#linuxcnc Logs
Apr 30 2025
#linuxcnc Calendar
12:59 AM -!- #linuxcnc mode set to +v by ChanServ
01:14 AM -!- #linuxcnc mode set to +v by ChanServ
02:32 AM lcnc-relay: <meisterdippel@> moin
03:38 AM -!- #linuxcnc mode set to +v by ChanServ
03:38 AM -!- #linuxcnc mode set to +v by ChanServ
04:20 AM lcnc-relay: <travis_farmer@> Morning
04:44 AM Tom_L: morning
06:56 AM rdtsc-w: morning, meisterdippel - any progress with the SPI encoder?
07:05 AM JT-Cave: https://ibb.co/fzHFYMPN
07:07 AM lcnc-relay: <meisterdippel@> rdtsc-w: spi-encoder ?
07:11 AM rdtsc-w: 2025.04.20 04:37 AM lcnc-relay: <meisterdippel@> odrive drives me cracy, getting 'rotation losts', this fcking spi encoder
07:22 AM lcnc-relay: <meisterdippel@> ahh, ok, works now 🙂
07:23 AM lcnc-relay: <meisterdippel@> thought you meant something in riocore, but i have no spi encoder there
07:26 AM JT-Cave: https://pasteboard.co/dxvul0hqncOs.png
07:29 AM rdtsc-w: was it just SPI speed, noise, or the phase of the moon? :)
07:34 AM lcnc-relay: <meisterdippel@> a little bit of everything
07:35 AM lcnc-relay: <meisterdippel@> i think it has a lot to do with the utilization of the spu and because it is running an RTOS
07:35 AM lcnc-relay: <meisterdippel@> cpu
07:51 AM lcnc-relay: <meisterdippel@> @irc_liberachat_jt-cave:jauriarts.org: I think the blue is terrible
07:55 AM -!- #linuxcnc mode set to +v by ChanServ
08:00 AM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> lol - never run centroid?
08:01 AM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> https://shopcentroidcnc.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/mill_cnc12_pro_screen_1920.png
08:01 AM JT-Cave: Pass down de bottle when he git dry,
08:01 AM JT-Cave: And bresh away de blue tail fly.
08:01 AM JT-Cave: Jim crack corn I don't care,
08:03 AM Deejay: hi
08:03 AM rdtsc-w: morning Deejay :)
08:04 AM Deejay: heya
08:08 AM JT-Cave: https://pasteboard.co/pykZbLqrpB0r.png
08:08 AM JT-Cave: improved radio button indicator
08:31 AM JT-Cave: https://pasteboard.co/NgL1xUOuDbA2.png
09:29 AM roycroft: hi folks
09:30 AM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> Did you have to fly to your bosses new location soon?
09:30 AM * roycroft wants to try flexgui, but needs to bring his machine back to life first
09:35 AM roycroft: i am thinking my next approach might be to ditch the cnc router part and try to make a stand-alone stepper motor and a gecko driver work with the rpi-based linuxcnc install
09:35 AM roycroft: i think the problem is on the linuxcnc side, not the router hardware side, but that test should verify what is the problem
09:36 AM roycroft: it seems that even if the driver or motor were bad/misconfigured i'd see pulses in halshow when attempting to jog
09:43 AM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> through mesa?
09:43 AM roycroft: yes
09:44 AM roycroft: halshow or halscope
09:44 AM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> hmm.
09:46 AM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> what pins would you be looking at? I don't think you have access to the actual step pulse pins on mesa.. (through hal) unless something has changed)
09:48 AM roycroft: i should have them
09:48 AM roycroft: from what we were looking at yesterday
09:48 AM roycroft: roycroft.us/Halshow.mov
09:49 AM roycroft: i was off by one pin there - i should have monitored pins 17 and 18, not 16 and 17
09:51 AM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> what was causing 16 to flash?
09:52 AM roycroft: we don't know, as it's not connected to anything
09:52 AM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> anyway - confused. Is the gpio pin related to the step output pin?
09:52 AM roycroft: that is what has been suggested to me
09:52 AM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> interesting.
09:52 AM roycroft: i need to get ssh to the rpi working again
09:52 AM roycroft: i can provide more information when id o
09:53 AM roycroft: and i do not know why it's not working, but i suspect something like fail2ban on the rpi or something with my firewall or router
09:53 AM roycroft: i can ping the pi, but i can't ssh to or from it, and sshd is running on the rpi
09:57 AM roycroft: that ssh behavior started monday evening
09:57 AM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> Lol - I have the works vpn setup so that when you are dialed in - you are using works internet - it basically isolated your computer from your home network. that gets me sometimes when I an dialed into work and try to access something on my home network and it doesn't exist.
09:59 AM roycroft: i generally configure vpns that way
09:59 AM roycroft: but that's not the issue here at all
11:36 AM JT-Cave: nap time here
11:39 AM Tom_L: lunch first
11:49 AM rdtsc-w: on the host system, move everything in .ssh to .ssh/temp... it's probably a key file
11:51 AM rdtsc-w: by .ssh I mean /home/you/.ssh ... I kept getting some benign error and that fixed it
11:52 AM roycroft: are you talking to me, rdtsc-w?
11:56 AM Tom_L: roycroft, make any headway?
11:56 AM roycroft: no
11:56 AM roycroft: no time
11:57 AM roycroft: i'm thinking about disconnecting the router and testing with a gecko drive and a bench stepper motor - devices that i have made work in the past
11:57 AM roycroft: i need to know whether it's on the router side or the linucnc/mesa side
11:58 AM Tom_L: yeah
11:58 AM roycroft: but when i have a little time i need to get ssh working to the rpi again
11:58 AM roycroft: that's the next thing to do, and i won't be able to troubleshoot that until probably this afternoon
11:58 AM * roycroft is trying to renumber a network with zero downtime right now
12:02 PM rdtsc-w: yes roycroft - issue is likely with host computer being unable to connect with rpi, not the other way around
12:03 PM rdtsc-w: in the good ol' days, rpi and ssh just worked... not no more
12:05 PM roycroft: that's actually not it
12:05 PM roycroft: i get connecion refused on the rpi
12:05 PM roycroft: even with nc
12:06 PM roycroft: i need to run tcdump on the rpi to see if it'se even seeing the conection attempts
12:07 PM Tom_L: you have ssh keys generated and copied?
12:07 PM Tom_L: chmod them and their folder?
12:11 PM roycroft: it worked until i brought up the ethernet port for the mesa board
12:11 PM roycroft: ssh keys do not come into play - i'm not getting to the key exchange part
12:11 PM lcnc-relay: <travis_farmer@> there is a setting in the network config somewhere, i had to set, to tell linux to only use the ethernet connection for hosts in it's subnet
12:12 PM Tom_L: ssh has to be enabled in the pi config
12:12 PM lcnc-relay: <travis_farmer@> that too
12:13 PM roycroft: it is
12:13 PM Tom_L: anyway, i have some notes if you need/want them later
12:13 PM roycroft: i'm quite certain it's a very simple fix
12:13 PM roycroft: i just haven't had time to check it
12:13 PM Tom_L: tell yer boss yer busy
12:13 PM roycroft: i suspect sshd is not listening on the wifi address on port 22
12:13 PM rdtsc-w: tell him cat's on fire
12:13 PM lcnc-relay: <travis_farmer@> LMAO
12:16 PM roycroft: that would have the opposite effect
12:16 PM roycroft: he's kind of a christine noem/mitt romney type
12:24 PM roycroft: i need to get up and walk about for a bit
12:25 PM roycroft: good time to walk to the studio and beat the rpi into ssh submission
12:30 PM roycroft: weird
12:31 PM roycroft: sshd was running, listening on port 22 on the wifi ip address, and the config looked fine
12:31 PM roycroft: i sent it sighup and now i can ssh
12:31 PM roycroft: i changed nothing
12:32 PM roycroft: so anyway
12:32 PM roycroft: IO Connections for TB1/TB2 -> 7I96_1
12:32 PM roycroft: Pin# I/O Pri. func Sec. func Chan Sec. Pin func Sec. Pin Dir
12:32 PM roycroft: TB1-2,3 17 IOPort StepGen 0 Step/Table1 (Out)
12:32 PM roycroft: TB1-4,5 18 IOPort StepGen 0 Dir/Table2 (Out)
12:33 PM roycroft: that's what i'm dealing with
12:33 PM roycroft: TB3-23,24 16 IOPort SSR 0 Out-05 (Out)
12:33 PM roycroft: that's what was flashing, and there is nothing connecte to that
12:33 PM roycroft: so very strange
12:34 PM roycroft: i'll work on the gecko drive/bench motor this afternoon
12:35 PM rdtsc-w: perhaps run mesaflash and ensure it can be seen ok, and isn't flashed with some weird firmware
12:35 PM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> what does your hal file look like?
12:39 PM roycroft: roycroft.us/main.hal.txt
12:46 PM roycroft: my io.hal is empty
12:46 PM roycroft: i do not know if that's significant or not
12:47 PM roycroft: well, it's not "empty"
12:47 PM roycroft: it was auto-generated by mesact, and has some comments in it, but no actual values
12:59 PM Tom_L: he makes a few default files that will get filled in later
12:59 PM Tom_L: io.hal for things like coolant, limits etc
01:01 PM Tom_L: so if you filled in any of those in mesact it wouldn't be empty
01:06 PM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> the hal file looks plausable..
01:06 PM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> are the stepper drives being enabled? do they need to be enabled?
01:10 PM JT-MShop: main.hal contains all the motion stuff and possibly estop
01:11 PM JT-MShop: io.hal is for inputs and outputs only
01:11 PM JT-MShop: postgui.hal is for you to add hal that needs to wait for the gui to start
01:12 PM -!- #linuxcnc mode set to +v by ChanServ
01:12 PM roycroft: the drive should be enabled
01:13 PM roycroft: the rpi is refusing ssh connections again
01:13 PM roycroft: grr
01:13 PM roycroft: it must be going to sleep - if i ping it i can then ssh to it again
01:13 PM roycroft: i'll have to fix that
01:18 PM JT-Shop: https://gnipsel.com/linuxcnc/debian-11-fix.html
01:18 PM JT-Shop: I found for debian the only way to stop it from sleeping is to add a startup app with xset -dpms s off s noblank s 0 0 s noexpose
01:19 PM roycroft: thanks
01:20 PM roycroft: i'm looking at an example hal file for a parport at https://www.linuxcnc.org/docs/html/config/stepper.html
01:20 PM roycroft: it shows lines like this:
01:20 PM roycroft: net Xstep => parport.0.pin-03-out
01:20 PM roycroft: net Xdir => parport.0.pin-02-out
01:20 PM roycroft: i don't see any xstep or xdir assignments in my hal file
01:22 PM roycroft: i'd think i'd see somethin like net Xstep => hm2_7i96.0.gpio.18.in_not
01:28 PM roycroft: i have x forwarding working now, so i can run linuxcnc from the rpi in my office
01:29 PM roycroft: that should help a lot while i'm debugging this
01:30 PM roycroft: but right now it's time to haul my hot tub to the dump
01:30 PM roycroft: so i'll work on the router again this afternoon
01:31 PM roycroft: and i'm thinking i might want to review the hal documentation some more before doing so, as it's kind of confusing
01:31 PM JT-Cave: the gpio does not run the stepper driver
01:32 PM JT-Cave: I just created a config and connected a 7i96 and watched joint.0.pos-cmd and joint.0.pos-fb
01:32 PM roycroft: oh
01:33 PM roycroft: i was going off a conversation with tom_l yesterday, and i thought he said that the 7i96 pins were mapped to gpio
01:33 PM roycroft: IO Connections for TB1/TB2 -> 7I96_1
01:33 PM roycroft: Pin# I/O Pri. func Sec. func Chan Sec. Pin func Sec. Pin Dir
01:33 PM roycroft: TB1-2,3 17 IOPort StepGen 0 Step/Table1 (Out)
01:33 PM roycroft: TB1-4,5 18 IOPort StepGen 0 Dir/Table2 (Out)
01:33 PM roycroft: we were doing the monitoring based on that
01:34 PM JT-Cave: i/o pins will just show on and off so not sure what you might see
01:35 PM roycroft: ok
01:35 PM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> lol - I read it as halui my hot tub to the dump..
01:35 PM roycroft: i have to go now, but when i can check this afternoon i'll monitor joint.0.pos-cmd and pos-fb next
01:35 PM roycroft: it's a hot tub kit at this point, as it's cut up into small chunks
01:35 PM JT-Cave: also monitor the stepgen pins
01:36 PM roycroft: anyway, it is time for it to go, as a friend is going to help me load my old sofa onto the pickup tomorrow and haul that off to the dump
01:36 PM roycroft: ciaoder
01:52 PM Tom_L: roycroft, the pins can have dual functions. gpio or say stepgen. i wasn't sure you could see the stepgen signal with the pin or not
01:53 PM Tom_L: if they are not assigned a function, they default to GPIO
02:46 PM roycroft: my hot tub is gone!
02:47 PM roycroft: some of the pieces were testing my lifting allowance, but it all went smoothly and there is no pain or perceived strain
02:47 PM roycroft: since the hot tub loading was the incident that caused my fall, psychologically it's really great to not have to see it any more
02:48 PM xxcoder: nice
02:48 PM roycroft: now back to work
02:48 PM roycroft: i hope to have a half hour to work on the cnc router this afternoon, but i do have to go to town today
02:48 PM roycroft: i really want that machine to be moving soon
02:50 PM xxcoder: I hope too lol
02:55 PM roycroft: my impression, based on recent experience and my recollection of past experience, is that hal is very logical and straightforward, but has a steep initial learning curve
02:55 PM roycroft: and i think i'm still on the upside of the curve
02:57 PM JT-Shop: hal is so simple it's confusing at first
02:58 PM JT-Shop: but fortunately you don't need to understand hal when you use mesact
03:05 PM roycroft: that may not be the case here, as i used mesact and things are not working
03:06 PM roycroft: and i'm not blaming mesact
03:06 PM roycroft: all i know is that i am currently unable to make the stepper motor move
03:06 PM roycroft: why i cannot is still unknown
03:07 PM Tom_L: were you able to home the cnc?
03:07 PM Tom_L: i suppose you can jog without homing though
03:07 PM roycroft: i pressed the home button and it said it was homed
03:07 PM roycroft: but i could not jog to where i wanted to set home
03:08 PM roycroft: when i jog attempt, the axis gui window shows the spindle moving along the x axis
03:08 PM roycroft: so it thinks it's moving
03:08 PM Tom_L: that's not so uncommon
03:09 PM roycroft: now that jt has told me what pins to monitor i'll go power up the mesa board and give it quick go just to see if halshow thinks it's pulsing
03:09 PM roycroft: brb
03:09 PM Tom_L: things need enabled
03:09 PM Tom_L: yeah try that
03:11 PM roycroft: grr
03:11 PM roycroft: it's refusing ssh connections again
03:11 PM JT-Cave: is the stepper powered up?
03:11 PM roycroft: yes
03:12 PM roycroft: i read 24v on the driver high voltage in
03:12 PM JT-Cave: ie. when you apply power the stepper is hard or impossible to turn?
03:14 PM JT-Cave: if when power is supplied the stepper turns easy then the drive is not "ON"
03:14 PM JT-Cave: most stepper drivers have a "disable" input not an "enable" input
03:17 PM rdtsc-w: IIRC my Gecko G251x has a Disable input (they call it an Enable input, close that to ground to disable the drive, otherwise enabled), and wanted active-high signals, while mesa defaults to active-low - yours might be similar.
03:18 PM Tom_L: either way you call it, we know what it's there for
03:18 PM rdtsc-w: well it's a little non-intuitive that unconnected, the enable is enabled... and only shorting it to ground is the drive disabled.
03:19 PM JT-Shop: yup and servo drives usually have an enable input
03:20 PM rdtsc-w: best to check the drive manual / datasheet just to make sure
03:20 PM roycroft: so on the rpi console display, halshow is garbled, but it appears to be getting values on the pos-cmd and pos-fb signals when i try to jog
03:21 PM roycroft: and now x forwarding is not working to the rpi, while it worked earlier, so i can't test it on my imac
03:22 PM roycroft: the drive does not seem to turn at all
03:22 PM JT-Shop: did you test if the drive is on and holding the stepper in position?
03:22 PM roycroft: i cannot move the motor along the x axis no matter how hard i push it
03:22 PM roycroft: with or without power
03:22 PM JT-Shop: hmm can you turn the stepper motor
03:22 PM xxcoder: thats odd. I could easily turn it when it was off, by nut on front
03:23 PM roycroft: it's connected to the machine with a direct couple
03:23 PM xxcoder: or side of gantry
03:23 PM roycroft: i thought that pushing the z along the x axis would move the screw which would move the motor
03:24 PM roycroft: anyway, i have no more time for this right now - i need to get back to my network migration project
03:33 PM JT-Shop: active high/low doesn't make any difference when the step and space time is the same like the tb6600
03:36 PM rdtsc-w: may be that the screw gearing makes moving the axis by hand near impossible - should be able to turn the motor by hand though when powered off.
03:36 PM Tom_L: sounds like he was pushing the axis instead of turning the shaft
03:36 PM roycroft: after work, if i have the time, i'll pull a new stepper from its box and hook it up to the tb6600
03:37 PM roycroft: with ball screws, pushing the ball nut along the axis usually turns the shaft
03:37 PM roycroft: in my limited experience, at least
03:37 PM roycroft: but a free-standing stepper motor will help
03:37 PM Tom_L: try turning the shaft under power and see if the stepper resists
03:37 PM roycroft: it will eliminate the machine itself completely for testing
03:57 PM roycroft: time to get up for a bit - i'll go pull the motor out and see if i can get it hooked up really quick
05:11 PM roycroft: i'm going to see if i can move the futon mattress from my living room to my pickup so my friend does not have to drive up here tomorrow just for that
05:12 PM roycroft: it's much heavier than i'm allowed to lift, but i think i can drag it and leverage it up onto the pickup
05:12 PM JT-Shop: can you cut it up?
05:22 PM JT-Shop: if you're not sure of which pair of wires are a coil on the stepper it's easy to determine which pair of wires is a coil
05:23 PM JT-Shop: connect any two wires together and turn the stepper, if it turns freely those two go to different coils, if it cogs when turning that pair is a coil and the other pair is the other coil
05:23 PM xxcoder: yep just pair 2 wires together and try to rotate it. you would feel resistance if it is same pair
05:23 PM xxcoder: or multimeter as usual
05:24 PM JT-Shop: next step is with the stepper connected to the driver and the driver powered up it should be very hard to turn the stepper shaft
05:24 PM JT-Shop: if it is easy the drive is not on
05:25 PM JT-Shop: the next step is to diagnose the step and direction inputs to the drive
05:26 PM JT-Shop: if you change direction and the stepper moves one step then step and direction is swapped
05:27 PM lcnc-relay: <ccatlett1984@> I need to fix my 7c80 config, never got the steppers moving (betting its something silly)
05:27 PM lcnc-relay: <ccatlett1984@> been busy with life, put it on the back burner
05:28 PM JT-Shop: yup sometimes you get busy with life and have to put fun stuff on hold
05:31 PM xxcoder: if tt6600s is dead I wonder why, it was working perfectly before I packed it to move
05:33 PM lcnc-relay: <ccatlett1984@> https://www.splitbrain.org/blog/2025-04/27-pinout_leaf_generator This is neat
05:35 PM roycroft: it is easy
05:35 PM JT-Shop: moving the futon?
05:36 PM roycroft: to move the motor shaft with the motor allegedly powered up
05:36 PM roycroft: xxcoder: no indicator that the driver is dead yet
05:36 PM JT-Shop: are you sure which pair of wires are a coil?
05:36 PM roycroft: the green light comes on and i've not done enough testing to determine what the problem is
05:36 PM roycroft: yes
05:36 PM roycroft: i both have the motor specs, and i've done the twist the wires together test
05:36 PM roycroft: anyway, the futon is on the pickup
05:37 PM JT-Shop: ok, so the drive is the suspect
05:37 PM roycroft: and that was definitely more than i'm allowed to do, but no pain, so i think i'm ok
05:37 PM roycroft: or the drive to mesa wiring
05:37 PM roycroft: but i need to go the transfer station and get rid of the futon now, then i have to go to town
05:37 PM roycroft: i'll try to do some more troubleshooting tonight
05:38 PM JT-Shop: just connect power and stepper to the drive and see if the stepper is hard to turn
05:38 PM roycroft: ok, i'll do that next, when i can
05:38 PM roycroft: thanks
05:38 PM JT-Shop: yw
05:38 PM roycroft: and those drives are $11 on ebay, so even i it's dead it's no big deal
05:39 PM JT-Shop: which drive is it?
05:41 PM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> well - it still looks like a mess... but.. I am starting to see real space...
05:41 PM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> https://photos.app.goo.gl/GJKkNWBZkUtTGbi29
05:41 PM xxcoder: tb6600s. isnt there better options now?
05:41 PM xxcoder: wow you can see floor now
05:42 PM xxcoder: what is those massive blue machines? I see controls, when I thought it was just a pole
05:43 PM xxcoder: or maybe its just a pole with some machine in front of it
05:43 PM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> right - they are poles holding up the overhead crane
05:44 PM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> I think they were dredging tubes - dad got from his uncle that used to have a dredging company in this area years and years ago
05:46 PM xxcoder: thas cool. it'll be very nice shop some time
05:56 PM JT-Shop: I have a lot of crap to get rid of but not that much
05:57 PM Unterhausen: I have 5 gallons of skunkworks blue paint
06:16 PM roycroft: my kittens are in full freakout mode now
06:16 PM roycroft: the futon mattress is gone
06:16 PM roycroft: tomorrow the futon frame will be gone
06:16 PM roycroft: cats don't handle change well
06:17 PM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> it is probably ford blue.. I think dad painted everything that color
06:18 PM Tom_L: or industrial blue.. seems pretty close to the color i put on the mill
06:19 PM Tom_L: http://tom-itx.no-ip.biz:443/~webpage/cnc/Mill_Steel/Paint/Paint3.jpg
06:19 PM Tom_L: either that or i got a quart from ya too
06:22 PM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> lol
06:23 PM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> side effect of organizing/cleaning..
06:23 PM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> https://photos.app.goo.gl/hjE5WHwq87a1Ukwz8
06:26 PM Tom_L: wow
06:29 PM roycroft: i'm watching a hal tutorial video, and skunkworks' website got a shout-out at the beginning
06:29 PM roycroft: i'm not sure what i think about the tutorial otherwise yet, though
06:30 PM roycroft: it's put out by swolebro
06:30 PM xxcoder: 10 year supply of hex tools!
06:31 PM roycroft: jars of eye of newt?
06:31 PM roycroft: aah, consolidation of the allen wrenches
06:32 PM xxcoder: lol
06:32 PM roycroft: i did a minor such consolidation when i moved, but i only have about 4 duplicate sets
06:34 PM Tom_L: roycroft, how did you determine you had broadcom ethernet?
06:34 PM Tom_L: i may check mine and see what it is
06:34 PM roycroft: i looked up the specifications of the rpi4
06:35 PM Tom_L: some chips changed on some of the newer ones iirc
06:35 PM roycroft: dmesg would probably confirm that
06:35 PM roycroft: and perhaps i should confirm
06:35 PM Tom_L: cat /etc/something i presume
06:36 PM Tom_L: but not sure what
06:36 PM roycroft: dmesg | less
06:36 PM roycroft: if it's not been running for too long you should see all the boot messages
06:36 PM roycroft: also, it's probably somewhere in /proc
06:38 PM rdtsc: dmesg | grep broadcom
06:41 PM Tom_L: i think there's a way to get it to boot from a usb ssd now isn't there?
06:42 PM Tom_L: i'm not sure how you'd get the image there
06:43 PM Tom_L: https://www.raspberrystreet.com/learn/how-to-boot-raspberrypi-from-usb-ssd
06:44 PM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> yes - I think I did that with the rpi4.. I think you have to install a different firmware? I didn't see much of a speed increase with linuxcnc and the microsd
06:44 PM Tom_L: less sd failure
06:44 PM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> I think I used a nvme to usb box
06:46 PM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> I don't think I have ever had a sd fail... yet
06:46 PM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> lol
06:46 PM Tom_L: maybe one
06:52 PM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> ugh - looking up videos of folding up bandsaw blades.. they all do it too fast
06:52 PM Tom_L: carefully with gloves
06:53 PM Tom_L: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/91Z_uxfSsuM
06:53 PM Tom_L: seems fairly reasonable
06:53 PM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> holy crap - that was easy
06:54 PM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> I wached this one - did the first way
06:54 PM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> https://www.youtube.com/shorts/TTaDI44ni7U
06:54 PM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> yah - welding cloves
06:54 PM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> gloves
07:02 PM lcnc-relay: <ffffrf@> Hey - what would you guys say is the absolute easiest way to add one more stephen to my custom lathe using a mesa 7i96s? My goal is to hopefully change as few things as possible to not break anything. I currently have 4 used up axis stephen’s but i need a dual motor Y axis so i need two more stephen’s but only have one
07:02 PM lcnc-relay: <ffffrf@> or stepgens* lol
07:03 PM Tom_L: how many?
07:03 PM Tom_L: custom bin file for the 2nd header
07:03 PM lcnc-relay: <ffffrf@> I need access to one more stepgen
07:04 PM lcnc-relay: <ffffrf@> Right now i’m only using 4/5 of the stepgens and nothing else
07:04 PM lcnc-relay: <ffffrf@> but realize i need 6 due to a dual motor axis
07:04 PM lcnc-relay: <ffffrf@> that i am adding
07:04 PM Tom_L: i think someone (maybe you) asked that a while back
07:04 PM Tom_L: peter has a bin file to put some on the header iirc
07:04 PM lcnc-relay: <ffffrf@> i thought that was for an extra pwmgen
07:05 PM Tom_L: i forget
07:05 PM Tom_L: you could ask him and if not maybe get him to fix one for ya
07:05 PM Tom_L: then get a breakout for the header plug
07:06 PM Tom_L: i haven't looked at the firmware files for that board much yet
07:07 PM lcnc-relay: <ffffrf@> ohh interesting okay, I will look around and try to find if he posted that somewhere
07:07 PM Tom_L: download the files and have a look at the bin file folder
07:07 PM Tom_L: thre are several there
07:08 PM Tom_L: one might be what you're looking for
07:08 PM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> well - that made 5 sawmill blades take up way less room
07:09 PM Tom_L: looks like breakouts for 74, 76, 77, 85 and 89 boards
07:09 PM Tom_L: 7i*
07:09 PM Tom_L: skunkworks, tie some bailing wire around them
07:09 PM Tom_L: so you don't get surprised
07:12 PM Tom_L: ffff, https://store.mesanet.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=374&search=7i96s
07:12 PM Tom_L: download the support software and look
07:12 PM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> Tom_L: probably a good idea
07:12 PM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> https://photos.app.goo.gl/AbyiUvxoRgeQnfyB9
07:15 PM Tom_L: i think if i were gonna use the rpi to boot off a ssd i'd get a rpi5 instead of the 4
07:16 PM Tom_L: i wouldn't doubt it's already set up to do that by now anyway
07:23 PM Tom_L: ffffrf, PIN_5ABOBx2_34.vhd looks like it has a few extra stepgens on the header
07:23 PM Tom_L: X2 Y2 & Z2
07:24 PM Tom_L: aside from what's on the board itself
07:24 PM Tom_L: oh and A2 so that's 4 extra
07:25 PM lcnc-relay: <ffffrf@> where did you find that one? its not in the configs folder I downloaded from that website
07:25 PM Tom_L: it's in the source files but you could probably get him to synthesize it for you
07:25 PM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> I think it is. Rpi 5 will run SATA ro nvme with an adapter of some kind
07:26 PM Tom_L: not all of those are built
07:26 PM lcnc-relay: <ffffrf@> ohhh
07:26 PM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> Plus the pi5 seems to perform way latency wise
07:26 PM Tom_L: unless you can find a matching .bin file
07:27 PM Tom_L: i haven't tried building any of the new chip .bin files but i used to do the bit files
07:27 PM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> It could probably run 20k steps .
07:28 PM Tom_L: ffffrf, i'd get ahold of peter and ask him which one would work. likely there is one already built
07:28 PM Tom_L: then just put a BOB on the header
07:29 PM lcnc-relay: <ffffrf@> what username do they have on discord?
07:29 PM Tom_L: i doubt he's on discord
07:29 PM xxcoder: or matrix or irc I guess
07:29 PM Tom_L: you may find him on the forum quicker
07:29 PM Tom_L: or here
07:30 PM Tom_L: unless he's hiding, i don't see him here atm
07:30 PM lcnc-relay: <ffffrf@> oh ok i will go to the forum in that case, thank you
07:31 PM Tom_L: should be an easy solution
07:32 PM Tom_L: also if you look in the .bin folder there are .pin files for each one showing what they do
07:33 PM Tom_L: take a look at 7i96s_5abobd.pin file
07:33 PM Tom_L: that might do what you want
07:33 PM lcnc-relay: <ffffrf@> yes i was looking at that and it seems it offers more stepgens but iwas initially confused if that required a daughter card to work
07:34 PM Tom_L: the signals go out to those pins described
07:34 PM Tom_L: a BOB should isolate them and work fine i would think
07:34 PM Tom_L: gives the DB25 pin
07:35 PM lcnc-relay: <ffffrf@> a BOB is a breakout box right? sorry i am in the medical field lol this is out of my forte
07:35 PM Tom_L: yes
07:35 PM Tom_L: breakout board
07:35 PM lcnc-relay: <ffffrf@> and thats just to make it easier to connect the wires
07:35 PM Tom_L: that and isolate the fpga
07:36 PM Tom_L: he may already have the port protected, i dunno
07:39 PM Tom_L: anybody have a link to a decent BOB? i haven't been down that road yet
07:40 PM Tom_L: most of them are probably wired the same i would imagine
07:49 PM lcnc-relay: <ffffrf@> im still a bit confused on why you couldnt hook the wires directly to the expansion port - what does isolate the FPGA mean?
07:50 PM Tom_L: if you get a spike on that pin and it's not protected you could blow the fpga pin
07:51 PM Tom_L: more than likely he has a driver chip on it of some type
07:52 PM lcnc-relay: <ffffrf@> it would essentially be a generic parallel port breakout board right? that you would use?
07:52 PM Tom_L: there again i would ask him
07:52 PM Tom_L: yes but you don't need one that has stepper drivers etc unless you don't have stepper drivers
07:53 PM lcnc-relay: <ffffrf@> gotcha
08:20 PM lcnc-relay: <ffffrf@> ok perfect PCW helped me
08:20 PM lcnc-relay: <ffffrf@> i will buy the BOB
08:23 PM _unreal_: pcw you should setup and sell an item and calll it weave. then you can sell BOB and WEAVE :)
09:07 PM Tom_L: ffffrf, glad you got it figured out
09:56 PM -!- #linuxcnc mode set to +v by ChanServ
10:57 PM roycroft: hi
10:57 PM roycroft: i am back, but too tired to work on the router any more tonight
10:57 PM xxcoder: relax
10:57 PM roycroft: that is the plan
10:58 PM roycroft: the drive into town was stressful
10:58 PM roycroft: two wrecks on the highway down to the valley, and one on the freeway going into town
10:58 PM roycroft: all caused significant delays
10:59 PM roycroft: i've no idea why this was wreck day - it was warm and dry and sunny, and not the first warm, dry, sunny day this spring
11:00 PM xxcoder: weird.
11:01 PM roycroft: yeah
11:01 PM roycroft: i had to blow off my errands and i was still late for my dinner engagement
11:10 PM roycroft: my kittens are still a bit freaked out about the sofa losing is upholstery
11:10 PM roycroft: its
11:11 PM roycroft: this being a futon sofa, it has a couple drawers underneath where i store extra pillows and throws
11:12 PM roycroft: when i first brought the kittens home, they used to sleep in those drawers, and still hide there when big, evil people like ups and fedex drivers come to visit
11:12 PM roycroft: but now their hiding place is exposed