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Looking forward to your updates btw have you tried getting the built in homing to work or setting up the I/O's in the drive?

Thank you! Have you tried to install ethercat on these images? I can't get it to work. However on a older image (with older kernel) you have posted it works without issue.

Alright, gotcha. Btw I tried balena etcher as well but it did not work either. Only reason I wanted to try this image is since I'm not able to install ethercat on the latest one...

I have very hard time understanding the format syntax from the documentation. I have two strings that I got from other people mentioning about them in their configurations and the chatgpt/deepseekR1 's interpretation of linuxcnc documentations.

1. loadrt hostmot2 config="firmware=hm2/5i25/SVST8_8.BIT,biss=0,0,0,6"
Even If I take out the firmware=hm2/5i25/SVST8_8.BIT part from the above line, I still get the error: Unknown parameter 'config=biss=0,0,0,6' So I am guessing this configuration string for hostmot2 driver is either invalid or not needed.

2. loadrt hm2_pci config="... biss_chan_0=start%1bxencoder%26eerror%6bwarning%6bcrc%6f"
This partially works like I said earlier. It does seem to be showing accurate measured values for small distances(within a centimeter) but it erratically jumps around if I move a little distance. changing to crc%6f instead of discarding the CRC results in an error which starting linuxcnc.

I have 3 sets of linear scales. Should I just mix and match, trying different values until something sticks like changing to xencoder%20e instead of 26e? could configuring with wrong values brake the hardware?
Page 16 in compressedLA11Do1_12.pdf I've attached has the biss related encoder details. Pages right before has SSI protocol specific details. I understand nothing from the CRCD01_01.pdf
 

Used to do that on a weekly basis when I was installing playground equipment, the supplier would ship all the stuff up not powder coated and we'd spend time packing it all and shipping it off to the powder coaters then doing all the nutserts. Man there was a lot of double handling.

Andy, thank you for the reply!

1. That's great news, I'll look into how to do that. Keeping folders separate should be a workable solution!

2. Yeah, I'd really prefer to stick with Pathpilot too. 

3. I don't know how they removed the functionality, but it's not just removed from GUI. With the default INIs, I get the error "Axis b not present on this machine (valid axes are XYZA)" when I try something like an MDI G0 B120. Adding back the 5th axis callouts in the INI files is the first thing I tried and it led to an error that isn't letting me determine if the 5th axis is now working (details below). Honestly, I don't really know what I'm doing... yet.

INI modifications I've tried (in tormach_mill_base.ini, tormach_440_specific.ini, tormach_440_7i92.ini, tormach_440_7i92_specific.ini, and tormach_440_sim_specific.ini - though that last one is just for the GUI/preview/simulation I assume):

1. I go through and any time the A axis (aka axis_3) is specified, I duplicate and increment the duplicate to B axis/axis_4.
2. I duplicate the whole [AXIS_3] section and rename the duplicate [AXIS_4]
3. In the [TRAJ] section, I set AXES = 5, and COORDINATES = X Y Z A B.
4. In the [HOSTMOT2] section, I increment the num_stepgens from 5 to 6 (though I may eventually have more than 6 depending on my breakout pinout/firmware and HAL definitions).
5. In the [MACHINE_CONFIG] section, I add the line B_AXIS_SUPPORT = B_AXIS_6_8_INCH B_AXIS_4_INCH under the line that says the same for the A axis. No idea what this is about, but yeah.. I'd like B axis support!
6. I add "#pp_include ../common/5th_axes.inc" under the include for 4th_axes.inc and I duplicate the .inc file, rename to 5th axis and change any references to A/axis_3 to B/axis_4 in it. Though I don't know the syntax, does the # sign mean this is commented out? Or is that just how you do an include in an ini file?
7. Weirdly, there are no [JOINT] sections in any INI files.. will I need to add one since the B axis is mounted on the A axis? Or would my 5-axis setup have no joints?

Here's the issue I get when I do all of that - PP starts normally, I reset and try to reference an axis (usually start with X), and the axis moves to home, but the "Reference X" button doesn't go away (and green light indicating it's referenced pops up) after it's homed like normal. Not until I try to reference a second axis (usually Y), then the "Reference X" button goes away, but now the "Reference Y" button doesn't go away, etc. And when I try to reference the second axis, I start getting hundreds of the same error message on the status page, I get several per second until I e-stop the machine. Here's the message:

So I would assume that's an issue because I haven't defined a pin for axis-4-homing in the HAL files. I've tried updating the HAL files with the same strategy as the INI files, but when I do that Pathpilot won't start. Possibly because I haven't yet flashed the firmware Mesa wrote for me or connected my 5th axis breakout board / driver / motor yet. But also I can't find axis-3-homing defined anywhere in the HAL files to duplicate and modify to axis-4-homing, anyone know where it is? I've tried modifying tormach_mill_mesa.hal, tormach_mill_mesa_440.hal , tormach_mill_sim.hal, and postgui_tormach_mill.hal though I assume those last two are GUI related, so might not be contributing to this error.

I know I'll need to be more thorough/careful modifying the HAL files, especially to match the pinout of the 7i92 + generic 5-axis breakout board specified in the firmware Mesa wrote for me.. but there are some inconsistencies there that I'm asking them to clarify. Once they clarify I'll be able to get all the pin numbers and stepgen/pwm channel numbers to match across the 7i92 firmware and all of the HAL files. For now I was hoping that I could modify only the INI files and be able to make a MDI G0 B120 command without getting a "B axis not present" error (I know nothing would happen if it was working anyway since the HALs are incomplete/incorrect, new firmware isn't loaded, breakout board and 5th axis driver/motor aren't connected, but I was trying to take one thing at a time.. maybe that's not the right strategy here).

So yeah, that's where I'm at, and I'm kind of shooting in the dark at this point, but still have a lot of things to try. If you or anyone has any advice here, knows of any other files I need to modify or duplicate/rename for the additional axis, etc. please let me know.. my understanding of INI and HAL files is pretty poor. I'm working through LinuxCNC's HAL and INI documentation, but I can't find where (for example) some loadrt or addf HAL components and functions are defined (where are axis3-homing and axis3-not-homing defined!? I'm going to start looking in the python files).

I've attached the INI and HAL files (minus the sim specific ones) I've modified if anyone wants to look through them and tell me what dumb mistakes I made. Also a screenshot of the pinout/channel definition defined in the .PIN file in the firmware mesa wrote for my 7i92+breakout board, though keep in mind I'm checking with them if I should keep those pin/channel numbers and update the HAL files to match, or change the new firmware .PIN file to match my HAL pin / channel numbers (and add the additional pin/channel numbers on the P1 header (going to breakout board) where appropriate in the HAL files).

Thanks! Ryan

This maybe of help
linuxcnc.org/docs/html/man/man1/linuxcncrsh.1.html

This one may have you going through the docs
linuxcnc.org/docs/html/man/man1/linuxcncsvr.1.html

Pinium it

For axis cal look at this. www.renishaw.com/en/axiset-check-up--11353

Renishaw has some nice software for calibration on multi axis machines. I have not seen anything for Linuxcnc only Fanuc and Siemens. They do provide source files.

I figured out the problem and I'll post it in case anyone else runs into something similar.

TL&DR: It was working all along, but the +/- increments were so small and that the set speed was always less than the minimum. If I clicked + enough times, I would eventually get it past the min and the spindle would speed up.

The longer version is that on a whim, I ran the default "LinuxCNC" carve program, and surprisingly, the speed ramped right up to 10000 RPM (not the minimum 6000). So, that told me that the speed was actually under CNC software control. The I enabled the spindle manually from the GUI and just kept clicking + until the spindle passed the min. The LED display on the VFD tracked the GUI as well.

So, a frustrating few nights of debugging, but I learned a lot about how this thing works under the hood!

maximuim travel in X and Y while probing before error.
maximuim travel in Z while probing before error.

No joy.

I can't unhome a joint via hal commands, or at least not how I've got it set up currently.

Attempted an M-code bash file with:
And am getting a "must be in joint mode or disabled to unhome" error.

Any idea how to disable or switch to joint mode for a single axis, either in HAL or with a bash file?

Thanks a lot andypugh!! Great Help!!
I am trying to instead of manually type the instructions (Commands + units to move each one of the axis) or read them from a file, to automatically receive that data from an other application written in C. So i should add in the CNC panel a button to select or deselect "automatic data transmission (Commands + units) towards the axis, that should switch from receiving the data through the textbox "Enter the MDI Commands" to a kind of transmission connection that automatically would receive the data. It would be of great help to find out, where is the code for the function of the "Go" button.
Thanks a lot for the help.

I use sheetcam and the addons for CandCNC electronics and software. Sheetcam does have a tab feature and could be used to keep parts from tipping up. You can set how many tabs and what size to use, so a single tab that is small might do the trick, but I have not used it for that purpose. You could make a dxf of your slat table and have that as a locked layer in sheetcam, then move your part where needed. My slats are 4 feet long and are set with a bow of 2 inches in the center so I don't worry too much about where they land. Ramp and wiggle lead ins are also an option, but I don't know if that is stock sheetcam or part of any addons from CandCNC. Sheetcam does calculate cut time with the simulation and it used to have a report feature that would tell you how many inches of cut, how many pierces it had, and the time to cut.

Inkscape certainly isn't cad or cam software and I only use it when I need to do graphics type work vs. geometric lines that are easier on cad. For cad, I use siemens solid edge community edition which is a free version. Businesses with the commercial version can not open the files from the free version, but it is fine to save as a dxf and import into sheetcam or fusion 360.

rodw wrote:

my1987toyota wrote:

rodw Do you still use Fusion 360? If not what are you using now?
Yes, sneaky buggers charged my card on the renewal. Wasn't planning to.
I've only done one job in the last 12 months......
All my parts are sheetmetal and laser cut these days (or made in India or China), inserted about 300 nutserts today. Thank god I have a pneumatic tool!
 

Crap that suck. 300 inserts yikes, how long before your hands stopped vibrating?