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And I continue with more photos.

 

Here I am processing the X plate

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

many thanks, I'll give it a try, with the 7i95s the encoders are wired up so getting the index to the Mesa cards is already done.

LinuxCNC 2.9.2
Mesa 7i96s

We have a hobby lathe that has an interlock for a guard / shield.
Our initial configuration had an estop button and the guard interlock in an estop latch.
Now we would like to allow the guard to be open when the lathe is not in auto / running a program.
For now we have been using a second key for the guard, I would like to avoid that.
I haven't looked into the pins for running a program yet, but my question is more about hal datatypes.


The result error messages I get are:
value 'estop-latch.0.ok-out' invalid for bit
setp failed

Replacing 'estop-latch.0.ok-out' with False for testing
value 'halui.mode.is-auto' invalid for bit
setp failed

According to linuxcnc.org/docs/stable/html/gui/halui.html#_mode halui.mode.is-auto is a bit out pin
halcmd show pin halui.mode.is-auto
    10  bit   OUT         FALSE  halui.mode.is-auto

I'm not sure why it doesn't work and the error message isn't great.  In LinuxCNC it looks like the error message is from github.com/LinuxCNC/linuxcnc/blob/dc9a98...cmd_commands.cc#L666
Does FALSE from halcmd ouput not equal FALSE in some way?  Maybe halui isn't loaded at this point?
Any help / insight would be apperciated.  Thanks

Edit: Looking at the error messages again, I realize setp is taking the literal value of the second parameter.  Not the value of the pin with that name.  Now to see if I can figure it out with net / signals.

The biggest issue is the mess that can be made of the file system.


TBH the OP confuses me.

After a quarter of an hour of running the program, I spontaneously got the error message again, as shown in the attachment.Is this the latency time, can it be caused by the Ethercat network system or is another explanation plausible?

Holy. Moly.
The issue plaguing me was NOT obvious AT ALL. It turns out the issue with spindle toggle (S-ON/OFF button) not toggling (only setting "on"), E-Stop (RESET button) not working, jog dial not working, yeah, they were actually all related and it speaks to something I wish someone could explain to me about HAL pin wiring.

The facts:
I used pncconf to generate my ini and hal files. In the main hal file, it wires up (among other things)
net machine-is-on halui.machine.is-on
However, in the sample XHC WHB04B file, there is a conflicting line:
net machine.is-on                        whb.halui.machine.is-on                halui.machine.is-on
OK, says I, no problem, according to the HAL man page, signals are additive, so I changed that line to 
net machine.is-on                        whb.halui.machine.is-on
thinking that the 2 pins would be connected through the 1 common signal. That's a big nope, and for the life of me I do not understand why. (maybe someday I'll have a lightbulb moment...)
The solution: 
The key was to NOT change the sample  XHC HAL, but to comment out the net line in the main config.

That was ridiculously difficult to sort out.

Why almost everything else worked on the pendant except for the dial still makes little sense to me. e.g. if the machine is in E-Stop, why should spindle on/off be allowed? Everywhere I've worked, the E-stop is a safety device, not a "some parts are safe" device.

@Robh,

loving the progress on this, keep up the hard work cant wait to see a version to try my self..
It's really hard work to get this done. What kind of machine do you use yourself to try it on?

@Hydroid7
Do you plan to release your code to fellow tinkerers?
Yes, i always release my code. But currently i will wait until i think it's ready to release.
Still the coding is in progress.


Project status :
Currently coding the look ahead algo, this algo traverses forward and reverse over a "n" ammount
of gcode lines. It set's optimal vo, vm, ve for the gcode segments.

thanks for your help. i have now comment one more line to use the io tool-prepared.

when i now push the button after M6 Tx it justfires a small pulse to the atc_zylinder and then it shows the correct toolnumber in linuxcnc.


BUT the small pulse is to short to insert the tool / unclamp. I think that pushing the button fires the tool changed and then tool-change is not active anymore.

Maybe a way could be to watch the button rising and falling edge??
or could it makes more sense to tr the hal component "manualtoolchange" out?

Its possible to home to index with step/dir, it just requires
firmware with step/dir index support and wiring the index to
the mesa card

Fantastic! Thanks again for your time.

Since you did not ask, i would say no ballscrews on plasma machines, except Z axis.
Use belts or rack/pinion preferably helical type as it makes less noise and less vibrations.

Also I have only one ballscrew for the table long axis (2m), is moving the gantry axis from one side only going to be ok?

Again, no for more than one reason in this case, to long so it will probably start whipping at 100-150 RPM, and one side only very, very slow speed, like snail pace, otherwise it will bend and rake a lot. Square carriages have wipers on them causing friction and requiring quite some force to move.
As for Stahlwerk, fire the torch in mid air, if it keeps arcing = all good, otherwise no good, although with a bit of hal wizardry it can be probably used but not reliably.Torch on should be on a connector so use that, and no need for ARC-OK signal as it can be derived from the arc voltage.

The error below is just because I had the multiplier knob on "Lead"  Still the pendant wheel does not increment count even if it's on a valid setting.
So I just noticed when I ran xhc-whb04b-6 -ue I am getting an error I do not understand when I spin the jog dial. Maybe there is something here?

in 0x04 10 00 00 90 11 04 10 delta 144 => | 04 | 10 | | | ( ) | X( ) | 4 | 10
pndnt failed to interpret axis code feed axisCode={�}
pndnt wheel total counts {counts=0 activeCounter=0 isLeadActive=0}

Hi all, its been awhile sorry, not had much time for anything of late and I've just been quietly using my linuxcnc converted bridgeport, but it seems I finally will get to play again.
I decided I have need for a cnc plasma table, so I started to put together a list and get parts.
So far I have:
Usual old PC for control,
Mesa 7i76e for control,
Mesa THC-5,
3x 3Nm closed loop steppers with drivers + psu's, the closed loop function is handled inside the stepper driver so they look like normal open loop steppers to the mesa, I hope they dont get affected by interference...
A 200mm travel z axis
Various limit switches
4 HGR20 rails with trucks and ball screws for x & y
P80 plasma torch suitable for z axis mounting
 

For a table, I have a used very old JCB backhoe chassis that had become damaged in a roll over incident and had to be cut up
I rotated the backhoe chassis and started to cut off extra bits, and put it on heavy casters to roll about already, and am in the process of cleaning it up to mount the rails directly onto it via tapped holes then I'll shim the rail->chassis where needed. 
A chassis for a digger weighing 8t is going to be plenty rigid & I can move it round with the fork truck if needed without worrying about it distorting. I'll mount the control electronics inside the section of the frame at the front that used to form the machine's diesel tank, so it will be good for sheilding + heat dissapation.
 
I'm posting this because I'm a bit hazy on the details how to connect a THC to the plasma unit.
I have a mesa THC-5 ordered, but I'd like to use my Stahlwerk Cut60 because its 380v tri-phase and I have a amp limit to run the table + compressor.  Someone from Stahlwerk told me when I enquired that it was scratch start and I'd need to buy a later model to get HF start, but if you hold the tip near the work you can see a small spark jump before it establishes the plasma and it doesnt need to touch to establish so perhaps something was lost in translation.
I read that the stahlwerk plasma cutters need modification to get some of the signals out for cnc use, my search is failing me for finding more info on what's specifically needed to be done inside this plasma cutter itself, any links?

Also I have only one ballscrew for the table long axis (2m), is moving the gantry axis from one side only going to be ok? I'm a little worried that rapid moves will cause it to go out of square. I dont mind slowing it down a little if that can help eliminate this, I dont care if I have to wait a bit longer for parts.

Looking forward to finally making progress on making something again, and your comments.
 

Which of these components can negatively influence the performance of the constellation Linuxcnc with Ethercat?

I tried the donker optocoupler for starters. It can't keep up with the speed of the servo. With the isolation, oddly feedback still occurs.
The 7i77 isol I have to shoehorn into my enclosure. I'm holding off on installing it for now.
When switching the drive to current/torque mode, where the drive no longer reads in the encoder, the feedback problem goes away. Probably still there just not traveling back / assuming influencing velocity feedback through the encoder in the drive. How is that possible?
I struggle tuning in current mode. I can't really get the motor shaft locked and slow speed seems very coarse/rough running. 


Here is a link to what's going on prior to switching to current mode. The analog feedback from mesa is disconnected shown at the end to illustrate that the interference is not coming through the 7i77.