Finally finished my LinuxCNC control conversion!

So I moved last year, and I’ve been without my CNC since then. I decided to take the opportunity to move away from my somewhat janky TinyG v9 board and control box to a LinuxCNC setup. Main reason for the move was I was never quite able to get probing and limit switches completely stable on my TinyG, noise issues most likely but also firmware problems.

So I decided to opt for LinuxCNC with an MX4660 stepper driver and a Mesa 7i92M ethernet FPGA. I had a Linux PC that I was previously using to drive the TinyG which is now running LinuxCNC. Cut a long story short, here’s my new box!

I may have gone a little overboard with the powersupply (1000W 48v toroidal ), but, I can say its a complete success. Everything works perfectly, probing and limit switches are super reliable now.

I put in EMI filters for the input power, as well as the power going to the VFD, I’ve got a circuit setup for push button power up of the control circuitry and e-stop interruption, spindle direction and speed control is also working.

All this is packed into an IKEA metal HALLAN cabinet, with the CNC controller, supply and circuitry on the upper shelf, and the PC gutted and mounted to a board in the bottom shelf.

I have to say the MX4660 is a superb, if pricey, piece of kit, my machine has never run so smoothly, or so fast with no resonance or unexpected noises and the steppers are staying at a nice temp too. Highly recommend the upgrade if you have the coin to spare.

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Nice work! Great cable routing is a pleasure to behold. :nerd_face:

Thanks! It was a very therapeutic exercise!

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Can you provide more info on the toroidal power supply?

Sure thing, its from https://www.antekinc.com/1000w/

The supply I got has a 12v 1amp, 5v 1amp and 48v output. I use the 12v supply on the relays and the 5v supply to drive the mesa board.

The main reason for the switch to such a PSU is that when steppers are slowed or stopped they cause a large back EMF which if the powersupply cannot absorb can cause damage to your controller. In this case the mx4660 is pretty pricey, so I don’t want to blow it and they recommend large caps to absorb this emf, or a toroidal supply. Since I was running a 24v supply before I decided an upgrade to 48v was actually better for holding force on my steppers anyway.

The Antek guys are super helpful as well btw, they’ll make supplies that aren’t listed if you need a specific voltage for your steppers.

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Beautifully clean build. Congrats on the update and having things running again.

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