STEVE any word on the status of the Mesa card plugin?

You want to test it?  Let me know what you have.

Steve

HIYA Steve, at the moment I don't have any extra mesa stuff except for the emc2 machines we run. I did not see any need to invest in hardware IF there was no plugin (;-).

can you give me an update on where the plugin is function wise?

(;-)

It should have most of the functionality of the Galil plugin.  It moves motors, hits the numbers, etc...  It just hasn't been properly tested on a real machine.  

I am building a small mill to test it on, but life has gotten in the way.  If I had a couple of weeks of free time, I'd be set.  I had a few people lined up to test, but they all fell through.  

Steve

Hi Steve,
What particular Mesa cards will it drive?
I have seen the mesa stuff but and unsure what I would need.
SInce I have a machine or two in the wings I may go the Mesa route.

Mike

Steve if you can give us a list of things we need to use it I can start rounding up pieces. I have both a mill and lathe I can use to test. The mesa stuff is rock solid on EMC2

The Mesa 5i20 PCI card works well.  It will handle 3 daughter boards.  Use a 7i33TA PWM -> Analog board per 4 axes.  And a 7i37TA for 8 outputs and 16 inputs.  If you only need 4 axes, then you can add another 7i37TA for more I/O.

The 7i43 also works using the USB interface. It will only handle 2 daughter boards so it's a 4 axis only type of deal.

The main problem with the plugin at the moment is that it's a pain to install.  You have to shoe horn a driver or two on.  So a proper "setup" program needs to be done.  I have one that works on my machine, but it's a developer machine.  Installing it on a box stock OS always leads to an adventure.    But once installed, the plugin will drive motors quite well.  Rigid tapping and everything, in theory... 

And another thing...  This is a servo only deal.  No stepper interface.  So you HAVE to know how to set up the PID values.

Steve

Hi Smurph.

So I can use a 7I43U for $89 and a 7i37TA for $79 and have a real nice motion control setup??

 The only real question is that the Mesa site says the outputs are 48vdc???
I like the 4-24vdc input.

Mike

Yeah.  Pretty insane, isn't it?    I must say, they are pretty neat little devices.  Well thought out.  Peter (@ mesa) has some more real cool stuff coming in the not too distant future as well.

The outputs will handle UP TO 48v DC at 1A.  You supply the voltage.  So if you are supplying 24v, then that is what they will use. 

Steve

It is pretty cool actually.
Is there going to be a possibility of stepper outputs in the future?

I will take a hard look at the funds today and see if I can't order something.
If I use an analog input VFD does that eat up a motion axis?
Not that it is a big problem but I want to make sure that it does what I need it to do.

I think that this in the long run this will be much better than looking for used and inexpensive galil stuff on ebay.

Even with the 5I20 the price would be under $500 for 8 axis and the I/O.
For extended I/O there are many other options if need be.
Do you have a complete list of the Mesa products that work with the plugin?

 There are so many cool things on the Mesa site that it is confusing.
While I don't want to overspend I would hate to try and save a few bucks and then miss out on what I should have purchased.

Will this work with all of the OS's that Mach3 will run on or is it a XP only kind of thing?
Do the encoders read back into Mach3 like they do on the galil and dspmc?

Mike