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Hello everyone, 
Has anybody worked with kollmorgen drivers with linuxcnc?

I have this error: Ethercat synchronisation error when i run linuxcnc. 

I attached my xml, hal, and ini file. slave 0 is a moons driver which works correctly with this config. 
slave 1 is the kollmorgen driver akd2g singel axis, which is not working.

 
 
 
 

Hi folks,

First, apologies as I know this has been discussed before several times, but I can't seem to find enough recent information about what I'm hoping to do. I have a 2024 model Tormach PCNC 440, currently running Pathpilot 2.12, and has a Mesa 7i92tf as controller and Leadshine MX3660 as 3-axis driver. I added a Xoomspeed USB I/O box to enable spindle reversing (mostly for tension/compression tapping) and it works nicely (thanks David Loomes)! I have configured a 4th axis with a 4-wire Nema32 stepper (plus 100:1 harmonic reduction), using a Leadshine DMA860H as a driver. It works nicely too! 

What I'm hoping to do next is add a 5th axis, and I already have another DMA860H and 5th axis (one nema23 mounted on another, both with 50:1 harmonic reductions. I talked with someone at Mesa and I believe I understand the wiring and controller firmware updates I need to make (I have a Sainsmart 5-axis breakout board to connect as daughter card to the 7i92tf, Mesa is writing me firmware for this). I also believe I have what I need to program CAM, using Fusion 360 with the manufacturing extension. What I will need help with is configuring Pathpilot to work with a 5th (C) axis, as well as modifying the post processor (ideally David Loomes' Xoomspeed Pathpilot with Probing post since I use in-program probing and prefer that one, especially angle probing for coordinate rotation!).

Now, I know that Tormach apparently removed the 5th axis functionality from Pathpilot. My first question to the forum is: would you recommend adding it back into Pathpilot? Or should I switch to a regular LinuxCNC install? I do like the Pathpilot interface and post processors for Fusion 360 I'm using, plus I'm not very familiar with Linux in general (even though my "Pathpilot computer" is of course running Linux and I have worked with it to add a VistaCNC pendant and the Xoomspeed I/O box, 4th axis, and Samba LAN filesharing. And I'm comfortable modifying ini/hal files and running terminal commands as long as I know what they should be), so I would prefer to stay with Pathpilot. Having a DRO for the C axis in the GUI is a nice-to-have but I think I could live without it, at least for now, so I won't necessarily need to modify the Pathpilot GUI. But if LinuxCNC is the way to go, my second question is: would it be possible to dual-boot on my linux box ("Pathpilot Computer") so that I can use Pathpilot for 3 or 4-axis jobs and switch to LinuxCNC for 5-axis jobs? I like the idea of having a separate partition for LinuxCNC, especially because I'm worried about messing something up and not getting it to work at all, and having to do a full Pathpilot re-install (plus redo all the modifications I've made) just to get back to a usable 3/4axis setup.

For the modify Pathpilot route, my next question is: how exactly do I go about adding the 5th axis (simultaneous 5th, not just indexing of course.. with or without TCP, I still need to figure out exactly what TCP is and if I want/need it.. or if it's even relevant here)? I can't seem to find a tutorial or much documentation about this, can anyone here point me towards a resource, or possibly give me a list of what files I'll need to modify (I might be able to figure out what the modifications are from the LinuxCNC documentation, but it's hard to be sure that I know the full list of what needs to be modified)? I learned that Pathpilot will overwrite any firmware changes to the controller on each startup, but I think I found how to disable that too so that I can use the firmware modified to work with the breakout board. I'll also need to know what to modify (if anything) in either Tormach's post or, preferably David's post, though for testing I'm happy to write the NC code by hand or use MDI. I'm a little familiar with modifying posts from analyzing sections of David's post that were giving me weird g-code (rapid move during expanded tapping?! turned out it was intentional and a clever hack for tension/compression heads) and to add back the code to apply coordinate rotation after angle probing, which David had removed apparently due to some random errors with axes limits he ran into during testing. Anyway, bonus points if you can tell me exactly what the mods would be or give me modified files.. actually, I'd happily pay someone a few hundred dollars for this service if it results in a working 5-axis system (seriously, let me know if you're interested)!

For the LinuxCNC path, other than dual-booting/partitioning I think I can find the documentation I need to configure the 5th axis, and hopefully make the SW connections to my hardware. Actually I can probably figure out the dual booting too, just want to know if it's possible and advisable. But if anyone wants to give any advice on this path here (a list of steps or files to modify, gotchas, workarounds, links to tutorials/helpful documentation/etc.) I would also be very grateful. And a question, maybe for a later time - how easy (or possible) is it to put the Pathpilot GUI onto a generic LinuxCNC install? I don't necessarily need the conversational functionality, but I do really like how probing and ETS works in Pathpilot.

Anyway, thanks for reading and in advance for any replies! Apologies again if people are tired of talking about 5th axes in Pathpilot. I'm a resourceful guy and usually pretty good with research (and retired so I have a lot of time on my hands) so I don't necessarily need step-by-step instructions but I can sense that there are some gaps in what I can find and understand here. Any hints to fill those gaps would be super helpful and very much appreciated!
-Ryan in Mexico 

It doesn't really require an unofficial repo to store them, maybe just a place where people can look at it, maybe test it themselves then submit it. They shouldn't just live in some out-of-repo place if they actually do something useful.

My thoughts exactly.  I was thinking of this sub-folder as a temp holding place for folks to post up components and maybe prove them out or work out the bugs before they - or someone else - submitted a pull request.  "User Component Sandbox"

And possibly there are components that are so edge-case that the LCNC devs aren't interested in adding it/them to mainline.  For those cases a components sub-folder keeps them from disappearing (as much) in the forum if someone later on has the same situation.

I guess its possible, You could add a stiff pulldown (say 470 ohm) on TXEN to test
are you sure its not parity related?

Maybe I can get one to try.
(Edit 2 ordered will try to get them running when they arrive is about 10 days)

Does seem that function 2 would make more sense on inputs and 15 on outputs

Thanks Murphy for your answer. I read the entire forum many times without finding what I was looking for.I used marked spindle index pin on the controller. From EC500 V5 documentation:

INDEX can be connected to ordinary NPN type 2 wire Hall switch  

So I tought maybe they didn't put or put better optocoupler on this one since this pin is intended for this use, if needed i'm gonna bypass it. So do think I should use te remora PRUencoder or use the linuxCNC encoder module ? And to do so , do I need to modify my config.txt file to include encoder and upload it again ? I really want this to work 

spumco wrote:

tommylight wrote:

Probably here, as far as i can tell, everything else will inevitably lead to here, and google still seems to find the forum easily.
What do you think about a new subfolder?

• Configuring LinuxCNC
  • HAL
    • HAL Examples
    • User-written HAL Components
      
      
      
      Maybe with a sticky at the top explaining what the deal is - i.e. non-mainstream HAL components that may or may not do what you want.
      
      ​​​​​​​If we just have a single thread called 'HAL User Components' it will instantly get polluted with random comments, tangents, and questions on how to use the component(s).
      
      A sub-folder might help keep it clean(ish) for a little while.

Well anyone can just submit a component via pull request to the linuxcnc repo. Not sure if the maintainers test them at all other than making sure they compile. If it's a good an useful component, there's really no reason not to just submit it via pull request.

I suppose some people just post components they aren't really 100% sure about or haven't fully tested. It doesn't really require an unofficial repo to store them, maybe just a place where people can look at it, maybe test it themselves then submit it. They shouldn't just live in some out-of-repo place if they actually do something useful.

Ok I’ll make a note of that.
Thanks for testing.

tommylight wrote:

Probably here, as far as i can tell, everything else will inevitably lead to here, and google still seems to find the forum easily.

What do you think about a new subfolder?

• Configuring LinuxCNC
  • HAL
    • HAL Examples
    • User-written HAL Components

Maybe with a sticky at the top explaining what the deal is - i.e. non-mainstream HAL components that may or may not do what you want.

​​​​​​​If we just have a single thread called 'HAL User Components' it will instantly get polluted with random comments, tangents, and questions on how to use the component(s).

A sub-folder might help keep it clean(ish) for a little while.

rodw wrote:

I just half wrote one here on the forum tonight forum.linuxcnc.org/49-basic-configuratio...-brake-with-linuxcnc
Blink could be improved a lot by using fperiod() so the on time and off time was specified in seconds if anybody wanted an intermediate project to practice on.
 

Well in the post the guy says it requires a floating point thread, but it is a nofp component, so you'd assume it was intended to run in a base thread.

My flash component started off with a counter, but wasn't very accurate timing. I'm using fperiod now, much better.

I say "my" component but really chatgpt wrote it lol. The nuances of comp trip it up pretty hard but you can get through it.

No image appeared on the screen, not working

@ vpomerleau, you may have to bypass the opticouplers on the board if it's over 2.5khz. rbobey1989 has a post in this thread about it.

If I ever manage to get mine going. I'll document what I did and what opticouplers to bypass etc

The pulse turning it by hand seemed good. Anything over about 150rpm the pulse was distorted , it was an open collector npn 500ppr

What was the part number of the original encoder?

If it was an open collector output, was your pull up resistor to high a value?

Did you look at the pulse train with a scope?

@Mudrat, I thought it was noise I was experiencing. But when I took the encoder apart I found it was a magnetic pickup instead of optical. It lost pulses above 200rpm and stopped counting. All omron e6b2 encoders have a dual board with disk inside. This was a single board. Pic below what it's suppose to look like inside(don't know if it genuine or a good copy)

I was watching with my son last night and he was thinking the same thing lol.