[yarn]

First post and very new with cnc's. I am a student working in our lab on campus. We are using a hurco VM1 verticle milling machine. We are currently trying to connect the hurco to a pc just so that we can get G-code that we get from mastercam onto the hurco. The hurco is using ultimax and i know it will not suport USB. We also do have the ultinet option but I do not really know what that means or what it is. The system version is 2.36.04e
Editor type is Basic NC
System name is Mill-AVC
does anybody know any way to connect these 2. We would just like to be able to send programs to the hurco...if possible send files to the computer...and if possible view on the computer the part as it is being cut out. Mainly just being able to send the program to the hurco would be great.
thank you for the help
yarn

[jalessi]

Yarn,

Give Buddy Maughon a shout.

http://www.amtsinc.com/index.html

Welcome to the Zone.

Jeff...

[yarn]

do i have to pay for his services...i am a college stundent and have none..lol

[jalessi]

Yarn,

Buddy will answer your questions N/C however if you need parts most likely there would be a cost involved.

Jeff...

[KyleH2]

Hey I used a VM1 when I was in machining school as well. Great machine. You can setup a DNC with the Hurco but the fastest/easier way to do it is to use a pin/zip/thumb/whatever USB drive to transfer form the computer with mastercam to the VM1. Just plug it into the VM1's USB port. Of course this will only work if the VM1 you are using has a Winmax/Windows based controller

If it has the old dos based Max/Ultimax then you're stuck using the floppy drive that's on the side of the touch screen control. I don't know if you can even use the DNC features on the DOS but you may be able to plug an RS232 from the computer to the machine.

[yarn]

thank you...i emailed him and am waiting for a reply...does anyone else have any ideas?

[yarn]

yea we do not have the write stuff to use USB's. Currently the only way we can transfer stuff to the hurco is the floppy drive but that gets really old really fast. Do you know how to connect them with the rs232 cable

[KyleH2]

Nope and RS232 has always been finicky. Add the RS232 to USB converter on top of that (as most modern computers no longer have RS232) and you have lots of points of error. When I was using the DOS on the VM1 I used the floppy.

[yarn]

if the machine does not support USB then would a rs232 to USB converter even work...or would the machine just recognize it as a rs232 cable...and is a rs232 cable a 9 the 9pin cable..or is that the circle connection next to the 9 pin connection....sorry if that is confusing.

[judleroy]

Use the 9 pin. Check the manuels if available for cable diagrams and bit and parity settings. You may need a custom made cable. Hurco offers the diagrams in there troubleshooting section on there website under rs232 communication or something like that.

[yarn]

once i have it connected how do i veiw the hurco on the computer?...and where do i put in all these settings?

[jalessi]

Check this out:

http://www.wieland.us/cnc-erp/en/ind...artikel=678806

[KyleH2]

Use the floppy. Save the program to the machine. The DNC isn't THAT complicated but you will waste time in your machining program that you could use for learning your G-Codes. LEARN YOUR G CODES That is my number one regret is that I focused so heavily on doing setups and making parts that I used conversational and CamWorks a lot more than I should have. Now I only know very basic G Code enough to go through and look for problems. Be a programmer, not an operator. This is coming from someone who was in your shoes not long ago. I am only 20.

[yarn]

i am pretty decent with g-codes...before we got the right post for our machine i had to go through everything and edit all the g-code for our class projects and get them to work on the hurco. We just would like to send the programs from the computer....i just dont understand why they made this so complicated. Why cant you just plug in a cable and run a program on the computer and send files...lol....thanks for the input...will keep it in mind.

[KyleH2]

RS232 is a finicky outdated way of transferring information. A better question I think is why does it take the machining industry so freakin' long to keep up with the computer industry? USB was clearly the standard we were going to since about 1997. Machining centers should have all had support for it by 2000.

A little digging turned up this thread which may help answer your question too.
http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb....html?t=118292

[yarn]

agreed...i just dont get what to do after i connect any cable i could use to the hurco.

[jetski]

I must have missed something. Why do you not want to use the cat5? with a twisted pair and hook up direct?

[Rich Carlstedt]

You can call Hurco and they will send you the drawing (NC) for hooking up DNC to their control.
I have it on a old 1989 Hurco.
Had lots of problems trying to get the rightconnections, as it is a DOS based Control (back then). A 15 year old PC would have helped a great deal.
They use 14 bit feed for video data, instead of the more standard 12 or 16 bit ( bytes?)
I used a 3 wire cable, as a 7 or 9 did not work with the 9 pin connector.
Downloading/upload is not a piece of cake.
I would die for a floppy drive
My Hurco has two Military connector ports....thats all
My mistake early on, was not realizing that one port was download only, and the other was down and up.
Also the PC and the Hurco control are totally involved with this, so only drip feed occurs on large programs.

FILES CANNOT be opened when stored on a PC or you destroy the binary code and cannot send it back to the control..

[Bogdan_Celtic]

i working in winmax and i have network pc connected with machines by total comander, everthing worked great but now i have problem cause machine lost connection with pc or pc with machine i dont know where is problem, i worked that 2 years and i nver had that kind of problem . Problem is gone when i restart control then it work for few next hours. Maybe somebody know where is problem , thanks a lot

[skullworks]

You can call Hurco and they will send you the drawing (NC) for hooking up DNC to their control.
I have it on a old 1989 Hurco.
Had lots of problems trying to get the rightconnections, as it is a DOS based Control (back then). A 15 year old PC would have helped a great deal.
They use 14 bit feed for video data, instead of the more standard 12 or 16 bit ( bytes?)
I used a 3 wire cable, as a 7 or 9 did not work with the 9 pin connector.
Downloading/upload is not a piece of cake.
I would die for a floppy drive
My Hurco has two Military connector ports....thats all
My mistake early on, was not realizing that one port was download only, and the other was down and up.
Also the PC and the Hurco control are totally involved with this, so only drip feed occurs on large programs.

FILES CANNOT be opened when stored on a PC or you destroy the binary code and cannot send it back to the control..

That was only true for Ultimax Conversational programs - Files saved as *.HNC were simple ASCII text files that could be edited with almost any program.

Yup know those round AMP connectors... but the Hurco serial communication software worked great at 9600 baud and allowed running full DNC on the MAX II.

I used to do lots of engraving work on one of the first KM3/Ultimax II machines (late 87 model). My longest DNC program was just short of 900,000 lines of G-code.