What DNC program to use for Cent 6?

[RobT]

Hello, I have a 16mb toolpath to run. I have the floppy drive and minimal part storage and about 11mb ram. No network or flash drive. I bought a null modem and got the machine and pc talking through hyper terminal. I output my g code as a text file and run it dnc. When it gets to block 32 it loses a decimal place. (the decimal is in the .txt file on the computer but not in the gcode on the machine.) turns 14.365 to 14365 (YIKES).
I've heard hyper terminal sucks.. I have the parity/baudrate etc. all set the same but it hangs up every time. changed the baudrate from 600 to 19,200 with no change. What program should I use to DNC?
I could send half the code to ram though rs232 but I don't want to wait the 3 hours to cut for an hour.
I read earlier to load the cncsim and make one send and one receive. I'm definately going to try this out tomorrow and it seems like a logical solution.
Any other thoughts and options are welcome.

[ZZZZ]

1. Use the simulator to be the source and DNC from the RS232 port.
or
2. Add more memory to create a larger ram-drive and RS232 to it and then DNC from it.
or
3. Put in a hard drive and RS232 to it, and then DNC from it.
or
4. Put in a hard drive and a network interface card and copy the file to the HDD and then DNC from it.

In the olden days, you could get LS120 floppy drives that would hold 120mb disks or ZIP drives that held 100mb disks but I haven't seen them for some time.

You might look into a memory card reader (CF's and SD's, etc) I have installed them in some cases.

If you need to run these large files frequently, put in the networking, you won't regret it.

Good Luck.

[RobT]

thanks zzzz,

First I tried 1. to DNC off the computer through rs232. maybe my baud rate was too high ( i tried 19,200 and 9600 and tried different buffer settings) but I was getting errors that would either stop my machine or trys to send my x axis 10ft. I ended up going rs232 into ram(i have 10 mb) but a 5 mb file at 19,200 took about 50 min.
I agree the network card and hard drive would be awesome. I have a friend with an older pc that I could use the card and hard drive. I haven't used dos in so long I am worried about finding and installing the drivers. I have heard hard drives are not recommended because of vibration.
A SBC with a flash drive would be awesome too but we don't have the money or time to go with this option.
How are the zip discs hooked up? will I need to disconnect my floppy drive or is there another interface? I saw 100 zip discs for free on craigslist the other day but no drive.
I appreciate the feedback

Cheers

[ZZZZ]

I've seen lots of machines run hard drives with few problems, just make sure you have a good back-up of everything for a quick recovery if you do have a problem.

Search back for SportyBob's posts on the CF card installation instead of a spinning hard drive, I haven't tried that yet.

[RobT]

I did an advance search for sportybobs cf card reader install but with no luck. I was scanning the forums and there are a lot of people that have gone the network card route. I talked to milltronics and they said the internal memory will not be enough to load the network card drivers. If I can get a hard drive and a network card installed that should solve my problem. I have a cent 6 with dos 6.22 so I can have a 2G hard drive. I'm also searching for a zip disk option as well... fingers crossed!

[bwilkinson]

Sorry, guys, I would give input on this as well, as I have been planning on doing that exact thing (cf drive and network card on Cent 6) but I haven't been able to get time on the machine yet.

[RobT]

After playing withe baud rate and buffer size I got my 5 mb file to dnc off the computer running stable with no errors. I used the milltronics cnc sim on the pc set at 9600 baud, e/7/2, buffer size 255. setup rs232 dnc on the control and rs232 send txt, select file and was able to machine right away. I was only able to run 18 ipm for the first 10 min or so but then was able to go to 30 ipm after a while with no gibberish code.
I found out from milltronics that the zip drive will need a hard drive as well just to load the drivers. may try it if I find the right parts for cheap or free (go craigslist!)

[ZZZZ]

Look at this:

Milltronics simdisk?

[sportybob]

When running RS232 to transfer files or run DNC a couple of things need to be looked at.
1. proper RS-232 setting usually set up as "even, 7, 2, 9600 "even parity, 7 data bits, 2 stop bits, 9600 baud" check to ensure both the sending and recieving systems are set the same.
2. the length and quality and routing of the cable being used. don't get a 100 foot cable and run it around lighting fixtures, motors, transformers, welders or other "electrical noise" producing appliences, and coil the extra cable some place. make the cable the proper length for the installation. This goes for networking CAT5/6 cable as well.
3. newer computers use a "FIFO" (First In First Out) buffer for comm ports. older controls did not have the FIFO chip in the comm port, (they were not invented back then)
try going into the advanced comm port settings on your PC and turn off the FIFO buffers. (over running the buffers will cause garbage, missing and strange data.
4. consider getting a Milltronics SBC control update with the networking option. It is well worth the money and will make your life easier.(* see tip #2)

Sportybob