[FreshFabs]

Hello,

I have had my Gate ECM2 CNC for a few months now and so far have written some basic programs for very simple milling operations.

I have just invested in VisualMILL 2014 which is excellent, and have replaced my 3.5" Floppy drive with a Floppy drive USB emulator.

I have been a bit lax in testing the floppy drive as it is only this last week that I have been able to write code externally from the machine console, I have now discovered that I can not get the console to read floppy discs with the original Floppy drive and that the emulator I purchased doesn't work.

I found a 3.5" disk with some small programs the previous owners had saved on it in .M format (I also believe I could save .nc?!) and attempred to get them into the machine.

CAN YOU HELP ME, I have 2 weeks to do a project for a Bicycle show and if its not done I loose my investor and my name is rubbished.

1 How do I load a file from floppy to console memory, I personally tried looking at directory :/A (Is that the floppy?) but could read no files and screen froze out for a min?

2 Does anyone have any experience with or tricks for Chinese Floppy emulators of the like found on ebay?

The instructions say with the machine under power to select the drive dir (0-99) first, for example 1, the insert USB memory stick, wait for lights to stop flashing then use machine console to see files, again tried :/A
, however the unit will not let me select drive partition??

3 Can anyone name a good place in the UK or Europe to source the correct type of RS232 cable (crossed at 2 and 3) that I could order super quick?

4 If all else fails can I email the DXF, the G code file in your format and material and finish spec to you and pay for the job delivered within the next week?


If you read this and can't personally help can you please forward it to any one in the UK that you think can, I need the solution to this problem before the 5th of this month or I'm ruined.

Thanks,

Jon.

[ahelet]

We was having similar problem with USB floppy emulators while try use them for injection moulding machines.

Today we using SD card EmuDirve floppy emulators.
Those not having protrusion details from floppy device front panel and all covers can still closed after installation.
And working well with our machinery.



Floppy emulator SD card drive-Floppy emuDrive
floppydrive - YouTube
Ahelet H - YouTube
Ahelet H - YouTube

[newman55598]

Did you format your USB drive to 1.4 mb? I am guessing that your machine is using dos. If so does will only recognize a 1.4 mb. Once you are able to access the usb save a file from the machine to the USB and see what format your machine requires. For example mine requires the file to start with an O have 4 numbers with no file extension. Ex. O9999. When I save my file I have to change the file type to all files and add the period at the end.