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Weiss VM32 CNC Conversion

BTW. After much painful work and upgrading etc. I finally have the ability to look at the network via WiFi.
ST1TBF~L.PNG

Inside the Windows Network is this which is my workgroup name:
STBSX3~X.PNG
And inside that is my Windows network of PCs etc.
SAVLUI~A.PNG
And I can get at the drives of a specific machine.
SAGAJE~W.PNG

These screen shots were taken on the Path Pilot machine and using the insert multiple... button on this posting captured from the \\TORMACHPCNC\home\operator folder.

Next step will be to set up some more hardware like switches etc. so I can test motion commands. Then look into modifying the HAL and INI files to match my mill.
 
I did place an order for an 7192S 7i96S but I have a call in to Mesa. Waiting callback from them.
 
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I only have three limit switches. X0, Y0 and Z0. Masso uses soft limits for the max positive values.
Please tell me LCNC will do the same....
 
Talked to Peter at Mesa.
He said the 7i92s may work with Pathpilot but it may also throw some weird errors and require a bunch of hacking to get around. He knows for fact that the 7i96 does work as Tormach ordered those in the past.
Cancelled my order for the 7i96s and replaced it with a 7i96 instead.
$30USD cheaper to boot :)
 
BTW. After much painful work and upgrading etc. I finally have the ability to look at the network via WiFi.

That is exactly how I use my home network. Except all my devices are either windows or android.

My biggest bitch is adding a new device. For reasons I'll prolly never understand, they are never visible until after some grace period expires. Then suddenly, poof, there they are.

It's always a pain because I want to get them setup and communicating as part of my network not sulking alone in a corner.
 
Talked to Peter at Mesa.
He said the 7i92s may work with Pathpilot but it may also throw some weird errors and require a bunch of hacking to get around. He knows for fact that the 7i96 does work as Tormach ordered those in the past.
Cancelled my order for the 7i96s and replaced it with a 7i96 instead.
$30USD cheaper to boot :)
Hmmm. If your goal is a simple Path Pilot installation you are in for a ton of work. Here's the list of bit files for the various MESA units. Perhaps the tormach_mill3.bit file will work?

Perhaps contact Tormach and ask? In addition to the correct .bit file the hal file is also unique to the mesa board. The 5i25 and 7i92 appear to have the same I/O based on the comments in the files. There is no mention of the 7i96 (S or no S)
Peter told me that the 7i92T that he sells now has a much bigger FPGA which is why that bit file is pretty well twice the size.
1748045270248.png

So after a bit of screwing around, pulling out my Raspberry Pi LinuxCNC and moving the MESA over to it I finally go the mesaflash (had to get a new version) to read the MESA 7i92H as programmed from the Path Pilot Bitfile.

This shows which pins go where as far as the MESA as programmed by path pilot is concerned.

IO Connections for P2
DB25 pin# I/O Pri. func Sec. func Chan Sec. Pin func Sec. Pin Dir

1 0 IOPort StepGen 4 Step/Table1 (Out)
14 1 IOPort None
2 2 IOPort StepGen 0 Dir/Table2 (Out)
15 3 IOPort None
3 4 IOPort StepGen 0 Step/Table1 (Out)
16 5 IOPort None
4 6 IOPort StepGen 1 Dir/Table2 (Out)
17 7 IOPort PWM 0 PWM (Out)
5 8 IOPort StepGen 1 Step/Table1 (Out)
6 9 IOPort StepGen 2 Dir/Table2 (Out)
7 10 IOPort StepGen 2 Step/Table1 (Out)
8 11 IOPort StepGen 3 Dir/Table2 (Out)
9 12 IOPort StepGen 3 Step/Table1 (Out)
10 13 IOPort None
11 14 IOPort None
12 15 IOPort QCount 1 Quad-A (In)
13 16 IOPort QCount 0 Quad-IDX (In)
When you look at the hal file you will see this table edited to show what the pins actually do.
########################################################################
# 5i25
# Configuration pin-out:
#
# IO Connections for P3
# Mill Function Pin# I/O Pri. func Sec. func Chan Pin func Pin Dir
#
# Spindle Speed 1 0 IOPort StepGen 4 Step/Table1 (Out)
# Coolant 14 1 IOPort None (Out)
# X Direction 2 2 IOPort StepGen 0 Dir/Table2 (Out)
# Estop Reset 15 3 IOPort None (In)
# X Step 3 4 IOPort StepGen 0 Step/Table1 (Out)
# Spindle Dir 16 5 IOPort None (Out)
# Y Direction 4 6 IOPort StepGen 1 Dir/Table2 (Out)
# Charge Pump 17 7 IOPort PWM 0 PWM (Out)
# Y Step 5 8 IOPort StepGen 1 Step/Table1 (Out)
# Z Direction 6 9 IOPort StepGen 2 Dir/Table2 (Out)
# Z Step 7 10 IOPort StepGen 2 Step/Table1 (Out)
# A Direction 8 11 IOPort StepGen 3 Dir/Table2 (Out)
# A Step 9 12 IOPort StepGen 3 Step/Table1 (Out)
# X Limit 10 13 IOPort None (In)
# Y Limit 11 14 IOPort None (In)
# Z Limit 12 15 IOPort None (In)
# Probe In 13 16 IOPort None (In)
#
 

Attachments

Talked to Peter at Mesa.
He said the 7i92s may work with Pathpilot but it may also throw some weird errors and require a bunch of hacking to get around. He knows for fact that the 7i96 does work as Tormach ordered those in the past.
Cancelled my order for the 7i96s and replaced it with a 7i96 instead.
$30USD cheaper to boot :)
Hmmm. If your goal is a simple Path Pilot installation you are in for a ton of work. Here's the list of bit files for the various MESA units. Perhaps the tormach_mill3.bit file will work?

Perhaps contact Tormach and ask? In addition to the correct .bit file the hal file is also unique to the mesa board. The 5i25 and 7i92 appear to have the same I/O based on the comments in the files. There is no mention of the 7i96 (S or no S)
Peter told me that the 7i92T that he sells now has a much bigger FPGA which is why that bit file is pretty well twice the size.
View attachment 64929


If I don't get pathpilot working it's definitely not the end of the world
Well I intend on changing the ini and hal files to match my hardware setup. The first trial will be to tell it to use a different mesa .bit file that matches my hardware. If that works out then to change the HAL definitions to use my pins including the step/dir for the spindle.

That should be interesting since their user interface is tied to multiple speeds and PWM.
 
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