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Setting up a lathe on second 7i76 board

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24 May 2021 19:44 #210096 by Sadlers
I have a XYZA mill set up with a Mesa 5i25 and 7i76 board. No problem and works great. I am now trying to setup a CNC lathe on a second 7i76 board using the same 5i25 and computer but with a separate configuration. I recognize and understand that both cannot run at the same time. To make the lathe steppers work I used pncconf to have 7 steppers and used stepgen number 5 and 6 for the lathe X and Z axis. Works fine.
Here is the problem and I think it is a simple one but I can’t get my head around it:
Pncconf shows only one TB4 even though with two 7i76 boards I have two TB4s. I am trying to control the lathe enable, cw/ccw and speed with the second TB4. Is there a way to do this with Pncconf? If not, is there a way to hand modify the hal file to make this work?
Thanks for any help and my apologies if this has been answered already.
Steve

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24 May 2021 20:35 #210098 by tommylight
Stepgens are not the way to get to what you need, i is much easier and simpler to make another config with X and Z axis on the normal 00 and 02 stepgens.
That way everything is separate so change the cable and start the respective config.
There can be as many configs as you can make or need.

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24 May 2021 21:12 #210107 by Sadlers
Tommy, I may have not expressed myself correctly. My problem is controlling the lathe spindle. I would like to use the spindle control functions on the second 7i76 board so that I can move from my milling machine to my lathe, load up a new linuxcnc config and operate my lathe without changing wiring or replugging connectors. Since the TB4 on 7i76 number 1 is hardwired to the mill spindle VFD, I would like to use TB4 on 7i76 number 2 to be hardwired to my lathe spindle speed controller.

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24 May 2021 22:13 #210118 by BigJohnT
Configuration tools will get you started but it's impossible to provide for every application. At some point you need to edit the configuration files yourself. You can get all the pins with the configuration loaded open a terminal and type
halcmd show pin > pins.txt

Now you can copy the mill spindle section and change the names for the lathe 7i76.

JT

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24 May 2021 23:18 #210136 by tommylight
Ok, that will need some editing for sure, but it is a much better idea.
Basically just changing the stepgen numbers and spindle/PWM output in the hal file should do that.
Keep in mind that Mesa counts stuff from 0, so 0 to 4 are the first board and the stepgens for the lathe should be 5 and 7 (X and Z). Not sure about PWM for the spindle but it should be the same.

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24 May 2021 23:22 #210138 by Sadlers
Thank you. I see it now much appreciated
The following user(s) said Thank You: tommylight

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25 May 2021 00:07 #210155 by andypugh
What you want to do is possible. But the computers are not the expensive part of the system. Does it really make sense to try to share a computer when you can wreck the same value in carbide inserts in a few unfortunate months?

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25 May 2021 00:43 #210168 by Sadlers
Andy,
More a question of real estate. My panel is full and not really anywhere to put another one. Based on the other comments I think I now know how to make this work.
Steve

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