Problem- Trouble posting to 4020 from Bobcad

[Thad Swarfburn]

Anyone using Bobcad to post to a Fadal 88?

About three months ago I figured out how to send simple toolpaths from Bobcad to one of our Fadals. I neglected to write down exactly how I did it, and now I can't for the life of me remember how!

The commands I used on the Fadal end were CD,8 then TA,1. But it seems no matter what I use for settings on Bobcad, I get an error something like "invalid handle".

Sorry I can't be more descriptive here, I wrote all this down today then left the paper on top of my locker - rushing to get away for the weekend.

Any help is welcome!
Regards,
Matt

[SBC Cycle]

I don't have my settings in this computer but I can check them when I get into the shop. What version of BobCAD?

And is the "Invalid handle" a BobCAD error box or is this at the machine?

[Thad Swarfburn]

Found the settings:
Using Com1, 9600 baud, software handshake, Xon, 7 data bits, 1 stop bit, even parity, add % to first and last lines.

The error "the handle is invalid" is a windows error box.

We have an older version of Bobcad, Version 20 or 21 I think.

Don't you hate it when you can't remember how you did something?

Here's a shot of the prior "job" I did where I WAS able to spit a toolpath out to the Fadal:

These are flywheels for a model steam engine I'm making.

It's still a pretty crude process - I have to treat it as a subroutine with the L100 command, and make the main program call it multiple times with an increasing variable to reduce the Z (#R1=R1+2, then Z=R1). There's probably better ways of doing it but nobody at work has figured it out, and there's no reason to. The guys upstairs use some megadollar CAM software for the "money jobs" that get run via DNC, and most one-offs just get manually programmed, often with cut-and-paste when doing profiles.

Just to open another can of worms, how does one generate a toolpath from line art?

Regards,
Matt

[Thad Swarfburn]

In the words of the famous Emily Litella, "Nevermind!"

I rebooted the PC attached to the machines - it's on 24/7 - and the issue went away. Sorry, shoulda tried this from the start! I read somewhere that always-on Windows machines can benefit from occasional reboots.

Matt

[denmar]

Use the Fadal Assist softwear,,works with DOS 5.0 +