RS232 Question

[HayreAss]

Just got myself a TM-1P
Brand Spanking New.

I'm trying to wire up the RS232 port to receive programs from Mastercam X5 and am having some issues.

I can receive the programs from the PC just fine, providing I tell the Haas to receive, before I tell Mastercam to transmit.

This is a hassle.

With an old Anilam 1100 that I have, I can have Mastercam send the program, walk over to the mill, and click receive.
The PC has patiently waited until the Control is ready to receive before sending.

Can I make the Haas do the same?

I would like to not have to do 2 trips to get a program.

I sure would like to sit down, program, send, then go to the Haas and recieve.
Right now it's sit down, program, go to Haas, tell it to receive, go BACK to PC, tell it to transmit, go back to Haas.

A lot of annoying and unnecessary walking...

[dcoupar]

Your comm software should have a "wait for CNC" option in the send parameters. If this is checked, you start sending and the PC will wait until you hit read at the CNC.

[HayreAss]

There appears to be no such option.

I have however tried to get hardware Handshaking to work, but with no luck.

[HayreAss]

Anybody know how to make the hardware handshake work?

[deanrach]

This has been my experience too. A couple years ago we acquired ShopLink (Highland DNC, LLC) and resolved this problem. Our programs reside on a server and the HAAS (2 Mill & 2 Lathes) send/receive programs as needed without hassle. We're an educational facility, so our cost of entry was minimal. Talk to Jerry at Highland and he'll work with you. It was (and still is) a great investment for us.

[underthetire]

Don't know if anyone uses hardwire handshake any longer, you should be able to just use x on/x off and rts. Rs232 is so antiquated now, we get network rj45 on all our machines now. Then we use a wireless converter and the machine pretty much acts like everything else on the network. Much nicer.

[HayreAss]

Don't know if anyone uses hardwire handshake any longer, you should be able to just use x on/x off and rts. Rs232 is so antiquated now, we get network rj45 on all our machines now. Then we use a wireless converter and the machine pretty much acts like everything else on the network. Much nicer.

And much more expensive...

This machine is in my garage, every penny counts.

I got it working last night.

It took a different communication package instead of the native Mastercam comms, and "DC Codes" instead of Xon/Xoff

[skjafar]

have you checked if the rs232 cable is wired for hardware handshaking?
does the Haas machine support this handshaking?
i do not have a Haas machine but i can help regarding rs232 interface

[HayreAss]

have you checked if the rs232 cable is wired for hardware handshaking?
does the Haas machine support this handshaking?
i do not have a Haas machine but i can help regarding rs232 interface

These things and more, I really don't know.
Hence the thread.

I wired according to a post here from several years ago.
Rs232 Wiring Diagram?
Specifically, post 4.

I am not sure how, or why it works, but it does, and that was the goal.

However, I would like to understand the how and why.

Haas, and general consensus state Xon / Xoff should be used, but I'll be damned if I can get that to behave properly.

I can get it to work with xon / xoff, but only if I follow a specific order of set to receive, then send.

This is a silly way for things to work, so I wanted, and now have, better...

[skjafar]

post 4 has both wiring methods, and according to your system behavior, i take it that you have the cable wired for software handshaking, rewire and remove jumpers according to post 4 directions for hardware handshaking, set both machine and pc for hardware handshaking, and hopefully it will work, please let me know if it doesn't

[HayreAss]

Oops, it sure does.

I wired it for hardware handshake.

Pc >> Haas
2 2
3 3
5 7
7 5
8 4

As I said, I have it working.
But, not via Hardware Handshake.

Software handshake on PC side, with wait for Xon
DC Codes on Haas side