noobie - mesa board selection

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crazycajun
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01 Jul 2023 12:46 - 01 Jul 2023 12:52 #274597 by crazycajun

noobie - mesa board selection was created by crazycajun

Hi everyone!
My head is spinning from all of the new terminolgy and i could use some help.
I have 3 machines; 1 micro mill running mach3 (cheaper stepper setup), a bridge port clone and a gap bed engine lathe. The BP and lathe are still manual, so i need to decide if im doing encoder or stepper motors. Im thinking of springing for encoder types after having skipped steps on the micro mill (lack of hp) and causing havoc.
With that being said, can i use an ethernet mesa board to run an encoder setup or will i need a pci/pcie board?
Help with picking mesa models would be great too!
I dont speak linux or any of the normal terms that get thrown around lol
I was able to get debian 12 setup on one desktop i have, so im trying to decide on the next two desktops, if im doing full size atx or some sort of mini/micro if all thats needed is an ethernet port. Having the ability to run stepper or encoder would be better i think.
Thanks in advance!

Last edit: 01 Jul 2023 12:52 by crazycajun.

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tommylight
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01 Jul 2023 13:44 #274602 by tommylight

Replied by tommylight on topic noobie - mesa board selection

Yes, Mesa cam be used with encoders through ethernet.
Get Mesa 7i96S as they can be found, and if you do need more IO, 7i84, more encoders or steppers 7i85 or 7i85S, but do check the 7i85 as i never used it so not sure what and how.

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crazycajun
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01 Jul 2023 13:47 - 01 Jul 2023 14:05 #274603 by crazycajun

Replied by crazycajun on topic noobie - mesa board selection

I forgot to mention, i have a dividing head the BP that i want to turn into a 4th axis. Will the 7i96S do that too?

edit: The 7I96S is a Ethernet connected motion control interface designed for interfacing up to 5 Axis of step&dir step motor or servo motor drives.The 7I96S also has 11 isolated inputs plus 6 isolated outputs for general purpose I/O use. A high speed encoder interface is provided for spindle synchronized motion and an isolated analog spindle output allows spindle speed control . A RS-422/RS485 serial port and a parallel port are provided for I/O expansion .

per machine, i dont think ill go past 11 inputs or 6 outputs. thanks, i guess ill go with that one then.

Last edit: 01 Jul 2023 14:05 by crazycajun.

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tommylight
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01 Jul 2023 14:41 #274604 by tommylight

Replied by tommylight on topic noobie - mesa board selection

While you're at it, see if you can find a 7i95, it has 6 stepgens and 6 encoders, i think, and more IO.
This i did use and it is driving a retrofitted industrial Messer plasma machine daily, but very hard to find.
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Personally, i have decided to always get a 7i96S and 7i77 when possible as it can do everything for any type of machine, granted it can not do resolvers, but everything else it can. I do a lot of retrofits and had plenty of Mesa boards in a suitcase, it is empty now. Slowly filling it...