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That is actually the exact machine he bought.  That's exact one is sitting in my shop.

As far as the servos, I'll attach a photo, forgive all the dust and junk, it's been sitting dormant in a dusty shop.

And they are rack and pinion drive.  There Are two servos on either side for the Y, and one for the x.  Size wise I don't recall, but the pattern from what I could remeber matched a nema 23 or 34... I don't remeber for sure.   It looked like a stepper would bolt right in if the servo was removed.

Phew, that was long
For Mesa:
7i97
Or
7i92TM with 7i77
Or
7i96S with 7i77
Or
7i96S with 7i85 and 7i83
Or
7i92TM with 7i85S and 7i83
Not sure about the last one, if it has encoder inputs then yes, it will work.
Personally, i would go for 7i96S/7i85/7i83 as it has everything for step/dir and analog servo, and enough IO to get the machine going, then add a 7i84 for 32 more inputs and 16 more outputs, should be OK even for ATC.
All of those can be used for step/dir and analog at the same time, but do keep in mind that for 7i97 and 7i92TM wiring must be very careful for adding step/dir outputs as those header wires go to FPGA, so adding resistors or using a simple cheap BOB is advisable.
P.S.
Next time your head starts spinning, take a brake a day or two, then come back to it, it all starts to fall in place.

So I guess it's one of these:
www.govdeals.com/asset/16511/685

Looks quite sturdy but it's kind of hard to say without the details.
One thing you might want to check is the kind of mechanics they use to move the axes (acme screws, ball screws, rack and pinion, etc) also if it actually has motors for both sides of the gantry and what size the motors are.
A router will likely need a fair bit more lateral cutting force than a drag knife.

Sorry, there will be no crash report today. I lost the file and can' t produce a new one because linuxcnc is crushing linux every time since. I tried like 10 times. Will try later again. But I'd put no hopes on the crush file, because, as I said, it is different every time I was able to see one.

Max_velocity
Value for each joint/axis, that is in units per second, be it mm or inch.
But first check if the scaling is correct by moving the machine a certain distance in GUI and the measuring if the machine moved the same amount. Start with short distances till you get to ends of travel for each axis.

Ok, thank you very much.

error message is missing

Hello everyone, hopefully this is the right place to post this, and I'm sorry in advance for the long post.

To start my name is Adam and I have a custom cabinet/furniture shop that I run alone.  It is just me, from the Janitor to the CEO.  Well, I'm wanting to increase my production and the best way for me, would be a full size cnc.  Unfortunately I lack the funds required for such a purchase, so I'm thinking of retrofitting an older machine I came across.  For some background, I do own an xcarve, (small 30"x30" cnc, which uses a dewalt router) and laser cutter, have done designs and generated some g-code in fusion 360, but my primary cnc experience is with Easel, which is Xcarve's own web based processor for the cnc, and illustrator and lightburn for the laser.  Basically they are both extremely user friendly.

So that's the background, here is where I'm currently at...

I will say that diving into the world of building/retrofitting a cnc is like drinking from the fire hose.  I've read and watched so many youtube videos my head is spinning...  So that's why I'm here.  I believe I have settled on using Linuxcnc for the cnc control, but that's as far as I've gotten.

What I'm wanting to do:
Years ago my dad purchased a machine from a government surplus sale.  It came from Clemson University and is called a Data Technologies DT9066.  It was built in 2000.  Good luck finding information about them.  Anyway it, for all intents and purposes, is a cnc machine, but doesn't have a z axis or spindle.  It is a machine that was used for prototyping cardboard packaging.  It has a drag knife, creaser, engraver, etc.  It's working area is 90"x66", and has a vacuum hold down table.  I am thinking I can modify the gantry to move it and get a full 96" of working area out of it.  I'm going to have to modify it anyway to have a z-axis, as the gantry only sits about 2" from the bed.  Currently I do not have photos of it, because it's covered in junk as it's become a catch all in my shop, since it was essentially useless to me.

When we assembled the machine in my shop years ago, we connected it just like it was at Clemson when we got it, and it worked as far as moving around, so the motors and amplifiers are working.  The problem is the computer that controls it is incredibly old, and from what I understand the "motion controller" for it, is built into another computer tower, and the internals make absolutely no sense to me.  There's a tag that says "Gaudax" on one of the boards inside of it, but I couldn't find any info on that.

What I do know is it currently has 3 Servo's and amplifiers.  They are Magmotor servos with encoders on them.  They are driven through Copley Controls model 303, and 306 amplifiers, which is the start of my predicament.  

I know I will need to add another either servo or stepper for my z axis, that's obvious, but I was looking at various control boards, or break out boards, or motion controllers, and have seen some that will work with either analog, or digital step/dir but not both, so I think I'm going to have to either stick with an analog servo for the z axis, or replace all of the electronics with steppers and drivers.  On one hand, it may be easier to stick with all servos, because I've read good things about them, on the other hand it may be easier to start from scratch with new steppers and drivers, I mean the stuff on there is already 24 years old, and on the other other hand, maybe there's digital drivers for those old servos now, who knows?

I just don't know what to do next, so I am looking for advice.  If there is a mesa board that will function with the old analog amplifiers, will it also be upgradable if they go out and I have to replace them with newer digital drivers?  Would it be better to replace everything? (I said mesa because that is what usually comes up when I'm researching linuxcnc)  

Oh, and when considering board options, ideally, in a perfect world, and not neccessarily all at once, I'd like to have an ATC spindle, and eventually a rotary, since I'll be processing sheets 48" wide, but my work area is 66" wide, I figured I could put an atc rack down one side with a rotary in front of it, if that makes sense.  That way the machine will be able to do anything I could ever want it to.


Sorry for such a long post, but I figured it'd be best to get all the information I could out at once, so please let me hear your comments, suggestions, advice, etc.  I am in the very early "planning" stage of this build, so I am open to anything.  I just want to keep costs down as much as possible, but am willing to spend a little more if it will make for a better end product.

Thank you,
Adam

I hav ebuilt printNC machine and now I'm into configuring linuxcnc for it. So far all config is done via stepconf, no ini or hal edits. I have configured all but spindle control. The problem is when I add Spindle PWM on pin 1 in stepconf linuxcnc crashes on startup. Sometimes it crashes linux alltogether.

I'm adding my ini and hal. Also, I'm adding crash report, but I'm not sure if it helps because crash report is different every time.

Please, help me figure it out.

rodw wrote:

I think you are doing it the hard way.... Use the linuxcnc iso and follow the sticky...
 

I'm not using rtai....I'm just asking if you've checked the new kernel 6.10.9-1....linuxcnc in my 6.10.1 kernel installation works fine...it's not linuxcnc that worries me.....
regards

Ok everyone thank you so much for your help, we now have a home all button and no error messages. I added the code that was suggested for final_vel. The main problem was that the homing needed sequencing which i have done but ommited the A Axis, filled this out on the INI file and hay what do you know. Now we need to work out how to change the speed because when we ran it in air it took off at 90 miles per hour
Thank you all

Can't see Joint_3 but for the Home_All you need to define a HOME_SEQUENCE number for every joint you have configured.

Probe Basic Develop version will become the stable release soon before 9-23-2024. this means that the new stable branch and the develop branch will have a short window of overlap until new changes are made and added to the repository. if you are still on the "current stable" version, this means that the next update to probe basic after the change will install what is currently the "Develop" version and the old version will no longer be available for installation via apt. old debs can still be used for installation, but we strongly encourage you to make the change as there are important update made to imporve functionality and add features. the new documentation we have added to the ProbeBasic website will be geared towards the most recent version. We gave everyone several months to make the change that pops up on gui startup update page and hope you have made the necessary updates. if not, the new documentation would be an easy way to accomplish this by reviewing the "Machine Configuration (ini, hal, files)"section showing what needs to be changed over. running apt update in develop mode will supply a new folder in the linuxcnc config folder that has the necessary updated files for the current develp version to work. please see the link below for guidance in transitioning into the latest release!


kcjengr.github.io/probe_basic/machine_config.html

Tommy, i have moderator privilidges in here and have already unpinned what needed to come down, this should remain indefinitely to give users a place to easily navigate to for the docs i think, my intention was to leave it here.  the old post was a nightmare to edit with all of the images and formatting that i had applied that broke everytime i tried to edit so having an offsite location with easier to edit docs being built from within the buildbot for probe basic seems like the better solution.

thanks,

Chris

removed 5210 from subs, i think it was a remnant from a long time ago and you are correct it should be removed, thanks! subs on latest commit will reflect the change!