Mazak + DNC + Vista = Help

[Sheba]

Hey fellas,
I have finally talked the boss into letting me try running our 4 axis mill from the PC.
Trouble is, I'm not too sure on how to set it up properly.
It's a Mazak VTC-20B with Mazatrol M Plus controller, it has a 25 pin port on the side.
I'll be using a laptop running Vista.
I guess I need to know if you can get a USB to DB25 cable, which DNC software is best, will Vista be compatible with M Plus, and any other pertinent info anyone can supply .

I used to run an old 6M Fanuc from a PC so I have a basic idea on how to go about it.

Thanks in advance from an old Aussie.

[Sheba]

Bump.

(can I do that?)

[SINUMERIKO]

If your software runs ok in XP but not in Vista, I can give you some tips to make it work.

[Sheba]

ATM I have no software or anything.
What I'ld like to know is what I need software & hardware wise to get up and running.

[Rally]

Hey fellas,
I have finally talked the boss into letting me try running our 4 axis mill from the PC.
Trouble is, I'm not too sure on how to set it up properly.
It's a Mazak VTC-20B with Mazatrol M Plus controller, it has a 25 pin port on the side.
I'll be using a laptop running Vista.
I guess I need to know if you can get a SUB to DB25 cable, which DNC software is best, will Vista be compatible with M Plus, and any other pertinent info anyone can supply .

I used to run an old 6M Fanuc from a PC so I have a basic idea on how to go about it.

Thanks in advance from an old Aussie.

If you don't know what you are doing I can only say you have a brave boss!
Laptops are also not my favorite. I prefer a trimmed PC.
Vista is OK but it is better to strip it down to a bare minimum, judging by your comment, you are not looking to network.
DNC Software???? What CAM package are you using?

[Andre' B]

I have been using NCPlot to DNC to a 3 axis mill.
Like the idea of seeing a plot of the tool path so I can do things like quickly add a G68 to spin the program around to match the fixture and get some visual feedback.
The largest programs I have been running are in the 400 to 500 thousand char. range, so not real big by some standards.

[Sheba]

If you don't know what you are doing I can only say you have a brave boss!
Laptops are also not my favorite. I prefer a trimmed PC.
Vista is OK but it is better to strip it down to a bare minimum, judging by your comment, you are not looking to network.
DNC Software???? What CAM package are you using?

I will be using EdgeCam, but only to write the ISO code. We want to try and do some 3D profiling for a client that has it done elsewhere.
All I need is a program to feed the M plus as it's memory is tiny and won't hold a lot of G-code programming.
Will Vista be compatible, what cable do I need (it has to be USB to DB25) and what software to transfer the code.

[Andre' B]

It is just RS-232 communications, hard to imagin an OS that would not work.

You can get cheaper consumer grade converters but I would look at somthing a bit better, at least with isolation.
http://www.bb-elec.com/product_family.asp?FamilyId=355
These guys can also likly help you out with getting the right cable and configuration in the CNC machine, get a cheaper one and you will get no help from them.

[Sheba]

Thanks for the help so far and sorry if I'm being a plonker, but the CNC only has a 25 pin port on the side of the control to plug into, so a RS-232 wont work.
The laptop only has USB conections unless I can use the monitor port?

[Rally]

Not a problem there are adaptors available to do the job!
Vista should work just fine I would still stripp it down to the bare minimum.
I'm talking about services and such that are running in the background.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I was under the impression that EdgeCam is capable to tramsfer data to a machine??

as for the G-Code We also have a older machine running on G-Code but have not had a problem with memory yet.

However NCPlot should work just fine.