Mesa - 7i96S stepper channels

@PCW 
Peter is it possible to run additional stepper channels on the P1 port of the 7i96S?  At most two more.

I would venture a firm guess at yes you can, probably would need firmware flash, something like 7i96S_7i76 if such thing exists, but first, what does mesaflash return?

The port is available and programmed for general IO but the standard firmware only allows for five stepper gens.

I don't have the Xilinx development software anymore otherwise I would have tried.

Yes, several standard 7I96S configurations have additional step/dir channels
for example:

7i96s_5abobd.bin

Works with the standard "Mach 5 Axis BOB" to add 5 more step/dir channels

In addition these binfiles work with various Mesa daughtercards and add more step/dir channels:

7i96s_7i76d.bin
7i96s_7i78d.bin
7i96s_7i85sd.bin
7i96s_7i85dsdi.bin


 

I loaded the 7i96s_5abobd.bin file but I don't get the correct firmware option on PncConf for that.

Yes, you would need to make a working 7I96S configuration
and manually add the additional  joints/axis

(mainly a copy/paste/rename exercise)

Ah thanks Peter. I will do than.
I suppose I should use the encoder on P1 then for Ohmic sensing with the THAD2 as I am already using the encoder on TB2/3 for the Plasma Arc Voltage with another THAD2?

Probably best to add the 5ABOB P1 option to a 7I96S plasma config
so you have the three TB2 RS-422 encoder inputs. I can probably do
this in the next day or so.
 

7i96s config with 5ABOB on P1 and 3 "A" only encoders
on TB2

 

Awesome Peter. Thanks a lot. I will test tomorrow