[Sinij kot]

Starting a new thread now that I know exactly what is needed. Old one is here: http://www.cnczone.com/forums/bobcad...onverting.html

Hello, I have four .cnc files that came with my supermax CNC lathe which suppose to be machine parameters. When I open these files in notepad I get bunch of encoded data. Can someone with an old version of BobCAD open up these files in NC-editor and save them as .TXT file so I could try to make sense out of them.
Thank you very much.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4s2j57j6pe2nyls/params.cnc
https://www.dropbox.com/s/vxof0zsnynv4ggp/master.cnc
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ak1pzrvn2c15t2l/param1.cnc
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ns5zhc8d4ducl8i/master1.cnc
https://www.dropbox.com/s/9xlapglw5hgoxeh/tc2252.cnc

[The Engine Guy]

.

Opened the files in V21 and re-saved as text files, they are at least readable now, they do indeed look like a list of Machine Parameters although I think Burrman may be right in that they are old type BobCAD Post Processor config files, does say the files are for Fanuc 6M, see image



Hope that works for you

Regards
Rob

:rainfro::rainfro::rainfro::rainfro::rainfro:

[Sinij kot]

Rob, thank you for doing the conversion, that's exactly what I needed!
I have a printout of one of these files and now I can tell which one it is.
The strange thing is the Fanuc 6M label. I wonder where that is coming from since it is nowhere in the text and the parameter format matches that of Mitsubishi L3. Did all files have Fanuc in the title?
All of the files seem to have different information, so I have things to sort out and try.

On a different topic, I was talking with you about BP Interact 412 on the practical machinist forum couple of month ago. I think I'm pretty close to resolving that problem.

Thanks again.

[Sowen]

The file type that was saved is a compressed format.. (Only readable by BobCAD V21 and older). We hare at BobCAD may have a fix for this though, our development team has just finished making a conversion tool contact me directly [email protected] and I will see if I can convert all of the files for you to use with your newer BobCAD software.

[jwillow]

I realize this is an old thread, but I was wondering if there was ever a resolution to this issue. Simply changing the file extension doesn’t work. The files are compressed (internal to older BobCAD versions), and trying to open them with a text editor just gives garbled data. I spoke with BobCAD about the conversion utility mentioned above, but no one there seems to know anything about it. We have A LOT of older programs that need converting, and I really don’t want to open them one at a time with v17. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanx, Jeff

[SeanDa]

There have been some questions in regards to this lately. As of this time, we do not currently have a batch converter for converting older files directly into text form.

[jwillow]

Thanx Sean. Yeah, I know; I've been talking with some of the folks at your place. Do you know of any stand-alone utility that I might be able to use to decompress and convert the files (outside of BC v17)?

Here's my dilema... We have v17 running on one old XP computer out in the shop. BobCAD support has already told me that if that computer dies, there's no way to activate v17 on another computer. If there's no batch utility available, as you stated, I would like to be able to convert a few files at a time from my desk, rather than tie up the computer in the shop. Just digging for possible solutions...

Thanx again,
Jeff

[SeanDa]

Jwillow,

There is no standalone utility that can do the conversion. You will have to continue doing it in the V17 version.

[BurrMan]

Thanx Sean. Yeah, I know; I've been talking with some of the folks at your place. Do you know of any stand-alone utility that I might be able to use to decompress and convert the files (outside of BC v17)?

Here's my dilema... We have v17 running on one old XP computer out in the shop. BobCAD support has already told me that if that computer dies, there's no way to activate v17 on another computer. If there's no batch utility available, as you stated, I would like to be able to convert a few files at a time from my desk, rather than tie up the computer in the shop. Just digging for possible solutions...

Thanx again,
Jeff

Windows 7 you can setup virtual pc. You can run Disk2VHD on the xp machine then load it to the virtual xp. Im not sure if the program will actually run in this setup (i dont have the old v17's to test it out first), but it should be pretty quick to try and would help you out.

[jwillow]

OK, I thought I was making progress, right up until...

Here's what I've done so far, and the latest wall I'm up against:

* Saved the list of (v17 .cnc) program file names to a text file, and opened it up in Excel.
* Downloaded a macro recorder program called Mouse Recorder 2 Pro.
* Created a macro that opens the file names in BobCAD v17, one at a time, reading them from the Excel list, and saves them as .txt files in another folder.

All seemed to work well for the first 5-6 files, then a message pops up saying "BobCAD caused a General Protection Fault in module BOBCAD.EXE @ 0002:AD66", and that the program must close. I've run the macro a few different times with a couple of tweaks, but get the same error message after 5 or 6 conversions. Kind of at a standstill here; looking for ideas.

Thanx,
Jeff

[BurrMan]

OK, I thought I was making progress, right up until...

Here's what I've done so far, and the latest wall I'm up against:

* Saved the list of (v17 .cnc) program file names to a text file, and opened it up in Excel.
* Downloaded a macro recorder program called Mouse Recorder 2 Pro.
* Created a macro that opens the file names in BobCAD v17, one at a time, reading them from the Excel list, and saves them as .txt files in another folder.

All seemed to work well for the first 5-6 files, then a message pops up saying "BobCAD caused a General Protection Fault in module BOBCAD.EXE @ 0002:AD66", and that the program must close. I've run the macro a few different times with a couple of tweaks, but get the same error message after 5 or 6 conversions. Kind of at a standstill here; looking for ideas.

Thanx,
Jeff

Can you do the operation using BobCads Scripting/macro recorder instead of "mouse recorder"?

Did the "first 5 or 6 files" actually save out correctly? You could try scripting in a "pause" between files. Might be overwhelming the software.

The help file mentions you can error in conversion if the "Same machine configuration" as created the cnc file doesn't exist or is not used (You can open the cnc file in a text editor and scroll to the bottom to read the machine config associated with the file)

[jwillow]

Thanx for all of your suggestions BurrMan (Burr was actually my grandfather's first name; any relation?) ;o) Anyways, I looked around, but wasn't sure where to find the BobCAD scripting/macro recorder, so I'm still using the same macro recorder (seems to be working OK). And, yes, the files that do open and convert are fine. It turns out that there seem to be certain files that kick out the protection error (in my testing, it kept throwing the error on the same file). My plan was to write down their file names as they occurred, and somehow deal with them later; hoping that there weren't too many.

Now, I've hit a another wall. Further down the file list, another file caused the error, so I closed BobCAD. When I reopen BobCAD, as soon as I click on NC-CAM, it immediately errors out. I can see the problem file code has loaded into NC-CAM, but can't do anything with it because of the error code. I tried restarting the computer, but no luck.

I have no idea how to proceed from here. I sent BobCAD support an email this morning; maybe they'll have some ideas. Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thanx,
Jeff

[jwillow]

FWIW, here are some screen shots of the errors. The first is what appears as soon as I click on NC-CAM, and the second appears if I choose Ignore...
Attachment 350236

[BurrMan]

FWIW, here are some screen shots of the errors. The first is what appears as soon as I click on NC-CAM, and the second appears if I choose Ignore...
Attachment 350236

Theres alway factory reset in the environment dialogue. There may be a less destructive way, but i'm not familier and dont have that version loaded.

[BurrMan]

Theres alway factory reset in the environment dialogue. There may be a less destructive way, but i'm not familier and dont have that version loaded.

I think the old versions used ".cfg" files. You can look at some of thise to see if they have anything "nc editor" related.

[jwillow]

BurrMan, you're my new hero! Opened up the bobcad.ini file, and found a line that started with "NCFile=". It referenced the suspected corrupt file name, so I changed it to a file name that I knew was OK. Saved the .ini file, restarted my system (just 'cause) and reopened BobCAD. Clicked on NC-CAM, and all is right with the world again. Still a long ways from getting all of the files converted, but at least I'm not stopped in my tracks now. Thank you again!!! If you're ever in Central New York, look me up, and I'll buy you a beer (or 2). Jeff

PS Any thoughts on what might be causing specific files to bomb-out?

[BurrMan]

PS Any thoughts on what might be causing specific files to bomb-out?

The only thing i have is what i posted earlier about the referenced machine/setup in the file.

Open the nc file in notepad (the binary, garbbled stuff) and scroll to the very bottom where you can read that machine.

If the machine doesnt exist currently, the program will error. Change to a current machine and save.

[jwillow]

Finished converting the bulk of the programs today. Now just have to deal with all of the exceptions that kicked out. A LOT closer to finished than I was a week ago. BurrMan, thank you again for all of your help! Everyone have a great weekend, Jeff