DNC Questions about MHP B-22 with Hydrapath III

[Jim Estes]

I have an MHP B-22 machining center with a Hydrapath III control. I can DNC to the machine but only at 2400 bps. There is an option to set the baud rate at 4800 and 9600 bps. But when I do that, it is very unreliable, I get errors and the program stops. Does anyone know about this control specifically? Any suggestions on how to get it to work properly would be greatly appreciated. After getting BobCad-Cam V20 and getting into the 3D milling, I need to speed the machine up to keep up with me programming.

Also, I wasn't sure I had my RS-232 Cable made properly, so I ordered one from Shop Floor Automation, they sent me two different connectors to connect to the machine, one of them works and the other one doesn't with the settings that I used.

So if anyone knows the Hydrapath III, I'd really appreciate some help.

Thanks,

Jim

[Al_The_Man]

I don't know the Hydrapath III but is the serial cable fully populated or is the hardware hanshake jumpered, if so the cable will have only 3 conductors between ends and this does not allow hardware handshake. Also there is the ability on most systems to also use software handshake by inserting start/stop codes into the transmission. Often if some kind of handshake is used the higher baud rates can be used.
Al

[Jim Estes]

I recieved a phone call yesterday about this machine, from a member of CNC Zone. He advised me to check the "buffer" for the COM prot that I was using to DNC to the machine. I turned the buffer off (in win98) and now the machine works great with 9600 BPS. I just wanted to say thank you, I will not mention his name but he was dead on with his advice.

Jim

[gar]

050601-1133 EST USA

Jim:

It is great that your problem was solved.

At 9600 baud and short fast strokes does your CNC hesitate? or do you slow the feed rate down to eliminate the intermittent operation?

If the CNC allows, then have you tried higher baud rates? or can you add an option to increase baud rate?

.

[Jim Estes]

Unfortunately 9600 BPS is the highest option available for this machine as it is. I could opt for a control upgrade, but right now I am getting my money's worth. At 9600 bps I only notice a slight hesitation when cutting 3d contours in graphite for electrodes that are less than about 2 square inches. With only a 5000 rpm spindle I can't feed nearly as fast in steel so that is not a problem. Cutting aluminum with very small endmills isn't a problem either because I have to slow the feedrate down to keep from breaking the cutter. I am about at the limits of speed for this machine, but I am much faster than I used to be at 2400 bps. Also, since turning off the FIFO buffer for the COM port I haven't had a single error while sending programs, that alone saves me tons of time.

Jim

[rr167]

I may have a manual for the Hydrapath III. Also there is company here in Buffalo that should be able to answer any questions about the MHP machine. They are called AMT machines. http://www.amtmachs.com/.
Let me know if you would like a copy of the manual

rr167

[jbairos]

hi there were trying to post from bob cad v23 to our mhp s-24 machining center and aren't having any luck at all with it weve broguht up the load screen but every time we try to post they dont seem to reconize each other

[Jim Estes]

I had a lot of trouble figuring out how to DNC to my B-22 machine. I had cable problems, so I bought my DNC cable from www.shopfloorautomations.com, worked perfect for me.

I had a few problems with the settings, both at the machine and at the PC.

I finally got the DNC to work, but there are some very specific things that need to be done in order to get very long programs to run.

If you would like the information, I can e-mail you a couple of pages of very specific things to do in order to get it to work.

[Jim Estes]

Here is a PDF file of the information that I have compiled from years of working with BobCad and the MHP machine. I hope it helps.

The BobCad setup is for version 21, I don't have V23 so I don't know the exact setup for that. I have the settings for Predator, but at the moment it is busy sending a very long program to my machine, when it is finished I will post a screen shot of the setting to send from Predator.

Jim

[jbairos]

im going to look over the pdf and have another go at it ill let you know how i make out today. took the weekend off to cool down :P

[jbairos]

still trying to completely figure it out our machine doesn't seem to like job number 99. but i have a feelng it could maybe be our rs-232 cable. if you could get me the pictures it would be great. our machine is a s-24 but so far all the screens were like your pdf

[Vrogy]

Here's another stymied operator. Trying to get DNC working from Predator to a HydraPath III.

Comp is modern, usb to serial. I've spent hours fiddling with the extensive settings, no dice. The farthest I've gotten is an "IMPROPERLY FORMATTED TAPE" error.. which I think means that it's receiving data, just not properly-formatted data.

I'm also getting an ILLEGAL JOB NUMBER when I put in 99.