PathPilot hardware recommendations?

Hey Lcvette,

With GREAT help from generous strangers, my brothers, and local friends with virtual masters degrees in everything tech, I've installed LinuxCNC 2.7 onto Mint, wired the Mesa 7i76e, and used PNCconf to configure it all and everything seems to be working fine... so I'm very happy. I'm still learning the differences of how LinuxCnc does things compared to Mach3, but its coming along. I have yet to work on mounting hardware for theMarathon inverter motor and installing the Durapulse VFD. Currently I'm using the Delta VFD with the inverter motor that came with the mill from the factory. I believe the wiring for both VFD's is very similar if not identical ( sans the encoder ). Its been a long haul of many late nights but in the end its well worth it.

Something that may help you with your wiring, perhaps, is this wiring diagram for the 7i76e that my brother made for me to use. I couldn't find the model you noted in your reply ( 6i25e doesn't pop up when doing a search ). I intend to create a thread about what I've learned ( from a noobs perspective ) regarding the wiring of the 7i76e. Although I'm not sure, I assume that the 7i76's wiring is similar to the other Mesa products wiring, or is that wishful thinking ? anyway...

I need a little time now before I tackle PathPilot... the above was a little more stressful than I'd like to admit and impossible without the help of my brother, PCW, and also cncnoob1976's tutorial and help :

forum.linuxcnc.org/9-installing-linuxcnc...-or-deb?limitstart=0

note that KA1 and KA2 are two OMRON relays.



Cheers,

Jake

cut2cut wrote:

Hey Lcvette,

With GREAT help from generous strangers, my brothers, and local friends with virtual masters degrees in everything tech, I've installed LinuxCNC 2.7 onto Mint, wired the Mesa 7i76e, and used PNCconf to configure it all and everything seems to be working fine... so I'm very happy. I'm still learning the differences of how LinuxCnc does things compared to Mach3, but its coming along. I have yet to work on mounting hardware for theMarathon inverter motor and installing the Durapulse VFD. Currently I'm using the Delta VFD with the inverter motor that came with the mill from the factory. I believe the wiring for both VFD's is very similar if not identical ( sans the encoder ). Its been a long haul of many late nights but in the end its well worth it.

Something that may help you with your wiring, perhaps, is this wiring diagram for the 7i76e that my brother made for me to use. I couldn't find the model you noted in your reply ( 6i25e doesn't pop up when doing a search ). I intend to create a thread about what I've learned ( from a noobs perspective ) regarding the wiring of the 7i76e. Although I'm not sure, I assume that the 7i76's wiring is similar to the other Mesa products wiring, or is that wishful thinking ? anyway...

I need a little time now before I tackle PathPilot... the above was a little more stressful than I'd like to admit and impossible without the help of my brother, PCW, and also cncnoob1976's tutorial and help :

forum.linuxcnc.org/9-installing-linuxcnc...-or-deb?limitstart=0

note that KA1 and KA2 are two OMRON relays.

Cheers,

Jake

OK... Just read the link you supplied....... Think I'm going masso, this looks pretty intensive... Probably should have done my homework a bit more but had someone who was going to help and now they are Mia... Being completely new to Linux os and LinuxCNC, just doesn't look like a good fit for me for this build anymore.. Yikes this is going to sting financially...

My brother and I looked at the Masso, its very appealing and my brother is still considering it. One thing, however, that needs to be answered, is : Does the Masso have enough headroom to handle many axis simultaneously ? It may, but imho, its one thing to find out before making the large investment.

PathPilot still looks like a worthwhile goal imho. It looks like the best interface of them all but if you want to get it all up and running overnight, the Masso looks like the ticket.

If you decide to try install linuxcnc onto Mint, and you are willing to use the command line / terminal it isn't so bad. I just ran into an issue with dependencies, which required the most "hand holding." Luckily I got some great help that I might be able to pass it along, if there aren't too many curve balls !

Cheers,

Jake

cut2cut wrote:

My brother and I looked at the Masso, its very appealing and my brother is still considering it. One thing, however, that needs to be answered, is : Does the Masso have enough headroom to handle many axis simultaneously ? It may, but imho, its one thing to find out before making the large investment.

PathPilot still looks like a worthwhile goal imho. It looks like the best interface of them all but if you want to get it all up and running overnight, the Masso looks like the ticket.

If you decide to try install linuxcnc onto Mint, and you are willing to use the command line / terminal it isn't so bad. I just ran into an issue with dependencies, which required the most "hand holding." Luckily I got some great help that I might be able to pass it along, if there aren't too many curve balls !

Cheers,

Jake

I just sent a message to masso, had a few questions. For my lathe build I don't think there will be an axis issue, but that is a good width question.

Due to a screw up on my part I now own a $250 encoder Linux CNC won't work with, or at least the mesa cards.. so I'm going to have to shell out more cash for that, however it appears it is the correct encoder for for the masso. Hmph...Lol. I'm going to get that situation sorted before deciding one way or the other. In the interim I could use mach3 to get by fairly easily with out Spindle feedback of course so no threading. But could make the parts I need currently without issue.

I not 100% what curve balls would pop up, as I literally haven't looked into LinuxCNC with Mesa cards deep enough to know if I got anything else that would be problematic. It's a stepper build so shouldn't be anymore hardware issues in that regard. The computer I purchased is one approved by the person who was going to help me, but as mentioned they have since gone MIA with no reply recently. Hoping it's a vacation or something but not sure I want to wait a see.

I'm working on a final schematic for my cabinet and once I have that done I will post it up for review, if it checks out and gets the green light, I will make the final connections and at least give Linux a go... In so deep now it's silly not too.

Will post schematics this week hopefully by Tuesday evening. Guess that's a good next step.

I appreciate your help!

Chris

Now CNCnoob has put his mighty tutorial together, you can install Linux Mint, compile the kernel and compile LinuxCNC from source in an evening.

Like you, I did not want to tackle it but now I understand the process, it is really pretty simple. You can do it!

andypugh wrote:

Lcvette wrote:

Due to a screw up on my part I now own a $250 encoder Linux CNC won't work with, or at least the mesa cards..

Which encoder is this? LinuxCNC has pretty extensive encoder support.

Andy,

It is an omron complementary type encoder with only 5 wires, link below:

Omron encoder specifications

I was not not looking closely enough at that 7i76's manual and was going by the recommendation of using a 24v system voltage to reduce the possibilities of noise when I purchased the encoder... Didn't realize that it wouldn't extend to the encoder so I specifically sought out this encoder for its 12-24v voltage input when a line driver type 5v, 8 wire type was what it appears I was needing instead???? Ultimately my own mistake/misunderstanding, and it hurts..Lol.

I've been given some research from another thread to look at to maybe use a voltage divider to make that part work, however there was a statement made that scared me saying if it was done incorrectly I could fry my hardware. Given my level of electronics inexperience there, it's a bit frightening. I also haven't received an answer regarding the 5 wire complementary type compatibility vs the 8 wire line driver type, so that's still looming.

I'm not a programmer, and I was wanting the pathpilot interface because it seemed to be laid out most similarly to MachSTDMill which is what I've used for the last 6 years and have grown fond and comfortable with for its easy to use setup and probing/ tooling benefits. But now that seems like such an impossible undertaking without contact with my pro helper that I'm not sure I would be able too make that a reality and if I did, not sure even then I would understand everything enough to maintain it properly without being reliant on someone else for assistance. And don't get me wrong this forum is a great help but sometimes the answers are a bit slow to come and many of the threads I've followed seem to just drop off without resolutions which makes it very difficult to get answers. That is common place with any forum and if it were just hobby use it wood not scare me as much, but I use my machines for small business as well and that could become problematic. I would gladly pay for support but I think the nature of the open source community isn't so interested in a situation like that? I know with the masso that there is the creator available for support in upfront planning and customization and from my position today that is certainly very appealing. However, i also purchased a VMC based on pathpilot use and integration so that is motivation to stay since masso won't support the drives and spindle on that machine. Feel stuck..

But it's Sunday... And I'm pinning this issue for later tonight... Time to go for a ride, the bike is calling my name..lol

Very hardware specific questions like which encoder type is best to use with a 7I76/7I76E should really be asked of the manufacturer, not a general forum, That said, is is possible to use 12/24V encoders with the 7I76/7I76e but you must use a voltage divider to lower the signal levels to ~5V.

There are two reasons for this, one, the 7I76/7I76e encoder inputs have an absolute maximum input limit of 13V
so even 12V signal would be too close to the limit. The other issue is that when set for single ended mode, the 7I76/7I76E encoder inputs have a 1.65V threshold which is lower than the minimum 12/24V encoder output voltage, so even if a direct connection worked, it would have very poor noise immunity.

If I were you and want to continue with LinuxCNC, I would see if you can swap the encoder for a differential output encoder. If not , you can use the encoder with voltage dividers on its outputs, for example a ~ divide by
3 will give you a decent 4V signal and about a 5V threshold referred to the 12V encoder signal:

12V encoder signal A --> 680 Ohm --> 7I76 encoder input A--> 330 Ohm -->GND
(repeat for B,Z)

tommylight wrote:

There is another thread with the same topic, already answered to the extent possible as mentioned above.
There are also diagrams for the encoder and in them the Z channel does not look like index.
Regards,
Tom.

I added some information after some digging to the other thread that now has me a bit confused. maybe you can take a peak and let me know if any of it makes sense?

Would be greatly appreciated!

Link to other thread:

Encoder Thread in Hardware/Driver Section