BobCad V23 and Predator for Fadal CNC88 controler

[kreed]

I am having trouble getting my predator to send anything to my Fadal 4020 mill. I don't know what all the settings need to be at in order to communicate. I found in the controler section of my operators manual that my baud rate needs to be set at 9600, the parity at even, 8 data bits, and two stop bits. I set these parameters with no success. I also found that Fadal has a cnc editor of their own, would it be better to use this one for file transfer? Any info will be greatly appreciated.

[FUBAR62172]

Goto BobCAD-CAM Support Forum and ask your question there

[kreed]

Thanks for responding. I tried to ask Bobcad for help, but my employer has not purchased a maintenance contract and bobcad will not answer my questions, or return my calls. Looks like I'm stuck.

[SBC Cycle]

The cable might be your issue as well. There's something funky about the pins that was a bit out of ordinary if I recall.

That said, your parameters don't match what I'm using and I use Predator to communicate with my machine everyday. Here's my setup:

COM1 (depends on your computer setup)
Baud Rate 19200 (as long as Predator and the Fadal agree - 9600 is standard I think)
Parity - Even
Data - 7
Stop - 1
Flow - Software
Wait for CNC - NO CHECK
RTS - CHECK
DTR - CHECK
Timeout - 5000

The baud rates need to match for sure. If you have extremely long cables, better to stick with 9600. I have good shielded cables that are medium length and I run 19200 with no problems.

Try these changes first, if none work I'll try to help further.

[kreed]

Thanks again, I changed the settings to match yours and had to delete the predator nc header. Preadator and the machine are talking now, but preadator is trying to send the whole program at once even though I choose the DNC option. This isn't working with big programs, because the memory in the controler isn't big enough. What do I do for this?

[SBC Cycle]

You'll have to set the Fadal to DNC mode. I can't quite recall what the command is for that because I use the Spacebar menu functions. If you know what that is, (make sure you are on the "Functions" menu and not the "Quick Keys"):

Press 2 for Memory

Press the number for Run Program (can't remember the number)

Press 2 for DNC

Press 1 for Begin (I think! Going from memory here!)

Now I think you can go ahead and press DNC in Predator and it will send as much of the program as the buffer will take. Go back to the machine and when you press start she should take off! Just be careful, I did something wrong in my sequence once and when I hit send in Predator the Fadal took off immediately. I don't know a lot about the communications, just enough to get the job done so proceed slowly and a second hand helps. Let me know how it goes.

[kreed]

I'm having trouble with my computer crashing while running the verify function of Bobcad V23 to simulate. What is a good computer for running Bobcad V23 that can handle it's graphics. I know that V23 is a 32bit application, but that is all I know. Can anyone clarify this for me.

[Waynno]

I had to fiddle with my post proccesor to work the exact same combination

I also found Fadal control doesnt like all the comment crap BobCad throws in
Like "(Slice Planer) comments, and all the preditor crap at the top of the code
like all the stock dimensions and such to make the animation work

I usally strip out that stuff manually before I send it to the machine

Also maybe try a slower baud rate if you are getting parity errors