4020HT - question

[MBX5]

So I am a bit of a noob, but I am learning.... I have gotten the setup, fixture offsets, tool offsets, etc all under control...

So, that said, today I was running some 16" x 22" long x 3/4" 6061-T6 plates - just milling some pockets, slots, and drilling some holes... The post was about 29000 lines, in increments of 100....

At around line 27100 - which were just coordinates for the final slot I was milling, the spindle shut off, and all motion stopped....command line was up as if the program had ended....however no command was given to end the program... Has anyone seen this before?

I was drip feeding the data using Predator.

I was using carbide end mills, and some SGS S-carb end mills so my feed speeds were pretty quick, and my spindle speed was maxed at 10k...

Note when it stopped there were no error messages - it was just at the command line.

Thanks in advance!

[advt001]

What baud rate are you using?

[MBX5]

I will double check but I am pretty sure its 9600

[Neal]

How old is the software? Are you running DNC or from memory? Try 19200 baud for DNC and use Xmodem if your software supports it.

Neal

[MBX5]

Thanks for the replies. The machine is a 1995 with the CNC88HS control...not sure what release of software...

When the mishap occurred I was running DNC... I did notice that in some of my posts the notes between parenthesis sometimes dont have a closing parenthiess, and have funny characters like smiley faces and hearts....this is what is in Predator....wondering if there is a translation problem?

Also sometimes when I DNC I have to send it twice....the first time through the data starts to get sent and it errors.....but it always works the 2nd time...weird...

[DareBee]

Sounds like a COM issue.
Are you running a dedicated serial port on your PC?

[Neal]

Sounds like you have a marginal electrical noise issue. Change the baud rate to 19200 and verify that the sheilded RS-232 cable is not near and floresent lights, EDMs, welders, or any source of RF (radio frequencies) as these will cause data interference.
Also verify that you do not have any cold solder joints or weak connections.

Neal