I have a VM24 that was purchased new in 2000. Nice machine and still going strong. My question is about the disk drive. It came with a 3M Imation super disk drive that has a capacity of 120 MB. This has never work very well and will sometimes crash the controller if I DNC from the drive. I don’t really want to remove the disk drive because it will read regular floppy disks also and I find this the quickest way of downloading programs. Using the serial cable is too slow for large files. I want to add a USB port so I can use a thumb drive or some other way of getting large files to the machine. The 3M drive is obsolete and disks are getting hard to come by now so this needs to be done soon. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I should note that is has a Centurian 6 controller.

you should see if you could use a cd drive or maybe a deicated p.c.

I just got my new RH20 networked to my programing computer today, no more floppies. man does that work nice. I'm not sure of the ability of dos to operate usb. putting in a new drive is easy. you could install a zip drive also, i had one of those on a vdm 30 were i used to work and ran dnc right off of it. 60 hr runs! Todd

I agree with tsutt, Ethernet is nice.

How large are your programs? If you expand the memory to its max, about 16MB, then you can load a program of about 12MB into the run mode. It has its advantages and disadvantages. Of course it is nice to be in the run mode because it has extra features like stopping and pulling the tool away mid stroke and it checks the entire program for syntax and links before you start to run. Also your problem of the control locking up will likely go away. The down side is it takes a a couple minutes to load such a large program and I think the read ahead feature is different in run than it is in DNC.

Dave

060406-1826 EST USA

moldcore:

What is the maximum baud rate capability of your CNC. If it is 115.2 kbaud, then you can transfer about 0.6 megabyte per minute. In DNC mode (drip feed), if your program has many short strokes to do contouring, then high baud rates are needed to prevent the machine from jerking.

Our I232 isolator system provides the capability of 115.2 kbaud between RS232 ports, provides electrical isolation, and long cable length (4000 ft).

See our web site www.beta-a2.com .

.

My files vary greatly in size from less then a K to 6 MB, but I do run between 20 to 50 separate one-of programs a day so writing and downloading needs to be quick and painless, no time for dry runs. I use Surfcam to write the programs, no problems there.

So far it looks like my options are:

1. CD drive
2. Dedicated PC
3. Ethernet
4. Zip Drive
5. Expand Memory
6. 1232 isolator to kick up the speed of the serial port.

The CD drive would be too slow, at least from what I’ve experienced in making backups of my work.

Dedicated PC would be a nice option, but space is limited and doesn’t solve the downloading problem for a slow serial cable.

Ethernet is probably the best choice, but I don’t know what’s involved on the machine end, suggestions please. The machine has currently a serial port that operates I think at 9600 baud. Whatever it is, it’s very, very slow when I’ve used it.

Zip Drive is another good option but they too are becoming obsolete.

Expanding the memory may help, I believe I have about 8mb now, enough for 95% of the work I presently do.

1232 Isolator mentioned is an interesting idea but to be honest their web site is a mess and confusing and I couldn’t find any pricing.

Wayne



.

Read some of my other posts for more information about adding Ethernet connectivity.

Dave

Read some of my other posts for more information about adding Ethernet connectivity.

Dave

Dave,
I didn’t see anything in your post about the hardware needed on the machine end, Will a regular Ethernet card work in the machine controller? Or do I have to get this from Milltronics along with software upgrades?

I purchased a PCI Ethernet card from one of the major mfgs like Intel or 3Com. Anything compatible with the old Microsoft software. It is not easy to find out what is compatible anymore but I recommend you start with a simple name brand card and give it a try.


Dave

you should see if you could use a cd drive or maybe a deicated p.c.
use of ethenet card was where I should have lead this by keep the file one one pc that not on a network or not needed for something else will speed upload time i had a protrak dpm and just kept lagre files on cd and sent code as drip feed. You just can't run anything else. Even an old pc with a disk drive thru com port 1 will do this as it only tranfering code and not running cam your dnc software must be able to handle speed

I have a VM16 1997 and installed a zip drive in mine 100megabyte. Extremely fast upload time, I can load a 20 meg file with it faster than a 1 meg file with floppy. Mine is centurion 6 also. I did it for $50. You can get good internal zips on ebay for around $5. Just stock up on them for replacements if needed. You can set this up in replacement of the floppy and loading programs is the same. You can configure the parts storage folder to your hardrive or the ramdrive, but for large programs you would want to dnc from the hard drive or you can dnc from the zip drive also. If you are having trouble dncing from the hard drive maybe the drive needs to be replaced. I was having trouble too and replaced it and everything is fine now.

I highly recommend the ethernet route. Although I have a dedicated PC just for CAD/CAM, so this makes it convenient. I installed a CD-R in this PC and back up the programs (Parts folder) regularly and throw them in the safe. My machine came with the ethernet option and just needed some tweaking - which Dave (single phase) understands very well and helped me with.