Newbie- How to use behind the tape reader in fanuc 6M?

[Bolle_Ma]

I once again call upon the wise men in this forum.

Some time ago i bought a horizontal machining center. It has now been installed and is ready for use. It has a fanuc 6M controller, i asume it is a 6M-A sin`s i can`t see a B any where. Anyways when i bought it a behind the tape reader (atleast thats what i asume).

And here is the question how do i use it? I have tried a couple of things but haven`t got anything working. This might ofcause have something to do with the fact that i don`t know what i`m doing. Thats why i need some info on how to use it.

I have added some pictures of the setup. I use Edgecam to generate g-code and to send the code to the machine. I also use a parallel to usb adapter sins my computer dosn`t have a parralellport.

Thanks prehand for any answers.

[Al_The_Man]

Originally Posted by Bolle_Ma I also use a parallel to usb adapter sins my computer dosn`t have a parralellport. .

Hopefully you mean Serial/usb adaptor as it looks like your hooked into the serial RS232 port, this is not a BTR, do you have a 9 pin serial port on the PC?.
You may have to make up a 3 wire cable with the handshake jumpered out if using the USB adaptor.
Dan F. may offer a bit more insight on the set up for the 6.
Al.

[Bolle_Ma]

No it's not a serial port that is connected.
it has 25 pins and last time i checked that was a parralell thingy.

[Al_The_Man]

All early CNC, and even now some are fitted with 25pin RS232 serial connector.
The first PC's that came out had two 25 pin D connectors, one was parallel/female and the other serial/male.
Al.

[Bolle_Ma]

In that case you might be right.
Sins the connector coming out of the machine is female.

Should i then use a 25/9 pin adaptor.
I actually have a 9 pin serial on my computer.

[Dan Fritz]

Al_The_Man is right. The 25-pin female connector is RS-232 (not parallel).
Someone has made a serial cable that goes to the Fanuc serial port on the CSR connector (see photo). The CSR connector is a 20-pin Honda connector that has the Fanuc's serial I/O signals. You've just wired those signals to a 25-pin female plug on the outside of the CNC. This is NOT a BTR device. A BTR device would be wired to the 50-pin ribbon style plug on the main PCB. On your control, that connector probably has a grey 50-pin ribbon that goes to the tape reader board.

You do have a 6M-A. The 6M-B has a different board that the one you show with the CSR and CSQ connectors.

Many Fanuc 6M-A controls came with just a Facit 4070 parallel tape puncher port, which is wired to CSQ. On those controls, CSR is left empty. We post some instructions on how to convert these 6M-As to serial, and it looks like someone has already done this in your case. See our .DOC file at:

http://www.sub-soft.com/download/fanuc_6a.doc

That .DOC file has a diagram on the second page for a 9-to-25 cable. That's the cable you'll have to make to go between your PC's 9-pin plug and the 25-pin plug on your 6M-A. Also check to be sure that the jumpers and the IC on the board are positioned as shown in our instructions. If they are, you should be able to communicate with the control by just making the 9-to-25 cable.

You can still use a BTR device or BTR interface on this control. The only advantage would be that a BTR will let you run a program of unlimited size through the BTR interface in TAPE mode. The Serial connection will only let you download data to the Fanuc's bubble memory in EDIT mode. If your program is larger than your bubble memory board, you're out of luck with RS232. Let us know if you have to go BTR, because there are several good options.

Al_The_Man is right. The 25-pin female connector is RS-232 (not parallel).

[Bolle_Ma]

Hi Dan

Thank for the enlightening info. In my case i would probably need a BTR sins i need to be able to run quite advansed thigs. Pluss i don`t like to have that kind of limitations. you wouldn`t by any chase know of any more ore less plug and play kits?

[Dan Fritz]

We sell a kit that lets you run files of unlimited size directly off a PC. We use a special BTR cable, which goes between the 50-pin tape reader connector on the main board and the PARALLEL printer port on the back of your PC. Our software does the rest. The Fanuc thinks it's reading a paper tape, because our software is exactly simulating the signals from the Fanuc tape reader. The old paper tape reader remains disconnected.

To use our BTR kit, your PC will have to be located close to the CNC cabinet because the BTR cable can only be about 5 meters long (maximum). The PC must also have a 25-pin female plug set up as LPT1 or LPT2. We have BTR software for MS-DOS, Windows 95/98/ME and Windows NT/2000 or XP. Some Windows settings are required to disable the native parallel port on Windows NT/2000 or XP computers, but the settings are not difficult.

You can download the software and the manual from our website, but you will need that special BTR cable shipped to you somehow. Since you are in Norway, this may take a bit of time (and $$) to ship. If you have a technician locally who could make the cable, we will provide the cable specifications.

The software is called "MultiPort PC-DNC Editor" and it's available as a download by clicking on:

http://www.sub-soft.com/download/Edi...port_3.4.0.exe

The operator's manual is downloadable also. Click here for the .PDF file:

http://www.sub-soft.com/download/Edi...tor_manual.pdf

Please refer to Appendix "E" in the back of the manual for a detailed description of the BTR output function.

Our price for the software & cable BTR kit is $1195 US. We'll deduct a bit if you want to make your own cable, which would save you the shipping charges as well.

Let me know if you need more information.

[injunear]

We also sell a btr board that will allow you to send and receive programs via your rs232 port on your pc. Simple to fit and set up, all you need then is a comms program, preferably with rts/cts hardware handshaking, but not essential. Pcb is £250.

[kylef1978]

Dan i have a 6m-b and im having problems with transfering files to the cnc.i was able to send info to the pc but that stopped working as well. do you have parameter setting and/or jumper settings i can use? and do you have a wiring diagram for building my own btr cable? thanks

[gbowne1]

I had some problems when I would DNC to my Monarch with 6M when I had it running so back in '97 I would get my programs punched to tape by a friend with a PPR.

Greg