How do I drip feed a program to my Fadal

[f.100]

I am blessed with not much memory...anyone no how to drip feed a prog from
Pc....Fadal rippin people off with that tiny memory situation....Yea you can upgrade for 1200 bucks.....WOW......its just text people...LOL....

Help please....im using surfcam with SDNC .............

[scott333]

Fadal has a program called assist that works pretty easily. I would think they would provide it to.

[Scott_bob]

DNC or Dirrect Numerical Control is really inconvienent. Keep track of how much time you'll be wasting not cutting chips...

You can find some comfort in your case, at least with your Fadal you can get enough memory for your big CNC programs. If you had a Fanuc you would have to pay double what you'll pay for Fadal memory. 512k of Fanuc memory is a lot. 4 Mb is a minimum level for a Fadal.

If you have the need for using huge programs you'll only be happy with a new control.
When you consider that 8 Mb of memory is $2,000 and a new PC based retrofit control is less than 30k. The memory issue is just one benefit of course.

Just keep this in mind when you're cursing the cause of your CNC hastles (the control)...

[rolinjunk]

Fadal is ok to dnc. Most any comm. program with flow control will work. You must set baud rate.
There is a hard parameter spelled out some where in the book. You can set it on the fly with the command CD,9 .....
......I think this will set it to 4800 or 9600. e,8,1 and a standard serial cable or null. I am going back in memory
5 years so it would be good to look this up in the book.

I use a program call dnc-1000. Made by Olmsead Engineering in the late 80's. It is
written in assembler and is very fast. It will allow mid starts and will set up modals
and allow multiple max N block skip. It runs in DOS or WIN cmd shell.

A shareware called ncc2.exe can also be used but it is hard to make it mid start.

There are others like Preditor but that will cost.

Another awkard option is to break your programs up in the post to only output so many characters.
I have done this when mid start dnc software was not available. Then you have multiple
programs that have a special move in the post to send the Z home and wait to delete program and reload memory with
next sequence. The smart cam people may be able to make a post that will do this for you.

If you are using large programs all the time you want dnc software that allows mid starts. If a tool breaks you can go
back to a specific tool and line number or x y value. This is a common problem of machines from a while back and can be fixed with dnc.

Olmstead may still sell this software and can be reached at 231-946-3174. It would
be reasonable and work well with a simple computer 486-33 and up. Have a nic card
and some hard drive space. This software is key locked protected. Even though win95
is dated and isn't used I was able to get it to DNC with this software to 2 machines
in 2 cmd shells realiably at the same time. Do not run screen saver or other apps. while attempting this.
Win98 or NT will not do this but will run 1 machine. Comm ports
must be specified in windows and dos. ex: com1=9600,e,8,1.

These are cave man methods used still by people with many controllers lacking mem,
harddrives, network interface or flash readers. I think machines are still sold this way
but who knows why???

If any one knows of another lowbudget or free mid-start DNC program I hope they sound off.

You may also have to use the G-code fadal has for high speed data execution if your
code is many short moves. This will alow there older controllers to read 1000 blocks
per second. wowie zowie.

This posting is by no means anything more than a guide where help may be, and all
of this should be verified with Z above the steel. Once you have test cut and verified
your post with hopefully all of the possible G-codes and subroutines and M-codes your
software can muster you should be safe. This is why it is good to have support from
all your software and machine tool providers atleast untill each work station is up
and ticking. These support guys can help with any of this. There may also be a local
network company familar with these or similar methods.

It is not black science only gray.

Good luck with this Fadal it is a good machine that cuts great.

________________

later

ROLIN

[Dan B]

We have had good success with XpertDNC. It runs around $500 but I feel it is worth it.

Dan

[cadcam]

one machine or sevrial machines.

If it is one machine you could go with the Predator Editor that will do all this including being a really nice editor that will also do backblot of code for $500.00
If you need more then one machine at a single time then you must moveup into the Predator DNC 4.X software supports up to 256 machines from one computer.

Also take a llok at Metacut has a really nice restart that is graphical for restart.
http://www.metacut.com/

[DareBee]

F.100
I understand how you feel. I think my FADAL has something like 84k mem.
I DNC most everything
XPert DNC came packaged with VisualMill so I currently use it with no problems.
I did spend a few weeks using a free program called NCnet Lite
http://www.cadem.com/freednc.htm
before I got my VisualMill.

[Scott_bob]

DareBee,

When you say DNC, do you mean Direct Numerical Control?
In other words, the program is not sent into the CNC control memory.

This makes your CNC control seem like a conduit for executing motion, but a really, really slow conduit if everything you do is run this way. I'm just asking the question: Do you know just how slow this process is? Do you know what BPT means?

Please don't be offended,

[DareBee]

Yes Direct Numerical
Yes it can be slow if you are doing a lot of very small processes.
I sometimes batch send to me control but it will only hold about 2500 lines of code.
I run 9600 baud rate and generally the control doesnt choke up untill a have a long series of extremely short moves.
My CNC work is mostly 1 or 2 off so the DNC is acceptable for me, especially compared to the 3 or 4000 that a wee bit of extra memory costs.
Sorry dont know what BPT is.
No offence taken

[f.100]

maybe yal dont understand how DUMB i am......LOL.....just cant seem to figg out what to type in at the machine to do it...break it down fer me please....
LOL.....

[Scott_bob]

DareBee,

For a definition of BPT:

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showpo...0&postcount=70

Are you cutting Aluminum or Steel?
Have you checked out the Fadal Augusta forum thread?
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showpo...00&postcount=1

Regards,

[DareBee]

F.100
When at "Enter next command" (not at MDI input mode) type DNC press enter then send program from computer. Nothing will seem to happen but machine will be flashing "waiting". Press START. if parameters etc are set right you will have gotten no error messages and the machine will start within 10 seconds or so.