Bridgeport R2G4 Dripfeed from mastercam

[leeputman]

I have the post in Mastercam but no response so I am starting it here also.


Drip Feed into a Fanuc 11MA Controller on Bridgeport R2G4 V Mill

I have come a long way since my first posts however I cannot overcome this one problem.
I use Master Cam X. Now that I am getting into very large programs I am setting up for Drip Feed. My computer man and I found that we had to set the baud rate to 1200. The program feeds some in and stops, the mill starts and execute those commands BUT the controller will not ask the PC for more code. Any ideas?

The computer guy says I should ask exactly which type of hand shaking should I use? He is tempted to go against the advice of the manuals and wire the RS232 port for hardware handshaking. I can give you all the settings from the Master cam communications screen if this helps.

I am certain that Master cam is sophisticated enough to do this without an add-on program but I am just not sophisticated enough to figure it out.

Thanks in advance for all the help I know I will be offered.

BTW, I am cutting the controller off the long arm mount from the machine and mounting the entire box in a standard computer rack. I am just tired of all the crooked neck from trying to look up at it. With bi-locals it only amplifies the problem. I like the idea of having the controller mounted immediately above my PC in the same cabinet.

3 days later

My computer man and I were working late again one evening and tried the drip feed. I had forgotten how to start the process so was in EDIT to allow the PUNCH option to come up. I put in the program number hit INSERT took control to TAPE and hit cycle start. The program started and ran continiously. We thought it was working. It stopped once, I hit CYCLE START a few times, then I think I hit RESET and CYCLE START, the machine started again then overtraveled in the Z + direction. It seems, the program kept feeding and disappearing then picked up again. Not knowing where it was supposed to be, it just picked up the next line of code and took off.

Not to worry. I have removed the tool and lowered the table. This was an expiriment in open air.

I'm getting closer but still need advice. Not sure if this post should be in MasterCam or Bridgeport so I will cut and paste it there also. Thanks Lee

[machintek]

People laughed when I suggested this when installing these machines. Turn your glasses upside down.
I thought that the Fanuc used a different cable for DNC with hardware hand shake.
Next time, in the office, i will look it up. Did you call FANUC? Have you looked at other CAM systems and what they recommend? Google Featurecam.

George

[machintek]

Attached are some DNC cable configurations as well as a sheet explaining handshaking.

George

[leeputman]

I too am laughing at turning my glasses upside down, do you mean so that I will not get a sore neck? Now I want to turn the machine on and try it. When I first got started I have a 5 foot ladder that I sat on top of so I could look down. That was humerus also.

I received much information from you George last July and Aug when I got this machine. I am light years from where I was then. I actually think I make this machine usable now. I made another jump with MasterCam and can do the 3D tool paths. That is the reason I wanted the drip feed.

To answer your questions, no, I have not googled other CAM programs because I really can not imagine how to get information like this unless I purchased the program.

I have found my controller on Fanuc but not called them. Also figured it would all be at a price since I am such a small time user. And, figure that they will just refer me to my manuals which I have already deviated from.

I think the reason for my stuborn frustration is that MaserCam is pretty big in the industry with a big price tag. This should be a simple communications issue should it not? I think I will respond in this thread with individual issues you or others bring up. It may help organization. thanks for the response.

[leeputman]

ProComm

George, I read some of your other threads on this subject and your said you used ProComm. We have that here and loaded it. It crashed right away. It looked rather simple or old and with Win XP I think there was a conflict.

Others referenced using a genuine DOS operating system. I can do that but them I can not run Master Cam.

I looked at the hardware handshaking cable diagram you sent and it looks just like the kind of thing my computer guy is looking for. thanks a bunch. Lee

[machintek]

Procomm is for transfering programs from machine to PC and the opposite BUT NOT for DNC.
It was given to me back in 1990 and was a DOS shareware version. It ran very well on the PC back then because they were mostly DOS based. I still carry a old Laptop running WIN95 with DOS and use this procomm to download parameters from/to FANUC and Heidenhain controls. It also talks to the older BOSS machines for editing programs.
Master cam has its own communication program, does it not?

George