DNC to Haas mill (1994) with USB laptop?

[ralph@nes]

Hello all!

I've got a Haas VF-2 (1994) and a pile of Bridgeport EZ-Path lathes in my shop and I'd like to start offloading programs to our server. Most of the lathes have a working floppy drive, but I'd rather not go around to each one dumping these hundreds of programs manually. The Haas has no such drive, so I know a cabled option is necessary there.

All the information I find on the cable for the Haas DNC is using a 9-pin serial on the PC side, which is fine because I have a desktop near there. However, there is no desktop near the Bridgeports and I really would like to keep it that way. My laptop only has USB.

Does anyone have any experience doing DNC with either a usb-to-serial or a cable that perhaps uses a serial/usb adapter on the end of it? I'm going to be making the Haas cable later today and that goes to 9-pin serial. If anyone has any input as to the best way to make that connect to a USB at some point, it would be greatly appreciated.

Ralph

[DareBee]

I connect to my CNCs using a USB-serial from "Cables To Go".
Make sure to install the driver first.
I have used this device on 3 laptops ranging from a P3 on Win 2000 to my brand new Dual Core on XP Pro.

A more positive method would be a PCMCIA serial port, which I have not needed.

[ralph@nes]

Cool. I'll check that out.

[kwallace]

I'm buying a HAAS Vf5 and I will be using a laptop with mastercam to go between the offica and the mill.

I just rang up the HAAS guy and asked about a direct usb -> usb and he told me with no doubt that it's not a problem.

oop, i just realised in your title it says 1994

[Digitech]

Hello all!

I've got a Haas VF-2 (1994) and a pile of Bridgeport EZ-Path lathes in my shop and I'd like to start offloading programs to our server. Most of the lathes have a working floppy drive, but I'd rather not go around to each one dumping these hundreds of programs manually. The Haas has no such drive, so I know a cabled option is necessary there.

All the information I find on the cable for the Haas DNC is using a 9-pin serial on the PC side, which is fine because I have a desktop near there. However, there is no desktop near the Bridgeports and I really would like to keep it that way. My laptop only has USB.

Does anyone have any experience doing DNC with either a usb-to-serial or a cable that perhaps uses a serial/usb adapter on the end of it? I'm going to be making the Haas cable later today and that goes to 9-pin serial. If anyone has any input as to the best way to make that connect to a USB at some point, it would be greatly appreciated.

Ralph

Dear Ralph,

I have used BAFO make USB to Serial adaptor.
It works well with laptop & HAAS.
If you need DNC Software, visit www.digitech-engineers.com
We also offer wireless DNC for HAAS.

Deepak