Servo Driver Plasma Retrofit

Manual for this machine is online:

veracitytechs.com/docs/MicroEDGE%20Pro%2...018%20Feb%202016.pdf

Thank you, the wiring is making much more sense and less challenging now.  

Im using linuxcnc_2.9.4-amd64.hybrid.iso that I downloaded here.  It installed qtplasmac 2.9.  Is it recommended to install 2.10?

What is the easiest way to configure a 7i97t and a couple thcad2 for plasma?  I dont see 7i97t as an option in pncconf and in mesact there isnt an option for qtplasmac.

I asked chatgpt to create a quick ini for qtplasmac and a 7i97t and it came up with this pretty quick:
 

I'm afraid ChatGPT will just be a time-sink here.

I suspect the easiest current path would be to make a pncconf  QTPlasmac/THCAD configuration
for a 7I95T (This requires updating to the very latest LinuxCNC master as 7I95T support was just added
about 1 week ago) This configuration will match as far as encoders, inputs, and outputs go (though will show
more inputs than the 7I97T has, so just don't use any inputs beyond input 15)

When creating the 7I95T configuration, setup step/dir axis.  and encoder feedback. This will create the
basic PID loop structure  required for changing over to the 7I97T PWM/analog axis configuration.

When this is done, you will have a step/dir configuration for a 7I95T and QTPlasmac/THCAD.
Next you will need to change the card name in the ini file to "7i97".

then the created hal file will need to be edited to change the PID feedback input from stepgen
position to encoder position and the PID output from stepgen velocity to PWM value.

There are also enables and some PWM setup needed. I can help with these when you get a basic
hal file setup. 

You can use this example of basic 7I97/7I97T PWM hal file setup:

 



 

I contributed the support for the 7i95t in pncconf. I don't have any 7i97s to try but if there is a similar card already supported in pncconf I could add support for it...I'm just not sure if it supports analog servos though.

I also did some initial work to add qtplasmac support to mesact but there are some fairly major internal assumptions about encoder 0 going to drive 0, etc. and I didn't want to make backwards compatible breaking changes without hearing from JT.

Thanks Tommy. The attached files will support the 7i97t.  I created a config successfully but I don't have a card to test with so maybe the OP or someone can give it a try and let me know if it works.  I can send in a pull request if it's good.   This will only work with 2.10 master.

After updating to latest master just copy the attached private_data.py file to /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pncconf/ and the pncconf.py to /usr/bin/pncconf

I would suggest making a backup copies of the original files first just in case.