Mazak L 32 communication problem

[breazr]

Hello,

I had to work with a Mazak L32 laser cutting machine.

It has a RS232 interface, but there is no "DNC I/O" or "RS 232 I/O" menu, even if floppy disk and punched tape I/O menus are present.

Of course, the machine has nor floppy disk, neither punched tape units.

In the operating manual, there is also no description of RS232 communication menu, even if RS232 communication parameters are presented in the annexes.

Does anybody run into such problem, or does anybody know how to use serial communication with this machine ?

[DaveDoesIT]

Have you checked the Mazak websites to see if there is a manual available for download?

How old is the machine?

Have you tried calling Mazak?

Are you sure it is an RS232 interface? Maybe it uses printer drivers on the host computer and that is a printer port connection.

[breazr]

Hello,

First, thank for your answer.

I'm sure about the fact that the interface on the machine is a RS232 one. Some time ago it was succesfully used for transfering programs (but nobody recalls how).

The machine has an operating manual, but as I said, no info regarding the RS232 transfer. It could be a good idea to look for a newer one.

I'm not sure about contacting the Mazak local representative. As far as I know, they offer support only for milling and turning machines. They don't sell laser cutting machine in the country. The machine is a second-hand one (better said "seven hand", it had a lot of owners).

Again, thanks for the answer.

[DaveDoesIT]

Originally Posted by breazr I'm not sure about contacting the Mazak local representative.

Happy to try and help. I would still give the local Mazak a call.

In my last post I said website"S" as I thought you might be able to find Mazak sites in other countries not just your own.

Try using the UK, US, Australian, German etc versions of the search engines.

http://www.google.co.uk/

mazak laser

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en...e+Search&meta=

Dave

[breazr]

Hello Dave,

I succeded to transfer files frotm the machine to the PC, using the RS223 serial interface.

However, I could not, by any means, transfer files from the PC to the machine.

I never had this problem, usually either works both ways or it does not work at all.

I have no idea what else to try.

[DaveDoesIT]

Originally Posted by breazr I succeded to transfer files frotm the machine to the PC, using the RS223 serial interface.

Hi Breazr,

I thought I replied to this yesterday. Must not have clicked "Submit"

Can you get the Mazak into waiting mode for the PC to send?

Have you studied the file you downloaded? Does it have any unique start and stop characters? Often the % (Percent sign) was used to signal a start and stop in CNC milling machines. You set the machine control in waiting mode, then the PC sends a %, the file and follows with another % at the end.

The CNC machine will use the first % to begin recording and the last one to stop recording.

It may not be a % but usually a character not used in the program.

If you can find some software that will capture the Windows incoming serial port buffer, you may even see non-printable control characters as start and stop.

It used to be the thing for manufacturers to do that so that people were forced to use their software for transfers. They would use tweaky things like 3 carriage returns to indicate an end of line, or just a line-feed and no carriage return etc. Without their software it would come in as one long stream.

Dave

[sandmanxxl]

Hi, saw this old post and since I have the same problem, I was wondering how did you solve the problem? Which software do you guys use to transfer G-code to the Mazatrol L32B?

[breazr]

Hello sandmanxxl,

Well, I just wanted to help a friend which owned the machine.

As far as I know, the problem could not be solved at a reasonable price, so that friend just sold the machine.

We used (unsuccesfully) a lot of DNC transfer programs, but usually the one we use (and works in most of the cases) is NC net lite from Cadem:

ftp://ftp.cadem.com/pub/trial/ncnetlite70.exe

Hope that will help.

[sandmanxxl]

Just wanted to thank you breazr, with the help of your advice I solved the communication problem. I was using some old DOS programs which did not work any more. The programs that you suggested are working fine.

Many thanks