Mazatrol EIA data trasfer

[kamran67]

hi
i am trying to connect my computer to mazatrol EIA by RS232 cable. I am using Mastercam. I used the manual to setup both machine and PC to the transfering. Still when i try to send data from mazatrol to pc, it shows the machine that it is sending OUT but nothing comes to PC. in the other hand, when i send data from PC to machine, mazatrol do not recieve anything at all. do you know what i am missing or what can be the problem? any procedure you know that i can take? thanks.

[ghyman]

oooohhh... yucky.

I will assume you've built your cable per mazak's specs, or are at least using a null modem adapter, so I won't go into that (mazak has a 6-page fax of drawings and instructions if you say 'please')

I tried to get mine to go for quite a while, and never could get it to work.
Apparently, the mazatrol datacom routine is a little "fussy". The mazak tech guy that came out could make it work with mazak's own cad/cam package, which included a file transfer program, (which verified my cable) but nothing else would. He claimed ignorance, but another source (former mazak tech) told me that there's a little bit of proprietary 'stuff' that gets transferred before the actual code will go.
You have two options (or at least, I was told that there were two!):
Buy an upgrade to the control that allows saving to floppy (it looks like a little blue toaster... mazak knows what they are if you ask for a toaster), about $1000
Buy mazak's cad/cam package (toaster times ten minimum)

That being said, we also had 2 mazatrol "fusion" turn mills... one was only mazatrol, and would only work with the toaster/cadcam options. The second had the "g-code" upgrade, and would transfer everything to just about any file transfer package I could find.

Good luck!

[Dan Fritz]

We've been able to transfer EIA files to & from all the Mazatrol models that have the EIA option.

The first (and most important) thing to worry about is your cable. It must be a "Null-modem" cable, and there are several configurations that will work OK.
Here's a cable diagram that should work in all situations.

For computers with 9-pin serial ports:

Mazak (25 pin) ----- PC side (9pin)
pin 1 -- cable shield
pin 2 ---------------- pin 2
pin 3 ---------------- pin 3
pin 4 ---------------- pin 8
pin 5 ---------------- pin 7
pin 7 ---------------- pin 5
pins 6 & 8 ----------- pin 4


For computers with 25-pin serial ports:

Mazak (25 pin) ----- PC side (25 pin)
pin 1 -- cable shield
pin 2 ---------------- pin 3
pin 3 ---------------- pin 2
pin 4 ---------------- pin 5
pin 5 ---------------- pin 4
pin 7 ---------------- pin 7
pins 6 & 8 ----------- pin 20

The second thing to consider is the baud rate, stop-bits, parity, and data bits setting. These are set as parameters in the Mazatrols, and you must be sure that the settings match your DNC software. You say that you can't transfer data in either direction, and that's typical of a baudrate mis-match.

You should be able to use 4800 baud on all of the Mazatrols. Set your DNC software to 4800 baud, 2 stop-bits, 7 data bits, ASCII Even parity. Then, set your Mazatrol's parameters to match. For info on each model's parameter settings, go to our West Coast distributor's web site: www.rym.com and click on the link to "Online support and downloads", then click the link to "CNC configurations". You'll see a list of all the model Mazatrols with suggested parameter settings.

Once the cable is OK and the DNC software matches the Mazatrol's parameter settings, be sure that you're DNC software is sending a percent sign first, then the program data, then a percent sign at the end. Any deviation from this format may cause the CNC to not accept the program.

Good luck!

[ghyman]

Off-topic:

Dan Fritz: I had used PCDNC from RYM for a number of years at a now-out-of-business company. In fact, that was our default transfer program. Good package!

We did run into a small mazak-fusion problem (with pcdnc and every other program we tried): file transfer would work fine until the control tried to receive "N246", then it would stop dead. It took us two months to isolate it to that. Mazak never gave us a good answer, and neither could anyone else. But the problem existed in any program we tried to send, even just a program consisting of just "N246 G0"!
Of course, it worked fine with the mazak cad/cam on the tech's laptop, but no other baud/parity/stop setting, cable, pc, or windows or dos transfer program (including hyperterminal) would allow N246 to get to the control. But simply deleting that line number, or changing it to N245, would allow it to work flawlessly.
I've never seen that since, so I assume that it MUST be a machine-specific problem, but that was the beginning of my mazak education.

Anyway, not to get too long winded...

Good reply on the pin configuration, and keep up the good programming!

[Dan Fritz]

Thanks Ghyman.

We found that same bug in a Mazatrol some time ago. I'm pretty sure that it's a software bug in the Mazatrol's internal software, and that it's limited to only a few Mazatrols out there. The CMT file I/O works fine, and the EIA transfer works fine until you encounter that "N246". I think what's happening is that the Mazatrol is sending an Xoff control code when it receives that N246 sequence. I'll bet that the Mazak CAD/CAM program does a funny "work-around" to compensate for this bug. We could do the same thing if we knew exactly what was causing it.

By the way, all our newer products support the Mazatrol CMT file I/O as well as the EIA file I/O. You can download a free 30-day demo of the latest PC-DNC Editor from our website at www.sub-soft.com

[gotis]

wich 25-pin connector do I use to transfer from pc to mazak on a vqc 20/40b, there are 2 connectors one black and one white.