[karbunkle1952]

Hello:
I have been reading your threads and I'd like a tutorial if you wouldn't mind.

I've attached screenshots of the controller software

I just acquired a RH20 Milltronics with a Centurion 6 control. version 6.6206 Disk on a chip
Bios date 9/6/1999
Memory Available 8556576

What does disk on a chip mean?

I'd like to be able to do two things:

1. Feed the CNC large programs, 70,000 line 3d programs. probably 10 megs at times, through a RS232 to USB adapter cable.

2. Convert the existing floppy to a USB.

I plan on using NCnet Lite FREE software DNC – wireless and wired, Free DNC for 1 machine

So, I know just enough to make myself dangerous.

Will my guys be able to use a single USB stick with multiple 1.44m files (I'll need Instructions on how to partition the stick) and make the floppy/usb disk drive cycle through adding them as if individual floppies are being added?

I see Floppy Drive emulators on Amazon, 50 bucks or so. Are they plug and play? I'm not messing with bios.

Has anyone successfully done this on their machine?

Can I simply feed large files through the existing 9 pin RS232 port? I can get a RS232 to Usb cable through Microcenter or Amazon.
Software apparently will emulate the serial port from the USB port.
The outside of the cabinet has a 25 pin female, but that just connects to a 9 pin male in the cabinet. I figured I would just bypass the 25 pin and connect directly to the 9pin male

Once that is done, would you have the procedure on how to feed the large file from the Windows 7 laptop to the CNC controller?
Is the NCnet lite the way to go?

[Brian L]

I accomplished a lot of this on my older machine with the Centurion 5 control. For cable connections, I came off the computer box in the back of the machine with a 90º D9 and then hooked a D9 to RJ45 adapter jack on, then using shielded Cat 6 cable ran that up thru the machine to the front control panel. Installed a shielded RJ45 jack into the side of the control box. Then at my computer I use a D25 to RJ45 connector, these are the kind you can wire yourself:

Amazon.com: StarTech.com DB25 to RJ45 Modular Adapter - M/F (GC258MF): Electronics

You will need to play with the wiring, you have to connect certain pins to certain spots, I don't remember exactly, but leaving the connector open and just sticking the wires in where I suspected they go, and checking to see if it worked was what I did. then once I was sure, I actually assembled the connector.

For software I use something called OneDNC and it's free. You can feed large programs into the machine and run in the DNC mode, it's under Utilities on your machine somewhere. I also replaced my SIMM card with a compact flash card with 2GB of space, so I can just download the whole 5mb program to the computer and then you still have to run in DNC mode, but you don't have to rely on a cable connection to another external computer.

[newman55598]

I set my machine up using a Iogear USB to db9 then made a cable going from db9 to db25 it works pretty well for larger files although it is slow.

[allen mullis]

why don't you forget the USB to floppy emulator and go with something like an Addonics compact flash reader/writer? Then you can handle a 2GIG file with no problem and DNC from the card. You will need to get the DOS drivers and after plugging it up, you will need to go into DOS and set the driver up in the Autoexec.bat file in C: . it Takes a few minutes and a knowledge of DOS commands and functions but it is well worth while. I know for me, it is the difference in waiting for a minute and a half for a floppy to load, to almost instant with the CF adapter.

[newman55598]

Allen could you explain how to do this and what parts are required. I am assuming that you wouldn't need an rs232 cable as you would just use a removable flash card?

[newman55598]

Attachment 210034Attachment 210036
Here are the documents for wiring a cable for db9 to db25.

You will need to configure the driver, the dnc software and the mill to have the same settings.

This is a link to the usb to db9 cable that worked for me using win 8.
IOGEAR GUC232A USB to Serial PDA DB9 Converter Cable Frustration Free Pack | eBay

Like I said this method will get you up and running but Allens conversion would be a lot better as uploading thru DNC is very slow. Took me about 20min for 12500 lines.

[ZZZZ]

The Disk-on-Chip message indicates that your control has a Single Board Computer card in it. That means there is probably a RJ45 network connection on the card or at least a spare slot for a network card available.

Search the interweb for DOS Network Client - you will find lots of information and the drivers.
Install the drivers on the DOC chip, configure TCP-IP and the PATH.DAT file, and forget about using the floppy drive or substitutes for moving files. Using the networking is lots faster and much more convenient.