Seimens 840 lathe control need help badly

[Barney]

I just purchased a Hyundai cnc lathe and cannot figure out how to load my program into buffer area to run it, I am running programs from the MDA part of the contoller now, but it erases the program everytime I shut the lathe down, MDA is the equivalent of MDI in other controls, fyi.
Please help if you can, I just need to know how to write and load it into the buffer area of the control, I have the books but they are really hard to understand, I need someone to help me understand this control, it is a difficult one to run for sure. I have been programming for over 25 years, lathes and mills, I know how to run Okumas, Fanuc, Mits, Haas, Hurco, Texas Instruments controls, but this German made Seimens is hard to understand for sure. Please reply to this post if you can help me, thanks!!

[Switcher]

I run 840D (NT), is that what you have?

Siemens has a few 840 controls (840D sl/840Di sl/840D/840Di)

How are you able to run any programs (Floppy ?) If its not on the hard drive?


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[Barney]

It has a dos system, kind of looks like windows, it is color screen, the book goes into great detail on how to convert a MDA program to a MPG file that can be loaded into another part of the controller to be executed, the problem is I have spent many hours trying to do this and have failed every time. I need some advise to get me on the right track, thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

[Barney]

the control does not have a floppy, I think it is possible to ad on, but right now it does not have one. The hard drive seems to work flawlessly, but I am doing something wrong. I purchased the lathe from a large mfg company, they used it a lot, it has hundreds of programs still it it. I may be able to edit one of the existing programs, but need help doing that also. That may be an easier route. We run the same program all the time, simple and not too long, but it would be nice to save the program in the memory and then possibly run another program on the machine at some point. I have ran 18,000 parts on the machine in the last 4 weeks and it runs great, just need to learn how to program it better. Like I said I have a lot of cnc machines (18 currently) and have been programming for years on lots of different controllers, but this one is pretty much a different animal.

[Switcher]

My machine was built about 2000, runs 840D, more like Windows 95.

The way I get to my programs is with softkeys ( Menu Select / Programs ) near the PC monitor. Do you have any keys like that?

Once inside ( Programs ) I can Edit/Save/Load/Unload any program on the hard drive, the Edit/Save/Load/Unload are all activated with softkeys, and pretty strait forward.

First each program has a main program ( MPF ), used to call up all your sub-programs needed. Then you have all the sub-programs ( SPF ), usually that do the actual cutting. All of this should be in one folder.

I would try this, since you have a lot of old programs from the former owner of the machine.

(1) Take one of the old very small programs, open the ( MPF ) for that part, in the text editor on the machine.

(2) Comment out all the sub-programs that the main program is trying to call up, I use a semicolon ( ; ) on my 840D machine .

(3) Instead of a sub-program, add "Dwell time"

G4 F30 ;Dwell time 30 seconds

(4) Double check the g-code in the Main program so no crash.

(5) Close the program from the text editor (It should Save by itself).

(6) Press the Softkey ( Load ).

(7) Press the Softkey ( Machine ) to exit to the main screen.

(8) Now once you get back to the main screen open the the part you just edited ( I can't remember the name of the Softkey (I'm at home)).

(9) Press ( Cycle Start ).

Note: The Program should do whatever g-code is in your ( MPF ), and also Dwell for 30 seconds.

If all that goes good, run the program a couple of times just to double check.

Shut the machine down. Wait a couple of min. and start the machine back up. Try and run the same program that you just edited.



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[Barney]

I am going to try this tonight after I get off work, I have the machine at our other shop. Thanks a lot for the help. I know a lot about other controls, like Hurco, Mits, Okuma and Fanuc, if you ever need help email me and I will be glad to assist you on them. I have serviced these controls as well so I can help with some of the service issues too. Barney

[Switcher]

Let us know how it goes.

I might need help one day on the Fanuc.

Also I have a good link to Siemens online manuals in PDF, If you need them.




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[BlueChip]

I have been looking for a Siemens manual for a lathe control ... any model ... in PDF form. I would greatly appreciate it if you or someone else could post a link where I can download that manual.

Thanks in advance.

[Barney]

Thanks a lot for the offer on the pdf manuals of Seimens control, I will be looking forward to getting the link.
Barney

[Switcher]

(Link #1) Programming Manual Fundamentals (Direct Download PDF):
https://www.automation.siemens.com/d...&pagemode=none

(Link #2) All Seimens PDF Manuals
https://www.automation.siemens.com/d...06_e&scope=all

You can pick your specific category on the left (Link #2).



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[Switcher]

Siemens Technical Forum:
http://www.automation.siemens.com/WW...ranet=standard


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