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I’ve mainly worked on much smaller machines, so on a lathe this size, I’m not sure whether the long motor/encoder cables would become an issue. If it's okay to leave the drives in a central cabinet and just rely on good shielding and routing, I’m happy to do the same—this is more of a concern than a hard opinion.

EtherCAT still appeals because it lets me pull extra data from every drive (load torque, temperatures, alarms, second encoders), and keeps future expansions simple.

Suggestion / request:
Overrides
When starting a program running (cycle start): user is prompted that an override (rapid, feed, or spindle) and asked whether they want to continue with override, or want to reset to 100%

(I make the mistake of setting an override and then moving onto a new program and hitting start, forgetting about the override)

Vast majority of servo / servo drives have "normal" cabling between the servo and the servo drive.

Don't see any difference due to ethercat just because one axis is 7m long?

(I'm a fan of ethercat and think it is the way forward. So neat just plugging servo drive into linuxcnc with single ethernet cable and getting.servo drives status / encoder position etc)

Thanks for catching that: the machine is X + Z plus a spindle.

There’s no VFD at all—this is still a fully manual lathe with a star-delta spindle and gearbox.

I picked EtherCAT mainly because the bed is 7 m long and I don’t want voltage drop or noise on long analogue/encoder runs. One Cat-5e solves the length and loss issues.

besriworld wrote:

Would it be possible to add a confirmation dialog box prompting the user before initiating another homing cycle .

You mean when the machine is already homed?

besriworld wrote:

When I run the program and want to pause it midway through the G-code execution to clean the machine from chips, it doesn't allow me to manually move the axis.
I believe the program should allow pausing, during which I should be able to manually move or return the axis. When I choose to resume the program, the machine should automatically return to the position it was in before the pause and continue execution from that point.

Also, if I stop the spindle and start it again, the speed is much lower than before.

That is not part of the GUI and not supported yet. For that you need to switch the mode and that would stop the program execution. It would be also a bit complicated, remember if you are in the middle of an arc or just in the middle of a line. etc...

But the spindle should resume at the same speed. Can you give an exmple to reproduce that?

besriworld wrote:

When you're in the G-code editor, it's possible to start the program execution, but if you exit the editor, the program stops .

A bit unusual use case though, but I agree that should not abort the program.

@besriworld

Many users asked already for the option to move the machine during pause. That feature must be implemented deep into LinuxCNC IMHO motion control, but not in the GUI part.

It might be possible to make a custom code and put that in between forward and backward kinematics to move i.e. the Z axis.

Norbert 

It is not supported yet.. is not the same thing raster engraving that has constant speed synchronized with accurate laser pulses.
In base thread yes supported but not in servo thread with mesa 

If you can modify the ini file you can modify the port address in the ini file.
Usually with any errors starting, the error log and ini & hal files are posted by he user.

It started when i was editing the .ini for a homing issue. After the restart , EMC2 would always terminate with an error. Somehow it modified the port address , from what i can figure. but with the system password unknown . I cant edit the port address.

Ill give it a try. Thank You for the step by step.

Good evening gentleman,
I am almost done with my new setup (printnc "pro", mesa 7i76eu, probe basic, jianken ATC) and everything seems to be working now, except the tool length measurement.
When I start a measurement with G38.2.... and then press the toolsetter with a finger (just to test it), the system errors out with "probe tripped during non-probe movement".
So it recognizes that the toolsetter is triggered, but for some reason it thinks its the 3d probe...  

This is how my probe and tls signals are linked:

# --- PROBE-IN ---
net probe-in     <=  hm2_7i76e.0.7i76.0.0.input-08
# --- TLS-Normal-IN ---
net tls-in       <=  hm2_7i76e.0.7i76.0.0.input-09-not

addf or.probeortls servo-thread
net probe-in or.probeortls.in0
net tls-in or.probeortls.in1
net probe-tool or.probeortls.out
net probe-tool motion.probe-input

What am I doing wrong ?

Here is my full config...
github.com/SebastianMusser/LinuxCNC/tree/main

regards
Sebastian

Long story short.

The current machine is really not suitable for the most recent version.
Maybe if you elaborate on the issues we maybe able to provide a solution.
Usually if the machine is operating fine and doing the job without any issues there is no real need to upgrade.
There are many machines out there still running early versions of Linuxcnc without any issues.

if my math is right and I am reading ferror right, I am running 36000mm/m which works out to 600mm/s and an ferror of 5 (well 4.94ish, but close enough).

5/600 = .008333333 But I am running my loop at 500000 if I have configured things right so 2 round trips should be .001ish... makes me think that something else is up in that lag....

Does EtherCat time code movements so that multiple axis would all move at the right time to each other and be at the right place regardless of what LinuxCNC sees back as the time delay?

Thanks

Hi everyone,

I’ve read through a lot of forum threads and would like a sanity-check before I start converting a large manual lathe (≈ 7 m between centres, three controlled axes: X, Z and spindle) to CNC.

Outline: IPC running LinuxCNC  →  Beckhoff EK1100 EtherCAT coupler.

1) Spindle (big induction motor that must stay)
   • Ideal: EtherCAT-ready VFD.  
   • Fallback: keep the old VFD and drive it with ±10 V from an EL413x analogue-out.  
   • Right now I only need the spindle to reach the commanded RPM.  
     Do I really need extra feedback (index pulse or full encoder), or is open-loop ±10 V enough for a first-cut retrofit?
     I can add an EL5101 / EL5042 later if it saves headaches.

2) Linear axes (X, Z)
   • Replace the old drives with EtherCAT servo drives; current & velocity stay inside the drives, LinuxCNC closes the position loop.  
   • New linear scales will be fitted. Where should their signals go?
       – straight into the servo drives, or  
       – through a Beckhoff encoder terminal (EL50xx) so LinuxCNC sees raw position, or maybe both.  
   • I’m after whatever gives the most reliable closed loop without over-complicating wiring.

3) Limit switches
   • Where do people usually land these in an EtherCAT setup?  
       – dedicated digital-input terminal (EL1004 / EL1008),  
       – directly into the drive I/O and pass the state via PDOs,  
       – or something else?

4) Still unsure about
   • Pitfalls when driving an older VFD from a Beckhoff analogue-out terminal.  
   • Best practice for scale feedback on a long machine: drive only, EL50xx only, or split to both.  
   • EtherCAT servo brands that work well for retrofits (good low-speed torque, reasonable cost, easy integration).  
   • Cleanest way to wire limit switches in an EtherCAT chain.

Thanks a lot for reading. I’m grateful for any advice, success stories or warnings you can share!

Kind regards,
vformi

Hello, we have a machine with a rotary axis, in some corners the cutter does not reach the corner completely and makes a rapid movement on the rotary axis. I tried to reduce the error with G64 but lowering the P value makes it worse.

Machine is running analog servos, old yellow cap fanuc.

The error is consistent int the same place.
Attached a pic.

Thanks