Retrofitting a 3-axis VMC with DC servos - guidance needed

Excellent, thanks again for the help. Now, looking at what @Andy mentioned, what would be the advantage of the 6i24-16 (I understand this is the one being referred to) over the 6i25? I see that it has more expansion possibilities for the future, but in terms of processing capability and other aspects, is there any difference?

From what I’ve checked, I think that with the 6i25, 7i77 and 7i74 I already have a very large working possibility. Also, I couldn’t find a way to use a 4th axis in the future with the 50-pin options, since they come with control for 4 analog servos, and I understand that one of them would have to be used for the spindle. That means I’d have to use one of the 6i24 configurations that allows 8 servos (which in my case seems unnecessary). So I’d like to know what would be the advantages of using a configuration with the 6i24.

@Tommy, thank you very much as well for your reply to Andy. I was checking which workstation models I could use with these configurations, and I noticed that the ones you mentioned are actually available here in my country (Argentina, which has a lot of issues with getting certain hardware). So thanks to both of you, I’ll keep researching the advantages and options.

Hello again,

While checking availability, I noticed that in terms of cost and stock it might be more convenient to go with the 6i24, since it is currently available directly from Mesa USA. Otherwise, I would need to buy everything from Eurosurplus, which ends up being more expensive overall.

Could someone please confirm the main differences between the 6i25 and the 6i24? From what I see, the 6i24 has no limitations on its connectors, so in the future I could also leave an extra port available to add another servo control board if needed.

Thanks a lot for your help!

Yes, but looking at those always there's something that's not available.
Since I'm out of the United States, I wanna buy all from the same provider.

I'm thinking if it's a good idea to use the next configuration:
1x 6i24-16
2x 7i36
1x 7i44
1x 7i73

One of the 7i36s is if I want to install a fourth axis, but I'm using all the connections on the 6i24.

The next configuration I'm looking at is:
1x 6i24-16
1x 7i48
1x 7i44
1x 7i73

In this one, connectors are unused, and I can control 4 axes, a spindle, and the rest of the machine in both configurations.

Can someone explain to me if one is better than the other (don't taking into account that one has one more connector available)?

I haven't found anyone that used the 6i24 with the 7i48. The 2x7i65 is in the manual of the 6i24. It shows as a supplied configuration.

There is some limitation in the ports or the cards that i can use?
cause looking at it do not say anything like that.
And what are the chance that the second option (7i48) came available soon in mesanet

Thank you so much guys again.
You are helping me a lot.
Cheers

What about a 7I97T +7I73?
 

I'm not sure, to be honest. I wasn't specifically looking for the ethernet version of the boards, as they don't seem to be the most popular option here (or at least that's my impression).

From what I've read, the ethernet version usually has a 1 kHz refresh rate. My goal was to find the most reliable configuration possible, so if I messed something up, I'd have a solid backup.

However, now that I'm looking at it, I think it's a good option. It could be used with different PCs in the future without becoming a bottleneck. Do you know of any topics or threads where this configuration is discussed?

for what i read i can connect the 7i73 to the port in the board (using the cable correctly)

And i can add more inputs and ouputs through the db25 connector.

And can i use other ports of ethernet to add more boards or this is a banned move

Also, could someone explain if there's any problem comparing the PCIe to the ethernet versions? After reading and writing this, I don't think 1 kHz is a bad rate for these, and the machine's operation is controlled by the board itself, while the PC only refreshes and corrects some things, right?

Again, thank you guy for your help.

Cheers.

Yes, a 7I73 (or other sserial device) can connect directly to the 7I97T

1 KHz is the default LinuxCNC servo thread rate and is typically fine for
normal CNC machines with velocity mode servos.

You can add multiple Ethernet cards with a switch or multiple Ethernet ports

7I73 is an lcd/matrix and io expender so you may need voltage shifters  for some of the pins. If your are not planing to use lcd/matrix keypad  Then I would suggest you get  7I84U, the i/o's are 5 to 28v tolerant. four input pin voltages are readable with 8 bit resolution.  Two MPG encoder inputs are provided as an option on four  field inputs