I'd like to apologize in advance for all the stupid questions...

[bogiestl]

I'm a graphic designer/computer guy... I've done some autocad stuff, etc., and have a decent appreciation for high precision machine shop stuff, since I used to shoot benchrest...

Anywho, long story, but I'm helping out a friend who has a machine shop. And at one end is a Milltronics Partner X with a Centurion V controller, and it hasn't been getting a lot of use... And I'm going to try to get the thing running on the shop network (or at least kludged into some sort of communication that doesn't involve smoke signals), etc., etc...

FWIW, the controller in the shop that probably gets the most use is an Allen Bradley 8400MP hooked to a large Japanese mill, and I'm looking into researching PC solutions, etc., etc...

[ZZZZ]

Do a web search for "DOS Network Client" - there is a ton of info out there.

You will probably need to install a hard drive, load DOS 6.22 on it, and the Client files.

You may have to copy the A:\ and the B:\ contents from the simdisk card onto the hard drive in order to free up a slot for the NIC card.

Edit the Autoexec.bat, Config.sys, and the Path.dat accordingly and then when you do a Files Load or Save, you will be accessing the server, not the floppy drive.

It is a fiddely process but not usually difficult.

Good luck, let us know how it works out.

[neilw20]

From XP thru Win7 you can run dos6.2 from MS Virtual PC downloadable from MS, then at least the PC platform is this century.

[sportybob]

Bogiestl, The easiest thing to do is to run RS232 to load and transfer programs. This would not need for you to install a hard drive.
RS-232 is supported in all the milltronics software versions.

If networking is needed. I would suggest that you contact Milltronics parts and see about a control update. This adds a new motherboard with LOTS of programming and parts storage,as well as all kings of new software functions and features. networking is an option on the "SBC" single board computer update.
By the time you add a hard drive (which IMO does not belong in a machineing center) and get it configured and all the other horse hockying around to get it to work.
Speaking of working, As this machine is 10+ years old If the machine has not been getting much use, You may have mother board, Simdisk and the Electro Craft BRU axis drives that may have battery problems. When not in use, these batteries will drain. Replacement mother board and simdisk barries are readily available. The BRU drives have a memory chip with an internal battery (of course these are sealed chips). These are MUCH MUCH harder to find. Electro Craft no longer support these drives.
More info on these if needed, just ask.

sportybob

[neilw20]

Do you need a solid floppy drive?
Floppy to USB disk drive upgrade

[moldcore]

Originally Posted by neilw20 Do you need a solid floppy drive? Floppy to USB disk drive upgrade

Has anyone here used this on a Milltronics? Sounds like something I could use. We currently have a 120mb 3M Supperdisk drive on our machine that has been replaced twice in 10 years and should be replace soon before it dies. They were a great idea at the time but they don't work in the newer computers today.

As for using the RS232 port, it works for most everyday work, but way too slow for downloading large files we generate for mold cavity work.

[sportybob]

HI Moldcore, I checked on that drive you mentioned. Interesting and a pretty cleaver solution. but most likely not all that user friendly. With having to switch to different directories to " switch disks" Each directory or folder can only be 1.44Mb so pressing the up / down button seems to me to be a little inconvenient, and as the read write time is the same as floppies and the cost is $375.00 I think there are better alternatives. IMHO.

Both Newegg and Amazon have replacement LS120 / LS240 drives for about $60.00. Both of these LS drives will also take 3.5" floppies as well as the 120 or 240 Mb disks.
The optical section of the LS drives does not seem to like a shop environment very much, even with the disk door closed it seems to attract drive killing dust and stuff.
I thought the 3M LS drives were better then the Zip drives of the time. Good idea, wrong environment.

Inside the electrical panel there is a 3.5" floppy drive mounted to the side of the cabinet, you could swap places with the LS120 drive.
As your control has either a hard drive or a SBC (single board computer) installed, you could also change out the LS-120 drive for a multi disk drive that uses CF, SD, MMC and a couple other card type memory. (CF is my card of choice, not as delicate as the others) This would need different drivers, path and possibly BIOS settings.
As DOS 6.22 limits the drive space to a max of 2Gb the card types used would have to be less then the 2Gb limit or be reformated to the 2Gb limit.
A card reader plugged into the PC USB port, copy to CF, plug CF into the machine and copy or run from the disk at high speed. The best of both worlds. Current technology and ease of use.

Your thoughts?

Sporty bob

[moldcore]

Thanks Bob, I too checked on the USB converter and found out the same as you. I agree the card reader would be the best solution but I’m not sure if my machine will recognize it. I believe I asked Milltronics a few years ago about doing that and they said I would need to upgrade the computer for about $1600 and that’s something we may do this coming year. We just upgraded the shop computer and now the new mother board won’t accommodate the LS120 so we’re stuck using the 1.44 floppy for now. Reading and downloading from a floppy is fast enough but the 1.44MB limit is a killer on some jobs. I believe the machine has a 20MB hard drive but I may be wrong about the size.

[sportybob]

Hi Moldcore, You can run chkdsk from the DOS prompt and it will tell you the size of the hard drive. I will guess at 60+ MB. The multifuction drive can be used with a hard drive. Drivers and config.sys files will need to be changed.


I belive that the current SBC updates are now $1875. plus what thet get for the multidisk and / or the network option. It may be less expensive to get the network option and by pass the disk all together. (If your shop has networking, running a new CAT5/6 cable out to the machine would be mostly painless.)

As ZZZZ stated else where, "It is a fiddely process but not usually difficult.
"
Milltronics does give you all the parts pieces and software to take the "fiddely" out of the procees.

Sportybob