Yes, you're observation about my struggling with distros and linux in general is spot on. I think I've got a stable setup now, but the past year has been painful. A non-computer guy with a little Windows experience trying to get LCNC running right in the middle of the Python2/Python3 mess...with a GUI that's somewhat experimental... I might not have timed things very well.
Regarding the ATC, it appears to be all set now. I still haven't had time to run a physical tool change test, but all the motion appears to be sorted out. My setup uses a closed-loop stepper (encoder to drive, not LCNC) and a 5:1 gearbox driven by a 7i76ED.
Carousel.comp is controlling the ATC disc rotation, and it's set to 'counts' mode (i.e. step & direction). There's a single home pin triggering an inductive proximity sensor. No hall sensors, no disc encoder - just a single home pin.
Once enabled, carousel.comp searches for the home pin and sets that location as pocket #1. After that, carousel figures out the distance/steps to a particular pocket and also does the shortest-path calcs. If the stepper loses steps it'll alarm and shut everything down so I'm not worried about pocket feedback.
The recently updated carousel.comp also has a feature for slow-searching to a pocket pin. This feature was working for normal pocket commands, but jogging one pocket position would wind up missing the pin in one direction (but not the other). I realized I didn't need this pin-search safety feature and disabled it.
I just got all the brackets and mounts back from the powder-coater and have it reassembled & rough aligned. I'm still planning on writing up something a bit more detailed than my typical forum ramblings over the past months, but I'd rather wait until it's actually proven to work.
