7i80-DB + 7I76 - PWM Spindle ?

Hi All

Firstly thanks for the help over the last year or so !!!

I've been able to use PnCConf to create a config which I could then search and replace to use the 7i80 board.
I now have the XYZ all moving very nicely.

BUT the old BDLC Spindle driver (Tonman bd-1100) does not seem to support an analog signal so I need to have a PWM output.

The old system used mach3 and a couple of parallel ports so I assume the PWM rate was fairly low. The mach3 config page was 2000 steps, step pulse of 2 and direct pulse 15.
Options:
1. I have a friend who could make me a board which converts the analog signal to a PWM
2. A new bit file which uses the 7I76 to generate the PWM the 4th channel stepper ?
3. Use a custom board on one of the other three ports of the 7i80-DB ?
4. Is there a board out there I could use on the extra port on the 7i80-DB ?

Any other ideas ?

Some contradictory information there, PWM and Step/Dir do not go together.
Find the manual for the drive, check what types of control input it can work with.
Analog and PWM drives usually will work with the wrong type of signal, but not correctly, meaning they will spin but the speed control will be broken or erratic.
All Mesa cards can do PWM on the field outputs, but at a low rate. The high speed pins can do very fast PWM.
Warning: puting +- 10V analogue output to a 5V PWM input will most probably destroy that input, especialy the -10V.

you an go with a 100hz signal

and almost every spindle driver VFD has analog in

so you can just make a low pas filter
or use a Digitaldivice for a 0-10V

cand find any infos of your driver

There is no manual for the drive available.
I think my belief that the drive supported analog input is incorrect.
A bit file change on the step/dir port would allow it to be a PWM.
Correct a analog signal into a pwm does not work very well.

Does the hardware I've listed have pwmgen as an option ?

As tommylight mentioned, you can do PWM/Dir on the 7I76's Step/Dir outputs with the correct firmware.

There is standard firmware for the 5I25 that does this (pwmgen replace last 7I76 stepgen)
It would be easy to do this on a a7I80DB also

What current firmware are you using?

I'm using 7i80db_16_7i76x3d.bit

Would I change
"num_encoders=1 num_pwmgens=0 num_stepgens=5 sserial_port_0=00xxxx"
to
"num_encoders=1 num_pwmgens=1 num_stepgens=5 sserial_port_0=00xxxx"

Thanks

Probably:
"num_encoders=1 num_pwmgens=0 num_stepgens=5 sserial_port_0=00xxxx"
to
"num_encoders=1 num_pwmgens=1 num_stepgens=4 sserial_port_0=00xxxx"

(assuming you are only using the stepgens on the first 7I76)

So this changes the step4 on TM3 to be a PWM interface ? What should the config look like in the HAL ?

No, you need different firmware for that.

Hardware like stepgens and pwmgens needs to be compiled into the firmware
so you would need a bitfile that has the PWMGen built in

Once its present you can enable 0 to all available instances of the hardware
modules in the hal file