The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning

Ed Nisley's Blog: Shop notes, electronics, firmware, machinery, 3D printing, laser cuttery, and curiosities. Contents: 100% human thinking, 0% AI slop.

The New Hotness

  • Mesa 7i76 vs. Stepper Motor: First Motion

    The cables with their tidy terminations make it a little neater, but all this stuff really needs a permanent home:

    Stepper motor - first motion
    Stepper motor – first motion

    I used the LinuxCNC PNCConf utility to define a minimal system with little more than the X axis parameters filled in:

    PNCConf - X Axis
    PNCConf – X Axis

    Then I could jog the stepper motor using the Axis UI:

    7i76 - First Motion
    7i76 – First Motion

    And it worked!

    Actually, it didn’t. The first motion instantly tripped a Following Error, so I bumped those values up a bit. Then I fiddled with accelerations and speeds and suchlike. Then I adjusted the Axis defaults to not be so nose-pickin’ slow. And then it Just Worked.

    Not much to show, but at least I know the whole LinuxCNC to 5i25 to 7i76 to M542 to motor chain functions pretty much as it should, which is worth knowing. From here on out, it’s a matter of fine tuning…