[austinringding]

Hi Everyone, I am very new to all of this and wanted to say thanks in advance for putting up with my naivete.

Anyway, I was recently hired as Head Systems Administrator at a large Metal Fabrication outfit in Central Texas and one of my duties is to maintain the PCs that run the control software for many of our machines.

Right now, we have a Mitsubishi C02 Laser Working Machine Controller LC10B4 that is controlling our Mitsubishi 2512HD Laser Cutting Machine, and it is all being controlled by a human operator using floppy disks that he has to copy back and forth from the PC to the Controller, etc.

We are trying to get to the point where he can use CIMCOM 4.0 on a Windows 2000 PC (connected to the controller via RS232 cable purchased from WNCsupply.com) to improve efficiency and are almost there, however, I cannot for the life of me seem to get the PC to talk to the controller.

I have looked through the entire manual for the Mits and have found the COMM settings, but after trying numerous combinations between Stop Bits, Parity, Data bits, etc, I can't get it to respond. I can email you a scanned copy of the COMM settings if that would help you get on the same page.

I found these forums via Google and am hoping someone on here can help me figure this out as I've never really messed around with anything like this and could use some good solid advice.

Thanks in advance, and if you need any add'l information from me, please don't hesitate to ask.

[Al_The_Man]

I have installed Mistsubishi systems and have had no real problem with the RS232, I am not familiar with those control numbers, One common mistake is to omit to assign the correct port, there is usually a minimum of 2 ports to connect to.
I would also use a three wire cable that jumpers the hardware handshake out either end.
Al.

[austinringding]

minimum of two ports? on the controller? There is only 1 RS232 port on the controller that I can see. Although the manual has Computer LinkA and Computer LinkB. I thought that those were referring to two different types of Link Setups.

In the Communication Specification chart from the manual, it has the following info:

Interface: Based on RS-232C
Baud/BPS 110~19200
Start Bit: 1
Data Bit: 8
Parity Bit: None, Even or Odd
Stop Bit: 1, 1.5 or 2
Trans. Type: Half Duplex
Synch. Type: Asynch.
Control Type: DC Type
Control Code: Parity Presence/absence
Data: ISO/ASCII

So when setting up my Communication profile with CIMCOM, what would I select for BPS, Parity Bit, and Stop Bit? There are multiple options, so how do I know which one to use?

Also, as for my cable, we had it specially made from WNC Supply. It is 10' long IBM® serial RS232c DB9S (9 pin female) from PC com port to NC/CNC (25 pin male). They told me that I needed to order from them to make it work with CIMCOM.

Any and all advice appreciated. Thanks.

[Al_The_Man]

If its anything like the Mits. I am familiar with, you have a I/O setting screen to set the RS232 parameters. set them Identical both ends for baud rate 2400 at first, and try 1 start bit 2 stop bits parity none and date ASCII, even if you get garbage at first, you know then it is just a matter of comm. parameters.
Try sending to the PC also.

So when setting up my Communication profile with CIMCOM, what would I select for BPS, Parity Bit, and Stop Bit? There are multiple options, so how do I know which one to use?

Also, as for my cable, we had it specially made from WNC Supply. IBM® serial RS232c DB9S (9 pin female) from PC com port to NC/CNC (25 pin male). They told me that I needed to order from them to make it work with CIMCOM.
.

I'll bet they did There is nothing fancy about the cable, it is usually easy to make up.
Al.

[austinringding]

ok, i got on the Mits. control panel and found the I/O Menu Screen, but it isn't very intuitive, and with no experience here, I'm still sort of lost. If I took pictures of the I/O screens, do you think you could help me in the right direction? I've been instructed by my boss to leave the settings on the Controller untouched, so I guess I will need to determine which settings it has, and then match the PC to those settings. Will that work?

[Al_The_Man]

If you can post them, I may be able to recognize them, if you change anything in the Mits, just make a note of it and you can always come back later and correct it.
BTW, once you have it working, you may want to download all the parameters to the PC for future use.
Al.

[austinringding]

i will post the pics tomorrow as I don't have my digital camera here with me at work. thanks a bunch.

[austinringding]

also, if there is some other software that you would recommend over cimcom 4.0, I would be more than happy to give it a shot. We just looked into using CIMCOM 4.0 because we have been using CIMCOM 2.0 for over 10 years. Our main goal is to be able to have the PCs that are controlling these machines running Windows 2000 Professional. They are now running Windows 95 and cannot be upgraded without breaking the connection to the CNC.

[austinringding]

ok, here are the pictures of the I/O menu screens (there are 3 pages).









if you could look through these and see if you can recognize what settings the LC10 has, we could then match the PCs settings and test it out. I can't decipher what settings the controller has with respect to Parity, Stop Bits, etc.

[wcopley]

This is how I set up our 520m using windows powerstation a cheaper cadcam system made by galss house AKA Microcim it may be useful

Mitsubushi

Machine: Mitsubushi

Communications Settings:

Properties page

Setting Value

DNC-HUB Std PC Ports (or HUB # if installed)
Port Depends on Computer
Baud 4800
Bits 7
Parity Even
Stop Bits 2
XON/XOFF Send/Recv
Use RTS/CTS Off
Local Echo On
Auto <Lf> On
ANSI Codes Off


Machine Page

Leader Len 5
Code ISO
Start Send Blank
End Send Blank
Start Recv Blank
End Recv Blank

Advanced Page

CR in None
LF in None
CR out None
LF out None
EOF Timeout 30 (varies)
Char Delay 0
Line Delay 0
Wait for XON ON

Protocol ASCII

Machine Control Setup Instructions:

Set up a three letter I/O device name under I/O device Param (1) , using parameter #1

I/O Device Param (1)
#2 Baud Rate = 2 -- (4800)
#3 Stop Bit = 3 -- (2 stop bits)
#4 parity Effective = 0 -- (not during I/O)
#5 Even Parity = 1 -- (Even)
#6 Chr Length = 3 -- (8 bits)
#7 Termination Type = 3 -- (EOR)
#11 Handshake = 3 -- (DC code)
#12 DC code parity = 1 -- (parity added)


I/O Device Param (2)
#1 DC2/DC4 Output = 1 -- (with DC2 no DC4)
#2 CR output = 1 -- (on)
#3 EIA output = 0 -- (ISO Output)
#6 Parity C = 0 -- (off)
#7 Time-Out = 300 -- (30 seconds)


Cable Diagram:


Standard Cable

Notes:


Bill

[jmr]

The control parameters seem correct. First try and set up your software to receive. The previous posters DNC software parameters seem correct: 7 data bits, 2 stop bits, even parity, 4800 baud, software flow control .

If you punch a program out of the control and do not see anything come into the computer, I would try it with hyperterminal. Hyperterminal is included in windows and can be found under Start>Programs>accessories>communication

If you still don't see data coming in, double check your cable. I have always used a hardware flow control cable on these machines. You can buy a straight through cable and hardware flow connector at most computer stores or radio shack. The pinout is:
PC9 Machine - 25 pin
2 2
3 3
5 7
7 5
8 4
6,8,20 jumpered

The software I have used is Predator, which was difficult to get to work reliably, and CIMCO which was much easier to get working successfully. Both support combination hardware and software flow control which is what the Mitsubishi controls really do.

[Al_The_Man]

If you do the Jumper on the 6,8,20 it also pays to jumper the hardware HS on the 9 pin end also 6,4,1
Personaly I prefer the 3 wire cable, Hyperterminal will only be on your machine if it was loaded with the options at install time, (although you can load it if you have the install disks). I have found it to be a PITA.
There is an excellent free-be on the www.Cadem.com site, together with parameter setting and cable pin-outs etc.
Al.

[austinringding]

ok, we have tracked down the Computer Link Instruction Manual for the LC10 Controller. After sifting through it, I have determined that the computer link is setup as device 4 on port 2 and is called LNK. You can see this in page 1 in the pics I posted. So, deducing that information, I checked the Comm. Parameter Chart in the manual and determined that it is setup with the following settings (you can see these settings on page 2 in the pics)

Baud Rate: 2400
Stop Bit: 2
Parity: None
Data Bit: 8
Handshake: DC Codesystem

So, I setup CIMCOM 4.0 with these settings and didn't get any sort of a response at the controller. CIMCOM 4.0 acted like it was sending though.

Then I downloaded NCNET Lite from Cadem and tried it. It too didn't get anything sent successfully to the controller.

I don't know what to try next. Kindly Please Advise. Thanks in advance.

[Al_The_Man]

Your device name can usually be called what you want it to be like PC for e.g.
It looks like your data in and out is set for port1 with device 0 (PTR) in and device 1 out (PTP).
This is OK in this case as PTR & PTP are set to the same protocol.
Try changing the port # on the 6 1/3 screen to 0 for DATA IN and DATA out.
If using the same device (PC etc) for Data in & data out, you should really set the device to the same number for both in & out.
Try sending out to the PC at first.
Al.

[Al_The_Man]

I believe your problem is you had assumed that the Computer Link was the RS232, where in fact it should be Data In/Data Out.
Al.

[austinringding]

ok, i have a couple of different questions/.comments pertaining to some of the previous posts in this thread. Here they are:

1) i know that it doesn't matter per se as the devices can be called whatever, but for my own knowledge, what do PTR and PTP stand for?

2) I don't want to use Hyperterminal as it is a PITA, not to mention that
getting either CIMCOM or NCNET LITE to work properly were my orders
from above.

3) In response to Al's lasts post, you say to change the 6 1/3 screen to 0 for DATA IN and DATA out, is this because the RS232C port on the
controller is Port 0? So the port number in these fields are for the controller and not the PC correct?

4) once I change the Data IN/ Data Out port to 0, what device do I select for? whicever one that I have configured the correct parameters on?

5) if the computer link is not the RS232C then what is it?

[Al_The_Man]

PTR and PTP are Paper Tape Reader and Paper Tape Punch, left over from the old days.
I usually rename one to PC and use the same device for Input and Output, for the RS232 port, Mitsubishi usually have 2 RS232 ports, 0 & 1.
Maybe trace the 25pin D connector or whatever to the input Connector on the CNC control & it should be labelled, if you relate the designation it should be possible to find out which one you are plugged into.
I am not sure what the computer link is in this case, Mitsubishi had various I/O port types, depending on model etc.
Al.

[kwor599]

Try setting Data In /Data Out and NC Running to Port 2 and Device 4.
Right now the control is looking at the paper tape reader (PTR) for incoming data. On page 2 it's the LNK parameters you need to match to the PC software. You should be able to get a faster baud rate we run at 9600
Hope this helps.

[Al_The_Man]

Right now the control is looking at the paper tape reader (PTR) for incoming data.

Yes, but that is just a name, it can be any physical device, as long as the port and protocol is set.
The control does not care what the device actually is, as long as it can communicate with it.
Al.

[austinringding]

i am in the process of turning the 42 page computer link manual into a PDF and will upload it to Streamload so that y'all can look at it.
i've tried everything suggested in this thread and still can't get any sort of response either at the controller or at the PC.