Ethercat Setup help needed for beginner

Hi,
i am verry new to LinuxCNC and want to build a machine. The Axis will be made with Stepperonline A6 Servos with ethercat. But i´m stuck at the ethercat configuration, as I basically dont know anything about it. All i know is that i need an .hal, .ini, .xml and .conf file. I have already installed the ethercat drivers with the guide from rodw and can set the preop/ini mode via the Ethercat slave ... command. What do i do next? I have opended and created a machine, with the axis sim preset, now with the folders in my home directory. How do i create the needed files and integrate them, so it works? I have looked through multiple topics on the forum, but cant get any wiser with them. As I said, total beginner. Any step by step help much appreciated.

Thanks.
Spezi

Basically what you do is replace the motion part of the sim config with the ethercat motion.
Here is an example I often refer to. You do need the cia402 component as well.
github.com/dbraun1981/hal-cia402/tree/main/example

So i just take those files and copy them in the folder of my machine?

Er, no. It’s not that simple; LinuxCNC isn’t plug-and-play. If you don’t have any prior knowledge, you should put the A6 aside for now and start with simple stepper motors. You’ll first need to learn how the system works and what each component does. With EtherCAT, you’re moving beyond the hobbyist level, and even professionals sometimes find it frustrating.

andrax wrote:

and even professionals sometimes find it frustrating.

Sometimes????? More often than that! 

It's easy when you know it.
The problem is to come to know enough.

Anyway, it's not that hard and there is virtually no difference between
setting up stepper drives or servo drives with EtherCAT.
The cia402 layer makes them look the same.

The example I gave is a starting point.
You can copy the files to your installation, change the HALFILE=cia402.hal in the ini file
and give it a try.

But you are going to need to adopt and edit the files to your specific setup.
Number of drives, what number/name they have. And you need to add other
functions like spindle. That's in the sim file. So you need to mix them together
and take the motion part from cia402.hal and the other functions spindle, limits etc
from the sim config.
 

Thanks. I will try to adopt them. As far as i have seen, the example file is for 3drives, and i right now only have one. The pid and vid i will also have to fill out.
Starting this project, I knew there will be a pretty steep learning curve. But i like challenges. I also have a Mesa Card on its way. Would that be easier to start with?

I should add that i have done simmilar things, and have a good bit of knwoledge near, not specifically with the ethercat stuff, but with Profinet, Profibus, industrual automation, PLCs etc.

It's easier to start with a Mesa card for sure.
You have the pncconf utility that will give you a working configuration.
Once you have the Mesa config working, it's not that hard to
replace the motion part with EtherCAT. Cut and paste, though.

andrax wrote:

Er, no. It’s not that simple; LinuxCNC isn’t plug-and-play. If you don’t have any prior knowledge, you should put the A6 aside for now and start with simple stepper motors. You’ll first need to learn how the system works and what each component does. With EtherCAT, you’re moving beyond the hobbyist level, and even professionals sometimes find it frustrating.

I only broke 4 mice from throwing them in anger... its fiiiinnnee.

In seriousness though, I find its less about beginner vs expert in CNC stuff, and more about if you are well versed in linux usage. Most of my troubles setting up were because the instructions just assume you know everything about linux already and leave a lot of critical details out. I am working with one of my customers to trying an make a true step by step guide.

If you do know "nothing", step and direction with a mesa card is generally pretty safe cause its mostly done by a wizard. You aren't mucking in the terminal or doing much editing in HAL.

(also important to note ethercat in linuxcnc has some quirks too, its not quite "final" in my opinion)