Bridgeport Series II CNC w/ BOSS - Programming

[afmcorp]

good on the manuals but the electrical characteristics may not match i don't really know. if u get US manuals that would be the best. ok...

1. i am only assuming here but you probably don't have a external serial port if that is a new puter so what i'd do is get an USB to serial port adapter.

2. no on the lpt cable. don't know about that other fitting u speak of but it sends an alarm up for me. what did the PO do to the wiring and now will it work with the serial cable? untill u get a wiring dia u won't be able to tell if it works or not. if the po managed to get it wired right a serial cable might work but again i would only be guessing. you'll have to experiment. don't forget the baud rate and the com port in use in xp. the serial cable only uses 3 or 4 wires but they need to be placed right. i'd use this forum and ask if anyone has or can make a cable for u.

3. not sure what upgrades ur speaking of but i run a boss 6 and 2 boss five's and a boss 8 everyday in the stock condition the only upgrade are the serial communications. been doing this 13 plus years. haven't needed to modify anything. if your iron is ok then the only real worth while upgrade is a new controller to get 3 axis machining but you'll still only have a stepper system unless u go to the problem of adding closed loop endcoders for feedback position.

ur close to making chips just get the communucations between the computer and mill going. i use a program called ezutils. it's part of an original bp program. but all u need is a text [.txt] communicating program and ur in. there are some free and some very low cost like 20$$. once u get the manuals u'll be able to see the route u need to take. i write my programs in notepad [windows]. i use to do my communicating using 386 laptops but as those computers got scarce i went to 486 and win98 but i just bought an HP with xphome and 17" monitor for 299 from staples. no reason to use old stuff now except that these puters don't have serial ports anymore. i've never tried hyperterminal so i can't comment. maybe give it a try.

tks
craig

[dougputt]

I was able to get NC link from Onecnc on there German site. I dont speak German but was able to fuddle through it. Still cant get machine to talk to pc

[dougputt]

i've tried several pin combinations but can't get the unit to talk to Pc. I've got two amp connectors and one serial port style connector that someone has put in and hooked up to the amp connector. How do i know which amp connector to use? Anyone have any pin diagrams for cableing? I've found two but both of them show 25 pin style connectors. I'm trying to go from the 9 pin port on Pc.

[dougputt]

Oh yes, and what should the switch positions be at on the boss control? Edit/setup?
How do you start the communication process? I'm using NC link and have set to xon/xoff 4800 baud. it says it is waiting for machine to send.

[afmcorp]

does ur puter have a serial port? if yes either 9pin or 25pin does not matter. i have a dozen adapters laying around so i can adapt different pc's.

this is how u start set up

clear program use togle switch in the tape drive door. click it up and down several times. now take the upper right button on the pendant and switch to setup mode. now press the edit button on pendant screen look for red led showing u're in setup edit mode. if the red light is on under the edit section the machine is ready to receive.

but u still haven't set the baud rate on the mill or the puter. u need those manuals. u need to locate the board then flip the dip switch and for my money u really don't need to be over 2400 baud. if u don't get this right u'll never get them to talk. also the protocol settings are i think 8, none & 1 with x off. go here [ http://www.sofotex.com/easyDncXP---D...ad_L22755.html ] you can try this for like 60 days free. this will give u time to look around. i know u can find some for free

is there anybody out there that can tell dougputt what the dip switch settings are. i'm at home and don't have access to my books. u still need to sort out that plug thing u got going on. can u take a couple of jpegs, showing the out side plugs then what the wiring is a good one here so we can see exacrly what's going on??
craig

[dougputt]

you have to push the edit button or the RDI button?

[Ken Burdges]

The hyperterm program in windows works fine. Getting the rs232 baud,char wait etc can be a pain. Also, the bridgeport only accepts UPPER case. A "/" followed by lower case comments is convenient to id programs and setup.
I use 9600-8-N-1 on the boss 6 series 2 and 2400-8-N-1 on the series 1.
Get your cable wired correctly, start hyperterm program and set the mill to "setup" and press edit. It should show BOSS ? INPUT on the pc screen.
Baud rate is a switch setting on the RS232 receiving board as well as the PC. I have had to replace the UART chips for incidental static damage on a few occasions.
If you want to run programs larger than 400 lines, a BTR (Behind the Tape reader card) can be bought and plugged in instead of the tape reader and you have parallel port access.

[MnotLyon]

Some (not all) of the boss 6 machines had trouble communicating. The control is pretty slow, so sometimes it would drop a character on lines that were long. It helps to have a slight pause at the end of each character is you're having that problem.

[dougputt]

I think Mine is a boss 5, but i'm kinda slow anyhow so maybe a boss 6 would work better for me?

[dougputt]

Thanks for the info guys. i've tried pretty much everything, Chris sent me some good bulletins which i went over. Still no avail. I pulled the ERS board out and noticed two empty sockets marked TP1 & TP2 anyone familiar with these?

[afmcorp]

yes those are test ports used when running repair and maintenance.

this is how u do it

1. use toggle and clear controller
2. set the operation to setup upper rite switch
3. the rdi/edit switch set to edit
4. press the edit switch and look for red led
5. the controller is now set to receive

now computer

the only thing here is to set the program to be ready to send. now hit send or whatever the command is.

now read my earlier posts. i still suggest to use 2400bps. the slower the send the less likely the mill's computer will miss interpert. set hand shake protocol. 8 n 1 xoff if ur using xp be sure to use the proper comm port that's 1 2 3 or 4.

b sure the k10 plug is disconnected if it isn't it won't default to external programs.

if u want pm me and i can tell u how to make the cable but.....my cable is for the amp plugs not that serial port thing u mentioned. u still need to work thru that wiring to see what has been done. ur manual will show u. my series 1 boss 5 had some kind of wired in hardware. i had to work thru those little blue and purple wires but i got it using the manuals.

remember in xp u can only set the com port 1 at a time so u need to test all 4 when hooking up.

like i said i use ezutils made by bridgeport. it's nothing more than a text sending dity. i also showed u some free programs and the hyperterminal might work i've just never tried to use it. your cable is an issue also because of that extra fitting. it's always hard to fix things when the PO modifies things and doesn't keep records.
tks
craig

[dougputt]

Thanks very much for your info Craig, really appreciate it i'm actually going to put a hilbilly board in the unit, which i received 2day, just makes more sense I've never had much luck with comm ports