[phomann]

Hi all,
I’m looking into whether it is possible to use PathPilot to control a G540 4 axis stepper controller via the Mesa 7I92H Ethernet card?

If it is a possibility, can someone point me in the right direction. At this stage I have the Mesa card, a G540 based controller and a PC I can use to host PathPilot on.
I’m new to PathPilot and linuxCNC so may need some basic help. I do have a bit of Linux and Unix experience from a decade or so ago. ????

Cheers

Peter.

[vmax549]

Hi Peter, Long Time (;-) Yes that is doable . One of the 1100 models used that card so there is a setup all ready to use. I believe it was the 1100 S3 series. First you need to get the V2 install thumbdrive . It installs the Linux system and the Version 2 PathPilot . MAke sure the PC is a 64bit system. Then you plug in the 7i92 and see IF it will boot into PathPilot. IF it does you just need to install the G540 and setup the Parameters to match what you are using. IF not you may have to tweek the HAL file for things like Estop until you get the estop setup on the G540 .. I have a G540 with 4 steppers here on the bench right now.

I can help walk you through setup if you need help..

(:-) Vmax549 (;-) TP

.

[phomann]

Hi Terry,
It has been a while. Thanks for your offer.
A walk through the process would be good. I’ll send you an email tonight.

Cheers

Peter


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[phomann]

Hi all,

I should be ready in a week to start the Pathpilot installation journey. I've done quite a bit of searching trying to find threads on a suitable PC to use for Pathpilot. From what I can glean, a Gigabyte motherboard is probably the best bet.
Can anyone recommend a suitable NUC style PC that is suitable for this task?

I could get something like this but don't know it is suitable?


Gigabyte GB-BACE-3000 Brix

14nm Intel® Celeron N3000
500GB SSD
Ultra-compact PC design – 0.69L (56.1x 107.6 x 114.4mm)
1x 4Gb 1600 MHz RAM
Intel® IEEE 802.11 ac, Dual-Band Wi-Fi & Bluetooth 4.0 NGFF M.2 card
Supports dual displays via a VGA and an HDMI port
Gigabit LAN




Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers,

Peter

[kstrauss]

Unless you plan to use WiFi, you;ll probably want something with two gigE connections since insofar as I know you can't share the 7i92 connection with anything else. You'll want ample USB ports for connection to your keyboard, mouse, touch screen, pendant, maybe ATC, maybe a Tormach USBIO, maybe a Tormach SmartCool and...

[mountaindew]

Unless you plan to use WiFi, you;ll probably want something with two gigE connections since insofar as I know you can't share the 7i92 connection with anything else. You'll want ample USB ports for connection to your keyboard, mouse, touch screen, pendant, maybe ATC, maybe a Tormach USBIO, maybe a Tormach SmartCool and...

. Both wired or wireless network connections are available in usb port connector format. I added wired network /usb port connections to both my fan less brix units. Because wireless can be problematic in my garage. Also both brix units required a USB port expander. Mouse, touch screen, keyboard, and network plug into it. Control Puck requires one dedicated USB port on the brix computer. It will crash machine if plugged into an expander. Or It does on both my lathe and router. Other then that usb expanders work just fine. The one network port is of course used to communicate with the machine 7i92 board.

[kstrauss]

Of course. My point was that he probably needs more USB connections than one might initially think. BTW, which USB port expander have you found to be reliable?

[mountaindew]

Of course. My point was that he probably needs more USB connections than one might initially think. BTW, which USB port expander have you found to be reliable?

I think both of the usb expanders I have come with the brix computers! I will dig around to see if i still have the boxes they come in!
As for reliable that is another story! They cant have a device like a control puck plugged into them at all. The control puck well send your machine crashing or it wont even work at all. And you will get error messages from all the other devices being poled like keyboard, mouse, lcd touch screen flashing down the tab that displays machine errors. In short be careful what you plug into the expander and keep an eye on it!

[sagreen]

Hi all,

I should be ready in a week to start the Pathpilot installation journey. I've done quite a bit of searching trying to find threads on a suitable PC to use for Pathpilot. From what I can glean, a Gigabyte motherboard is probably the best bet.
Can anyone recommend a suitable NUC style PC that is suitable for this task?

I could get something like this but don't know it is suitable?


Gigabyte GB-BACE-3000 Brix

14nm Intel® Celeron N3000
500GB SSD
Ultra-compact PC design – 0.69L (56.1x 107.6 x 114.4mm)
1x 4Gb 1600 MHz RAM
Intel® IEEE 802.11 ac, Dual-Band Wi-Fi & Bluetooth 4.0 NGFF M.2 card
Supports dual displays via a VGA and an HDMI port
Gigabit LAN




Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers,

Peter

I've been using a couple of these for PathPilot conversions and they are working great.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Scott...

[phomann]

I've been using a couple of these for PathPilot conversions and they are working great.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Scott...

Hi Scott,

I’m using one of these.

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/HP-800-G...-/255462077125

I haven’t been able to get a WiFi dongle to be recognized by PathPilot yet.
Im not sure if I have to use the exact dongle that Tormach supplies. I can’t afford the US$100+ postage for a $17 dongle to Australia.


I’m also managed to get hold of a Dell Optiplex 7010 SFF i5 3570 QUAD 3.4GHz 4GB 500GB
It has 2 PCI slots so I can add an Ethernet card for a 2nd network connection.

Hopefully that will work.
Cheers
Peter


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[gerritv]

Peter, have you looked at this video? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuswrRHSCI8

I found that messing with Wifi directly on this configuration doesn't work, Tormach wrote a bunch of code to overcome limitations/issues in that version of Mint.

On the topic of adding ethernet cards, again due to Linux the way it is, you can't predict which card is eth0, and it is always eth0 that gets the 7i92 connection. No way to change that.

The spcific wifi usb I am succesfully using is: TL-WN725N TP-LINK (TL-WN725N) N150 150Mbps wireless N Nano USB adapter

[phomann]

Peter, have you looked at this video? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuswrRHSCI8

I found that messing with Wifi directly on this configuration doesn't work, Tormach wrote a bunch of code to overcome limitations/issues in that version of Mint.

On the topic of adding ethernet cards, again due to Linux the way it is, you can't predict which card is eth0, and it is always eth0 that gets the 7i92 connection. No way to change that.

The spcific wifi usb I am succesfully using is: TL-WN725N TP-LINK (TL-WN725N) N150 150Mbps wireless N Nano USB adapter

Hi
I did look at that video but it didn’t help as the dongle I had wasn’t being detected.
But what did was the dongle you suggested. I plugged it in and when I booted PathPilot, it asked me if I wanted to set it up. The unit I purchased was less than AU$10.00

TP-Link 150Mbps Wireless N Nano USB Adapter (TL-WN725N) https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B008IFX...ZR7AY1ZXKRKJ8F

Cheers

Peter


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[dazp1976]

Hi Scott,
I’m also managed to get hold of a Dell Optiplex 7010 SFF i5 3570 QUAD 3.4GHz 4GB 500GB
It has 2 PCI slots so I can add an Ethernet card for a 2nd network connection.

Hopefully that will work.
Cheers
Peter

If you just want the 2nd card to get Internet connection.
Wouldn't it be better just to get a pci WiFi card?.

It wouldn't interfere with lan connection to mesa then.

[phomann]

Thanks for the replies. All very helpful.
Do you think that the Brix with a Celeron N3000 will be sufficient?

Cheers,

Peter


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[mountaindew]

Thanks for the replies. All very helpful.
Do you think that the Brix with a Celeron N3000 will be sufficient?

Cheers,

Peter


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I would think so.
It's more of a function of will Path Pilot / linux install and run using the generic drivers the linux distro provides. If so your good to go!
Cpu power as very little to do with it. Boot time is about only effect I see. The brix units take about 2x longer to boot then an older control with a faster cpu!
Older control does have a half dozen fast usb ports built in so usb extender is not required and problems that one can generate!

[vmax549]

HI Peter here we use older DELL 7010 optiplex PCS with at least a series 5 CPU and 8GB mem with a NEW solid state hard drive. THey are ex corporate takeouts and run rock solid, no problem with drivers or ports as there are plenty of the USB. I also add in a decent low profile Network card to suppliment the onboard port. 1 for machine and 1 for the network. So far I have used at least 6 of them without a problem with setup or function with PP.

(;-) TP

[shred]

I strongly suggest putting at least one control device on a dedicated USB port separate from an extender because when USB sees too much noise on a port, it shuts that port down. If that port is the one your KB/mouse/touchscreen extender is on (and it usually is due to extra wire length), all you've got left for control is EStop. Good quality shielded USB cables help as well.

[phomann]

Hi,
So this is what I have coming.

HP EliteDesk 800 G3 Mini 35W Desktop
Intel Core i5 6500T Processor (6M Cache, 2.50 GHz) Up to 3.10 GHz with Intel Turbo Boost Technology
8 GB DDR4 RAM
128 GB SSD
Intel HD Graphics
2 x DisplayPort
Gigabit LAN
6 x USB 3.0 ports
1 x USB Type-C port
Onboard Audio
HP Power adapter
May have minor marks & scratches
Windows 10 pre-installed with digital license key embed in BIOS

It has 6 USB ports so I’m hoping that will suffice. It only has 1 Ethernet port as I was planning to use a USB WiFi adapter. I don’t imagine that I can add an additional Ethernet card into it

If it’s not suitable I do have another use for it. If so I’ll hunt down a Dell OptiPlex 7010 as suggested by TP.

I have two 4:3 15” touch screen monitors. One has a VGA port, the other a HDMI port. Hopefully the VGA will suffice. If not I’ll need a display port to HDMI adapter.

Cheers
Peter


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[phomann]

On another topic. With Mach3 I’m currently controlling my Spindle via Modbus. With the setup I can do semi rigid tapping using a compression/ tension tap holder.
My understanding is that PathPilot doesn’t support Modbus so I’ll need to use PWM for spindle speed control.

With that, presumably I’ll need to add an encoder to the spindle to synchronize the z-axis to the spindle speed?

Cheers
Peter


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[kstrauss]

PP doesn't insofar as I know support modbus. However, LinuxCNC does. Since you'll be running a modified version of PP it might be worth considering further changes. See LinuxCNC Documentation Wiki: VFD Modbus for a little about modbus and LinuxCNC.

Note that you can use a T/C tapping head with PP.