Need Help!- Meldus 520 on a DM4800

[Soloratov]

We are running a DynaMech 4800 with a Meldus 520 control. We have it all up in running fine, as long as you only use the console. However, we are trying to hook it up to my PC via an RS232 port. I believe I have it wired correctly per the manufacturer diagram, however when setting everything up and using Mastercam, there seems to be a block in communication. Right now thats the best I can do for info....sorry, not too experienced with this stuff yet. Could use some help.

I should mention that after running through the entire setup on the machine itself, following the manufacturer guide, when I try to enter receive mode, I get an E04 Dev.Not Ready error, and I am not sure where the problem is, but it leads me to think the wiring diagram they gave me is wrong.

[dblox]

I purchased a used machine in November which has a Meldas 520 controller. I had trouble getting my RS232 to work too.
This one is obvious, but make sure that the port settings on the machine are the same as the port settings on the DNC software you are using.
If you arent sure about this, write a page long program on the controller and save it to the machine. Download "DNC4U" from www.dnc4u.com. They have a free trial.
You can now send a file from your machine to the computer; DNC4U will analyze the file received and determine which settings your machine uses, I.E. Data bits, stop bits, parity even/odd, etc.
Use this information to set up the COM settings on the computer side.

Let me know if you have any more trouble, I'll try to help you out.

[Soloratov]

Thanks. I went through and checked all the settings, and everything seems to match, baud rate, parity, stop bits etc.

I will give this a try though, anything will help. Do I have to test it by sending from the machine to the PC only? Is that the best method? I only ask because in the end, we will only be using the connection to send to the machine, not the other way around.

[dblox]

Yes, you need to send a file from the machine to the computer in order for the test to work.
For reference, here are the settings I have my machine set to:
BAUD RATE 1
STOP BIT 3
PARITY EFFECTIVE 0
EVEN PARITY 0
CHR. LENGTH 3
TERMINATOR TYPE 00
CODE 1 00
CODE 2 00
REWIND CODE 00
HAND SHAKE 3
DC CODE PARITY 1

The manual will tell you what these settings mean, or you can just run the software which I described earlier.

Of course, if you are trying to get DNC to work, you will need to match all of those settings in the "Computer link" parameter screen. You will need to match buffer sizes also on the controlling DNC software.
Unfortunately the memory on the machine is tiny; 62kb I think.
Let me know if you need any clarification or more help.

[Soloratov]

Ok, so, I got DNC4u installed, and huh, first time I ran the wizard, first file I tried to transfer, wen t exactly as planned.......sort of.

It finished doing what it said it would, I saved the settings, and then because I am the way I am, I ran it again. I wanted to be sure. However, I can not get it to communicate at all now. I can not repeat the success I had earlier. I just keep getting a message "analyzing next" when I send a file. Sat that way for almost an hour. Any ideas?

[dblox]

Yes I have had similar problems.
When communications has obviously failed, click "cancel" on the PC side, then hit the red cancel button on the the controller. Sometimes the controller would hang up completely when comms failed.
When I used a computer with a dedicated serial port, I never had any hanging issues, but when I used a USB to serial converter, I regularly had issues with the PC side software hanging up after a failed comms attempt. I found unplugging the USB to serial converter usually un-hung the software.
Sometimes I needed to to a hard reboot of my PC.

Make sure your machine is using 7 data bits and 2 stop bits. I found that nothing would work on my machine if I was using 8 data or 1 stop bit.
What settings are you trying to use? Have you made your cable up for hardware flow controll? I'm using software flow controll without any issues.