Mesa Configuration Wizard

This allows you to select a previously saved configuration or create a new one. If you pick Modify a configuration and then press next a file selection box will show. Pncconf preselects your last saved file. Choose the the config you wish to edit. If you made any changes to the main hal or ini files Pncconf will over write those files and those changes will be lost. Some files will not be over written and Pncconf places a note in those files. It also allows you to select desktop shortcut / launcher options. A desktop shortcut will place a folder icon on the desktop that points to your new configuration files. Otherwise you would have to look in your home folder under linuxcnc/configs.

A Desktop launcher will add an icon to the desktop for starting your config directly. You can also launch it from the main menu by using the Configuration Selector LinuxCNC found in CNC menu and selecting your config name.

Now we are happy with the latency and must pick a servo period. In most cases a servo period of 1000000 ns is fine ( that gives a 1 kHz servo calculation rate - 1000 calculations a second) if you are building a closed loop servo system that controls torque (current) rather then velocity (voltage) a faster rate would be better - something like 200000 (5 kHz calculation rate). The problem with lowering the servo rate is that it leaves less time available for the computer to do other things besides LinuxCNC’s calculations. Typically the display (GUI) becomes less responsive. You must decide on a balance. Keep in mind that if you tune your closed loop servo system then change the servo period you probably will need to tune them again.

AXIS

TkLinuxCNC

TOUCHY

QtPlasmaC

This page allows you to select external controls such as for jogging or overrides.

If you select a Joystick for jogging, You will need it always connected for LinuxCNC to load. To use the analog sticks for useful jogging you probably need to add some custom HAL code. MPG jogging requires a pulse generator connected to a MESA encoder counter. Override controls can either use a pulse generator (MPG) or switches (such as a rotary dial). External buttons might be used with a switch based OEM joystick.

Here you can set defaults for the display screens, add virtual control panels (VCP), and set some LinuxCNC options..

The Mesa configuration pages allow one to utilize different firmwares. On the basic page you selected a Mesa card here you pick the available firmware and select what and how many components are available.

Parport address is used only with Mesa parport card, the 7i43. An on board parallel port usually uses 0x278 or 0x378 though you should be able to find the address from the BIOS page. The 7i43 requires the parallel port to use the EPP mode, again set in the BIOS page. If using a PCI parallel port the address can be searched for by using the search button on the basic page.

PDM PWM and 3PWM base frequency sets the balance between ripple and linearity. If using Mesa daughter boards the docs for the board should give recommendations

Watchdog time out is used to set how long the MESA board will wait before killing outputs if communication is interrupted from the computer. Please remember Mesa uses active low outputs meaning that when the output pin is on, it is low (approx 0 volts) and if it’s off the output in high (approx 5 volts) make sure your equipment is safe when in the off (watchdog bitten) state.

You may choose the number of available components by deselecting unused ones. Not all component types are available with all firmware.

Choosing less then the maximum number of components allows one to gain more GPIO pins. If using daughter boards keep in mind you must not deselect pins that the card uses. For instance some firmware supports two 7i33 cards, If you only have one you may deselect enough components to utilize the connector that supported the second 7i33. Components are deselected numerically by the highest number first then down with out skipping a number. If by doing this the components are not where you want them then you must use a different firmware. The firmware dictates where, what and the max amounts of the components. Custom firmware is possible, ask nicely when contacting the LinuxCNC developers and Mesa. Using custom firmware in PNCconf requires special procedures and is not always possible - Though I try to make PNCconf as flexible as possible.

After choosing all these options press the Accept Component Changes button and PNCconf will update the I/O setup pages. Only I/O tabs will be shown for available connectors, depending on the Mesa board.

The tabs are used to configure the input and output pins of the Mesa boards. PNCconf allows one to create custom signal names for use in custom HAL files.

On this tab with this firmware the components are setup for a 7i33 daughter board, usually used with closed loop servos. Note the component numbers of the encoder counters and PWM drivers are not in numerical order. This follows the daughter board requirements.

On this tab all the pins are GPIO. Note the 3 digit numbers - they will match the HAL pin number. GPIO pins can be selected as input or output and can be inverted.

On this tab there are a mix of step generators and GPIO. Step generators output and direction pins can be inverted. Note that inverting a Step Gen-A pin (the step output pin) changes the step timing. It should match what your controller expects.

The parallel port can be used for simple I/O similar to Mesa’s GPIO pins.

This page allows configuring and testing of the motor and/or encoder combination . If using a servo motor an open loop test is available, if using a stepper a tuning test is available.

MAX OUTPUT: The maximum value for the output of the PID compensation that is written to the motor amplifier, in volts. The computed output value is clamped to this limit. The limit is applied before scaling to raw output units. The value is applied symmetrically to both the plus and the minus side.

Tuning Test The tuning test unfortunately only works with stepper based systems. Again confirm the directions on the axis is correct. Then test the system by running the axis back and forth, If the acceleration or max speed is too high you will lose steps. While jogging, Keep in mind it can take a while for an axis with low acceleration to stop. Limit switches are not functional during this test. You can set a pause time so each end of the test movement. This would allow you to set up and read a dial indicator to see if you are losing steps.

Stepper Timing Stepper timing needs to be tailored to the step controller’s requirements. Pncconf supplies some default controller timing or allows custom timing settings . See http://wiki.linuxcnc.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?Stepper_Drive_Timing for some more known timing numbers (feel free to add ones you have figured out). If in doubt use large numbers such as 5000 this will only limit max speed.

Brushless Motor Control These options are used to allow low level control of brushless motors using special firmware and daughter boards. It also allows conversion of HALL sensors from one manufacturer to another. It is only partially supported and will require one to finish the HAL connections. Contact the mail-list or forum for more help.

The scale settings can be directly entered or one can use the calculate scale button to assist. Use the check boxes to select appropriate calculations. Note that pulley teeth requires the number of teeth not the gear ratio. Worm turn ratio is just the opposite it requires the gear ratio. If your happy with the scale press apply otherwise push cancel and enter the scale directly.

Also refer to the diagram tab for two examples of home and limit switches. These are two examples of many different ways to set homing and limits.

Remember positive and negative directions refer to the TOOL not the table as per the Machinists handbook.

When using homing and / or limit switches LinuxCNC expects the HAL signals to be true when the switch is being pressed / tripped. If the signal is wrong for a limit switch then LinuxCNC will think the machine is on end of limit all the time. If the home switch search logic is wrong LinuxCNC will seem to home in the wrong direction. What it actually is doing is trying to BACK off the home switch.

Decide on limit switch location.

Limit switches are the back up for software limits in case something electrical goes wrong eg. servo runaway. Limit switches should be placed so that the machine does not hit the physical end of the axis movement. Remember the axis will coast past the contact point if moving fast. Limit switches should be active low on the machine. eg. power runs through the switches all the time - a loss of power (open switch) trips. While one could wire them the other way, this is fail safe. This may need to be inverted so that the HAL signal in LinuxCNC in active high - a TRUE means the switch was tripped. When starting LinuxCNC if you get an on-limit warning, and axis is NOT tripping the switch, inverting the signal is probably the solution. (use HALMETER to check the corresponding HAL signal eg. joint.0.pos-lim-sw-in X axis positive limit switch)

Decide on the home switch location.

If you are using limit switches You may as well use one as a home switch. A separate home switch is useful if you have a long axis that in use is usually a long way from the limit switches or moving the axis to the ends presents problems of interference with material. eg a long shaft in a lathe makes it hard to home to limits with out the tool hitting the shaft, so a separate home switch closer to the middle may be better. If you have an encoder with index then the home switch acts as a course home and the index will be the actual home location.

Decide on the MACHINE ORIGIN position.

MACHINE ORIGIN is what LinuxCNC uses to reference all user coordinate systems from. I can think of little reason it would need to be in any particular spot. There are only a few G codes that can access the MACHINE COORDINATE system.( G53, G30 and G28 ) If using tool-change-at-G30 option having the Origin at the tool change position may be convenient. By convention, it may be easiest to have the ORIGIN at the home switch.

Decide on the (final) HOME POSITION.

this just places the carriage at a consistent and convenient position after LinuxCNC figures out where the ORIGIN is.

Measure / calculate the positive / negative axis travel distances.

Move the axis to the origin. Mark a reference on the movable slide and the non-movable support (so they are in line) move the machine to the end of limits. Measure between the marks that is one of the travel distances. Move the table to the other end of travel. Measure the marks again. That is the other travel distance. If the ORIGIN is at one of the limits then that travel distance will be zero.

The diagrams should help to demonstrate an example of limit switches and standard axis movement directions. In this example the Z axis was two limit switches, the positive switch is shared as a home switch. The MACHINE ORIGIN (zero point) is located at the negative limit. The left edge of the carriage is the negative trip pin and the right the positive trip pin. We wish the FINAL HOME POSITION to be 4 inches away from the ORIGIN on the positive side. If the carriage was moved to the positive limit we would measure 10 inches between the negative limit and the negative trip pin.

If you select spindle signals then this page is available to configure spindle control.

This page is similar to the axis motor configuration page.

There are some differences:

This allows setting of HALUI commands and loading of classicladder and sample ladder programs. If you selected GLADE VCP options such as for zeroing axis, there will be commands showing. See the HALUI Chapterfor more info on using custom halcmds. There are several ladder program options. The Estop program allows an external ESTOP switch or the GUI frontend to throw an Estop. It also has a timed lube pump signal. The Z auto touch-off is with a touch-off plate, the GLADE VCP touch-off button and special HALUI commands to set the current user origin to zero and rapid clear. The serial modbus program is basically a blank template program that sets up classicladder for serial modbus. See the Classicladder Chapter in the manual.

On this page you can add additional HAL components you might need for custom HAL files. In this way one should not have to hand edit the main HAL file, while still allowing user needed components.

The first selection is components that pncconf uses internally. You may configure pncconf to load extra instances of the components for your custom HAL file.

Select the number of instances your custom file will need, pncconf will add what it needs after them.

Meaning if you need 2 and pncconf needs 1 pncconf will load 3 instances and use the last one.

PNCconf does its best to allow flexible customization by the user. PNCconf has support for custom signal names, custom loading of components, custom HAL files and custom firmware.

There are also signal names that PNCconf always provides regardless of options selected, for user’s custom HAL files With some thought most customizations should work regardless if you later select different options in PNCconf.

Eventually if the customizations are beyond the scope of PNCconf’s frame work you can use PNCconf to build a base config or use one of LinuxCNC’s sample configurations and just hand edit it to what ever you want.

Encoders will add < customname > +:

Steppers add:

PWM add:

GPIO pins will just have the entered signal name connected to it

In this way one can connect to these signals in the custom HAL files and still have the option to move them around later.

The hidden preference file is in the user’s home file, is named .pncconf-preferences and require one to select show hidden files to see and edit it. The contents of this file can be seen when you first load PNCconf - press the help button and look at the output page.

Ask on the LinuxCNC mail-list or forum for info about converting custom firmware. Not all firmware can be utilized with PNCconf.