should provide the firmware source files as well. Especially the ucf file if it's required you need to modify the firmware. Or otherwise you'll need to perform a boundary scan to work out what FPGA pin does what. One can not be sure if they have followed the same same pin assignments as the Meas schematics. These could change for simpler PCB routing.

If the firmware ever gets corrupted for some reason, you want to be able to reflash it.

It probably won't get corrupted, but you really should have the firmware just in case.




I fixed an old TORCAM CNC at my school.

I had to purchase new drivers because the old ones were basically just complicated space heaters by the time I got to them (they were from 1993!).

They worked fine about 5 or so years prior, but when I tested them all they did was couse the motor to make high-pitched noises.

I'm 99% sure the issue was corrupt firmware.

I could have reflashed them (I would have needed an eprom programmer or something, it probably would have ended up costing more than the replacement drivers), but the firmware, as far as I know, was never released!

Copying someone else's device and selling it as though you are the creator and it is genuine (which in this scenario are mutually exclusive, but whatever) is pretty uncool (and probably illeagal).

If buying a legit MESA card was hard for some reason, I think you might be able to justify buying a counterfeit knockoff.

However, if you can easily buy a legit one, it seems a bit unethical to break patent law, steal intellectual property, and get support from MESA even though they won't make a dime off the purchase.

Found my AND8 hal component again! Will post it here for reference.

I think I should update my axis control logic to fault after a timeout of n.nn seconds of greater than n.nn minimum servo amplifier power and less than n.nn minimum joint velocity.

I ran into a situation where the encoder reading was incorrect, joint 6 was cranked against + hard stop, and the motor was holding stalled at max power.

This sounds like a bad way to fry a DC Servo, and we no longer have a spare. This axis has limit switches wired to the servo amp but not to LinuxCNC; I'm surprised the servo amp did not disable. I would spend more time diagnosing that; however, Cybelec couldn't provide manuals to me for these amplifiers because I am outside of their service region. Also, this is the ONLY axis on this machine with limit switches and the reason why I chose to move this one first. Plus, I think I will need to look into hard stop homing for Z1 and Z2, those have no homing or limit switches; only encoder feedback.

I see I need to fix my brake logic: I've been noticing glitches in joint motion and have discovered that when I am moving the joint slowly for longer than my servo-to-brake delay, it will lock the brake momentarily then release it again. I will just need to have it monitor several values besides j6-pwm-cmd. I'm thinking velocity feedback and distance-to-go. This will be directly related to the timeout logic above.

Once I get it right I want to rewrite it in a custom hal component which I plan to reuse on additional joints. The other joints with no brake probably need a parameter to switch off the unlock feature so it does not use the servo enable delays and cut servo amp output during no motion.

The R axis motor gets hot if it has to hold the axis against gravity for extended periods.

Hello.
All the links are broken.
So sad because I'm trying to run ethercat in my CNC and I'm having serious troubles to start them. Sometimes I have no idea if I'm making wrong things or there are problems with the repositories

Regards

Ich hab das alles noch nicht so ganz verstanden das bedeutet also dass die mesa karten dann mit smart serial miteinander verbunden werden oder wie ? Bzw wofür sind dann diese 25 poligen sub d stecker an den mesa karten da smart serial doch nur 8 pins braucht als stecker ? Und weche alternative gibt es zu der 7i77 da diese schon seid drei monaten ausverkauft ist bei den bekannten importeueren ? 

Hi,
Thanks.
Here is my current status again:
I am currently using cia402.comp and cia402homecomp.comp from @MobiusToast. 
What works: 
Switching on drives, moving and feedback.
All pins in the hal have been checked and are working
What doesn't work: Homing. Homing is started and drives start moving. 
Home-dog switch and hardware limit switch are ignored.

I have now gone through the whole thread again.
As I see it, and hopefully I have understood correctly, the drives are put into homing mode (0x6060 = 6).
The servos perform the homing independently. 
The homing status can be read via 0x6041 bit 15.
The evaluation is performed by cia402homecomp.comp and reports Linuxcnc homing completed.
Is that correct?

What do I need to do?
I need to connect the home-dog switch to the touch probe 1 (DI5), then it should work.
So first I need to order a cable for CN1. Stepperonline did not supply that.

regards 

Andre

thank you, I managed to make a path for the first 3 tools that read ini by delta y, but the problem remained with the 4-5-6 because the raster between the tools is not the same as 1-2-3 because the motor and the ballscrew go in the middle of the machine, which was bothering them, so the other 3 tools are spaced out, I have to figure out how to do it via delta y or how to write for each tool separately... I hope I can solve it somehow.

I had a look at the engineering required. Metric engineering by a US engineer associate so you will have to live with it.
As per the Work energy method, www.machinedesign.com/motors-drives/arti...rs-for-linear-motion
3 sec cut 1% Accelleration profile (eg. accelerate to cut speed in 30 milliseconds)
500lb gantry (227kg) 3000 rpm motor with 33.9:1 reduction per photos and a 60mm diameter pinion, gives you almost 18m/min rapids (about 700 in/min)

At a maximum design cut speed of 10240 mm/min (403 inch/min) Check your cut charts and advise.
Peak torque 38.8 Nm
Peak Power  342.6 Watts
Design Accelleration 5.68 mm/sec/sec (0.58 G's)
this indicates a 400W motor would suffice. Allowing 50% threshold, select a 600 W motor

 Changing the gearbox  to 18:1 would increase rapids to 32 m/min or 1260ipm

Even if that is the case, the firmware sources should be supplied, if in fact the firmware is built from Mesa's sources.
There is also the thing about portraying as a 7i92, which in fact it is not.
I have a feeling that some of these boards are being built from the reverse engineering YouTube user talla83 has done.
However it happens what it comes down to is, do you want a product from a well established company with a well established support network, or some entity that is using some else's IP and with no established history of support, and in fact the original company, Mesa, is supplying the real support.

I've been trying to avoid these useless headbutting exercises, but I feel like some things really need mentioning.
What is also a little ironic is that Mesa will supply schematics when asked, yet I wonder how many of these manufacturers would extend the same courtesy ?

I have communicated with the seller, and they replied that the board comes with a pre-installed custom firmware. There is no need to flash the firmware. Once you receive the board, you can simply use PNCconf, enable the advanced options, and directly read the board’s I/O for configuration

I got my chance to look at the motors on that Messer plasma table I had mentioned. It has Bosch Rexroth Indramat servo motors:

The X, X-slave, and Y axis each have a MSK050B-0600-NN-M1-UG0-NNNN which is a 600 watt motor.

The Z axis (torch lifter) has a MSM031C0300-NN-M5-MH1 which is a 300 watt motor.

I forgot to look at the planetary gearboxes, I now wonder what gear ratio they are.

These Rexroth seem to be pricey motors. I have very little experience with the really cheap servo motors but my experience with other cheap industrial electronics has been that they are generally built lighter than their more expensive counterparts (not always). With the cheap stuff I try to oversize some to compensate. Considering that, I suggest 1000 watt cheap servos, but it's your call.

If you could provide me the weight (mass) of the gantry plus that of the equipment that will be attached to it, and also the friction of the gantry, I can estimate the speeds and accelerations you can expect from these motors.

I would suggest measuring the rolling friction with a scales, maybe something as simple as shoving the gantry about by pushing a... bathroom scale against it.
 
Tell me whether you are interested in my method of helping. I will now stop making noise here until I hear from you. 

Just bumped into this:

See description for code.