Using Mesa 7i95T for laser + galvo (xy2-100) control

Hello! New to LinuxCNC and Mesa and trying to set up a 6-axis (+2 galvo axes) laser system. All 6 of the step/dir and encoder pins of the 7i95T are anticipated to be used, and trying to figure out how other pins can be repurposed.

Is there a firmware version for the 7i95T with xy2-100 support (xy2mod)? The unit currently has the default 7i95t_d.bin firmware loaded.

Which pins on the 7i95T could be used for controlling a 2-axis galvanometer? Would the Serial 0 and Serial 1 pins be suitable?

The manual mentions that the P1 expansion port can be used to expand I/O including for more step/direction channels. Can these pins be redefined for such purposes directly or is an expansion card / daughterboard needed?

Can (which?) pins on the 7i95T be used to control an IPG laser (please see attached image of pinouts from laser specifications) or is another card needed? 

You would probable need a daughtercard because
the XY100 interface needs 4 differential outputs and
1 differential input (that is you could not directly connect
to P1). Something like a 7I78 could do.

Without buying anything, you could test the galvanometer
with a 7I95T config that steals 2 step/dir channels to get the
XY100's 4 differential outputs and use a sserial input for the
differential input.
 

What is the 1 differential input for? I thought just 4 differential outputs were needed for XY2-100 2-axis galvo setup.

Instead of stealing 2 step/dir channels, could the two Serial channels and one step/dir channel be used?

The differential input is because the full XY2-100 interface has a status channel
but its not required for operation.

Yes, a configuration could be made using the sserial tx channels and one stepgen.

The serial TXEna pins would end up as GPIO pins and have to be set into the enabled
state in the hal file.
 

 

The differential input is because the full XY2-100 interface has a status channel
but its not required for operation.

Ok, in that case the status channel can be skipped as the galvo does not seem to implement it.
So the options are using two step/dir channels, or one step/dir and two sserial  for their tx channels? There's no way to avoid stealing step/dir channels if using the galvo on the 7i95T?
Although, in the end, the 7i78 might be needed anyway.

The serial TXEna pins would end up as GPIO pins and have to be set into the enabled
state in the hal file. 

What does this entail?

The TXEN pins corresponding GPIO pins would need to be set as outputs 
and into the correct state in the hal file, something like:

setp hm2_7i95.0.gpio.014.is_output true
setp hm2_7i95.0.gpio.014.out false
setp hm2_7i95.0.gpio.017.is_output true
setp hm2_7i95.0.gpio.017.out false
 
 

Do you want galvo for engraving?
How you will implement this because
raster engraving with mesa not supported to linuxcnc.

vre wrote:

How you will implement this because
raster engraving with mesa not supported to linuxcnc.

That is not correct, i use LinuxCNC with and without Mesa for engraving and it works perfectly.
forum.linuxcnc.org/show-your-stuff/46752...ver-etcher-scratcher
Configs should be attached there, and yes, it is the same thing as laser, it uses PWM for pressure control.

It is not supported yet.. is not the same thing raster engraving that has constant speed synchronized with accurate laser pulses.
In base thread yes supported but not in servo thread with mesa 

Thanks for the warning. What or where is the issue with raster galvo laser support? I'm still learning about linuxcnc and the mesa hardware and understanding how to implement the relevant capabilities.

This project involves only vector laser cutting or sweeping some areas with the galvos, not raster etching of images or text etc. In the future though of course it would be good to have both vector and raster capabilities.