Ditching Mach 3/4 LinuxCNC is The Plan!

Hello, LinuxCNC Guru's

I have had enough of the lack of turning support form mach...

Buggy and blue screen crashes! Time to switch to Linux CNC I should have done it initially!

First the Machine & What I Have:

12X36 Lathe Birmingham YCL1236GH same as the Grizzly G4003
Stepper Driven Nema 34 X axis and Nema 42 Z axis
Drivers Microkinetics DM8010
Quadrature Encoder Model # DRC M21AASODB4D-2000 2000ppr may be to much 1:1 on the spindle. I can change it easily to a 400 or 200 what ever works best.
BOB is a PMDX-126 W/ESS & PMDX107 hooked to a Hitachi WJ200-022SF VFD running a Baldor EMM5750 1.5KW 3phase Motor. (I know the ESS will Go Away in linuxcnc)
4 Limit Switches Z+ Z- X+ X-
2 Outputs to relays used on the PMDX-126 1 For Flood Coolant one for Lighting or MISC.
VistaCNC P1A-S

I do plan on adding a WD6-118(6132) 6 Station ATC (prob next year) or sooner if I ever get a flight to China Again in the near future.

Current Switch Over Plan:
Run pathpilot now that you can order a pathpilot restore disk. There is a wiki on how to run it and set it up on a non tormach machine using a Mesa 5i25 but it is for a mill? pathpilot-on-nontormach.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

I would be venturing in to unknown Linux territory here. The path pilot seems to have a user friendly screen all the function and conversational stuff to do everything a lathe should do etc. From reading the forums it seems support here for its base s/w LinuxCNC is great.

On another forum someone was talking about installing 2.7.0 removing the screen and extra's macros etc and moving them over to 2.7.0? I think it would be simpler to just modify the path pilot config but I am not a linux guy. Opinions?

It also seems that a Mesa 5i25 is necessary to install path pilot! But that is a small amount to get where I want to be be able to turn a decent thread! Unless there is a way to do it using just 2 LPT Ports.

Will I need anything else?
Can I go Closed loop put digital scales on the axis's?
Confused about the Meza Card will it run both ports on the PMDX-126? Does mesa have to program the card to the BOB?
For PC's Are MicroATX PC's ok? Can get the Dell Optiplex 's for next to nothing all day long around here.

Thanks.

the best way is to ditch the pmdx in favor of the mesa 5i25 and 7i76

i'll be looking at the pathpilot software shortly , so at the moment cant comment on that
you have just about a 8x increase of use in using a 5i25/7i76 combination over a parallel port
as well as only using 1 of the available 2 ports .

although using what you have will work , if it worked with mach3 it will work with linuxcnc
with little work . although once you get into threading etc , you'd wish you had a 5i25 etc

Mesa 5i25 is what I have to go with to run pathpilot currently unless someone finds a way around it. I guess it will not install unless it sees the Mesa card. I will look in to the 7i76 but I am on a budget.

Reading doc's for the VFD would Modbus be the way to go? Pros/Cons? I believe the WJ and SJ share the same commands.

looking at the pathpilot files on the refered wiki , i cant see any reason why
it cannot run on 1 or 2 parallel port given the changes needed

excepting perhaps the encoders for xyz , presuming you are using steppers rather than servo / encoders
a vfd will work fine off the parallel port with if needed a pwm to 10v analog conversion

perhaps look at the 7i43 and a addon breakout board for the connections if your on a budget

The PMDX-107 provides the PMW 0-10V if i can get away with using my BOB i will use it since i already have it. From the posts i have read the pilot path software will not install unless it has a 5i25 or 6i25 installed in the PC.

It should be possible to use the PMDX126 with a 5I25/6I25 (or even 7I92)
as long as you know what functions are needed on which parallel port interface pins.

However I would suggest starting with linuxcnc 2.7 instead of pathpilot
(and perhaps using "linuxcnc features" for a conversational interface)

www.linuxcnc.org/index.php/english/forum...-ngcgui?limitstart=0

Contract_Pilot wrote: The PMDX-107 provides the PMW 0-10V if i can get away with using my BOB i will use it since i already have it. From the posts i have read the pilot path software will not install unless it has a 5i25 or 6i25 installed in the PC.

if you feel you need assistance let me know , we can help with interfacing the pmdx
and or the 5i25 at a later date

as i presume the machine has been used with Mach3 ,
there is a conversion program stepconf which can help get you to linuxcnc
from their on changing to pathpilot or whatever will be a little easier

please bear in mind i'm in the UK so theirs time delays etc
but welcome to assist either way , if all this sounds traumatic !

PCW wrote: However I would suggest starting with linuxcnc 2.7 instead of pathpilot
(and perhaps using "linuxcnc features" for a conversational interface)

Not as pretty as pathpilot, but this works for me on my lathes, and works on any LinuxCNC config:
www.linuxcnc.org/index.php/english/forum...-macros?limitstart=0

It should be possible to reconfigure the Pathpilot config to work with a parallel port. You "just" need to change all the 5i25 pins to parallel port pins in the HAL.

The main reason to get a 5i25 would be that it can keep up with your spindle encoder counts.

andypugh, the main reason to get the mesa card is that for what I want to do it is required for the software install. So yes I am going to get a mesa card. Should be able to order the restore disk at the end of the week.

Contract_Pilot wrote: andypugh, the main reason to get the mesa card is that for what I want to do it is required for the software install.

I doubt it is, you most likely just won't get a working config without it.

It would be fun to find out.