# Linux CNC: Anybody using Mesa control boards?



## DMS

I have my mill running on a parallel port interface, but as I move forward and start adding additional sensors, I am edging towards an upgrade to control boards from Mesa. My current thought is that a combination of the 6I25/7I76 boards is what I need. (3 axis mill , eventually 4, with spindle encoder). I was hoping somebody could comment about difficulty of setup/general experience.

I had through the price would be a lot higher than they are, if I had realized they were as reasonable as they are, I would have gone this way in the first place.


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## johnas

I did an upgrade of my mill with a 5i25 feeding a Gecko G540.

Once I got past a mental block of how it actually feeds the G540, it has been a breath of fresh air!

I did purchase a 7i76 for a CNC lathe project I'm slowly working on, but for my mill, it was just the 5i25. 

What kind of hw do you have on the down side (mill side) of your parallel port cable? 

John A. Stewart


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## DMS

I think we lost a few posts off of this thread. To follow up, I pulled the trigger and ordered a 6i25 and 7i76 from Mesa. Got it next day! (well, they are only about 50miles from me). Installation was easy, configuration was easy once you figure out how to install the firmware...really wish they included software installation instructions because the packages available through LinuxCNC don't have drivers for the 6i25/5i25.

After that, I ripped out my existing breakout boards and replaced with the 7i76. I spent a couple days thinking I blew up the spindle interface, but it turns out I just had it configured wrong in the software (the instructions for setting the spindle parameters IMO are not very clear). Got that working last night. So, I'm just about back to where I was before the upgrade as far as capabilities, but I have much more IO, and with 2 more connections I will have full spindle control (speed/direction).


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## johnas

Hi DMS;

Yes, Somehow I agree that some posts/something was lost in the process.

I'm not happy about the directions, but with anything that I seem to touch, "it's all crystal clear in hindsight". Sigh!

Working on my CNC lathe - Mesa 5i25/7i76 combo, I expect to have a few stages on this CNC lathe build.

Congratulations; John A. Stewart.


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## DMS

If you use the spindle control, keep in mind that the "max" and the "scale" need to match up. That was the main thing that caught up. I also found that the 6i25 would not work in the single lane PCIE slot, I had to use the 16lane slot. Not an issue for you since you are using the pci version, but I thought I would mention it.


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## jbcj

I have setup the mesa boards on both a bridgeport series one and a Yam 1428 with anilam lathemate. great boards. they are very
helpful on the IRC.  Configuration not much different mostly naming. I was using linear encoders on all axis on the bridgeport with
servos. Bridgeport now retired for HAAS. still playing with the Yam 1428.

Jim


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## johnas

Hi DMS;



DMS said:


> If you use the spindle control, keep in mind that the "max" and the "scale" need to match up...



When I did my install, (5I25 feeding a Gecko G540) I spent a bit of time with my new tachometer, I thought I'd get the spindle speed requested and the speed on the mill as close as I could; 

http://cnc-for-model-engineers.blogspot.ca/2013/02/kx1-5i25-and-spindle-speeds.html

shows the (probably over the top) method I used to get the spindle speed running. I was surprised that the results were as close as they were; much better than I had thought.

Fun stuff - John A . Stewart.


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## Harry The Big Dog

Hello everybody, Does anybody know where to get a schematic for using MESA boards (6I25 - 7I76 )  on a bridgeport with an Anilam Crusader control ? I Was paying a guy to retro my machine  and he got in over his head . Luckily he did not tear into the machine yet. I have a box with a bunch of electronics  and know body in the area that knows what to do with it. I have scanned the internet looking for any information I can get.  Thank you in advance.   Harry


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## JimDawson

What axis motors do you have on your BP?  Are they BP steppers, DC servo, AC servo?  With the Anilam controller, I'm guessing they might be DC servo.

If you don't have the manuals for the Mesa cards, here are links to the manuals

http://www.mesanet.com/pdf/parallel/6i25man.pdf


http://www.mesanet.com/pdf/parallel/7i76man.pdf


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## DMS

The only thing I can add is that the 7i76 is a simple step/direction output. If you can identify the right inputs for your drivers, it should be relatively easy to connect (there are only 2 wires per axis, step and direction).


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## Harry The Big Dog

JimDawson said:


> What axis motors do you have on your BP?  Are they BP steppers, DC servo, AC servo?  With the Anilam controller, I'm guessing they might be DC servo.
> 
> If you don't have the manuals for the Mesa cards, here are links to the manuals
> 
> http://www.mesanet.com/pdf/parallel/6i25man.pdf
> 
> 
> http://www.mesanet.com/pdf/parallel/7i76man.pdf




Thanks for getting back to me. THe servos are the SEM Type MT 30M4-59  DC servos that I was told Anilam used on all the small machine conversions.


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## Harry The Big Dog

DMS said:


> The only thing I can add is that the 7i76 is a simple step/direction output. If you can identify the right inputs for your drivers, it should be relatively easy to connect (there are only 2 wires per axis, step and direction).



Thanks you. I have done so much reading last few days about this. I am still drowning in the knowledge. I still need  to buy a Mini ITX set up but I am not sure which one would be best for this application.


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## dracozny

Harry The Big Dog said:


> Thanks you. I have done so much reading last few days about this. I am still drowning in the knowledge. I still need  to buy a Mini ITX set up but I am not sure which one would be best for this application.



Any of the Atom ITX boards will be plenty fast enough for Linuxcnc. you can go with a faster processor or even a dual core but when you start going into larger desktop models it gets to be a bit of overhead within the firmware alone. if you search the PC Computers Board over at the Linuxcnc Forum you will find a number off possibilities, I posted a build over there. you can also search some of the public shopping lists for CNC and find a few builds others have made, including the one I built.


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## arlo

dracozny said:


> Any of the Atom ITX boards will be plenty fast enough for Linuxcnc. you can go with a faster processor or even a dual core but when you start going into larger desktop models it gets to be a bit of overhead within the firmware alone. if you search the PC Computers Board over at the Linuxcnc Forum you will find a number off possibilities, I posted a build over there. you can also search some of the public shopping lists for CNC and find a few builds others have made, including the one I built.



I built a miniITX Atom based system using a parallel port interface.  There are a limited number of motherboards that provide a parallel port.  I bought an inexpensive ASRock motherboard that performs well with the one BIG limitation being that the board's USB ports are not compatible with the LinuxCNC drivers.  ASRock advised me that this is a Linux problem and not an ASRock problem.  And that was that.

Not having USB capability means I have to use a wired LAN connection, rather than wireless and that I can't use thumbdrives to transport files from computer to computer.  So I've got to e-mail my programs back and forth.  These aren't big problems but having USB capability would be nice.

Based on this experience, ASRock should not expect to see any more of my business.


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## DMS

Seems odd that a current chipset lacks Linux support; fifteen years ago I would not have been surprised, but these days everything I have tried works off the shelf. They are right of course, they don't make the chips, or write the drivers, but I have to wonder at their selection process.

Regarding Hary's setup, as long as the board has a PCI or PCIe port, he should not have any issues with the mesa boards, but not having usb support would be a real PITA. Might be worth checking on whether anyone has run Linux on whatever board you choose before you pull the trigger.


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## arlo

DMS said:


> Seems odd that a current chipset lacks Linux support; fifteen years ago I would not have been surprised, but these days everything I have tried works off the shelf. They are right of course, they don't make the chips, or write the drivers, but I have to wonder at their selection process.
> 
> Regarding Hary's setup, as long as the board has a PCI or PCIe port, he should not have any issues with the mesa boards, but not having usb support would be a real PITA. Might be worth checking on whether anyone has run Linux on whatever board you choose before you pull the trigger.



I think it's likely that the most recent versions of Linux have been updated to handle USB on the ASRock motherboards.  Unfortunately, LinuxCNC is not based on the latest version of Ubuntu.  I quit trying to update when I kept breaking LinuxCNC.  I agree that it's worth checking to see if a potential motherboard choice is compatible but I think the check should be LinuxCNC and not just to Linux.


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## dracozny

arlo said:


> I built a miniITX Atom based system using a parallel port interface.  There are a limited number of motherboards that provide a parallel port.  I bought an inexpensive ASRock motherboard that performs well with the one BIG limitation being that the board's USB ports are not compatible with the LinuxCNC drivers.  ASRock advised me that this is a Linux problem and not an ASRock problem.  And that was that.
> 
> Not having USB capability means I have to use a wired LAN connection, rather than wireless and that I can't use thumbdrives to transport files from computer to computer.  So I've got to e-mail my programs back and forth.  These aren't big problems but having USB capability would be nice.
> 
> Based on this experience, ASRock should not expect to see any more of my business.


I bought one without, but I had no need since I wanted to use the 6i25-7i77 combo. so 1 pci Express 1x slot worked fine. ASrock is also the low end provider of ASUS products FYI and yea they are substandard. Gigabit boards are rock solid. never had an issue with one.


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## tmarks11

arlo said:


> Not having USB capability means I have to use a wired LAN connection, rather than wireless and that I can't use thumbdrives to transport files from computer to computer.



You could use a small "travel" router like this to act as a wifi client, plugged into your linux machine's ethernet port:

http://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-TL-WR710N-Wireless-Repeater-Charging/dp/B00FRMAOIO

This has a USB port that you can plug a thumb drive into, and share it across the network as a network drive.  You could copy your code files directly to it from your desktop, and than from it to your linux machine.

I haven't tried this on a linux computer, but it works okay on winXP and win7 machines.


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