[Doug_M]

I have a Mori MH40 Horizantal Machining Center with a Fanuc 6M controller . For years we have used a laptop and a cable to the RS232 port to load and save programs . Recently our laptop was stolen (along with the program we used ) and I'm trying to get something working again . I downloaded a free DNC program from Cadem but I was wondering this . Can I still use the same cable we always used or will it have to be rewired for this software ? Also how do I go about finding out things like the stop bits and parity . I have a manual for the 6M but haven't found it in there yet . I have found a little info online about the 6M settings but they give a baud rate of 2400 and I know I've always used 1200 in the past .Any help with this would be greatly appreciated . Thanks in advance ..Doug

[dcoupar]

The same cable will work. If your new laptop has a serial port, you're lucky. If not, you can get a USB to Serial adapter, but a better choice might be to get a PCMCIA Serial Adapter.

http://www.siig.com/ViewProduct.aspx?pn=JJ-PCM012-S3

The 6M parameter settings can be found here:

http://www.aggsoft.com/cnc-dnc/fanuc-6m.htm

[Doug_M]

The same cable will work. If your new laptop has a serial port, you're lucky. If not, you can get a USB to Serial adapter, but a better choice might be to get a PCMCIA Serial Adapter.

http://www.siig.com/ViewProduct.aspx?pn=JJ-PCM012-S3

The 6M parameter settings can be found here:

http://www.aggsoft.com/cnc-dnc/fanuc-6m.htm

Actually I was wrong . It's a 6M model B controller . I found most everytjing I was needing today in the Fanuc manual and operator manual for my machine . Thanks for the help . The laptop I'm using is a used one I picked up and it does have this same port on the back but it's a female (same as the end on my cable . So I'm assuming I can just get a F/M adaptor and make it work ?

[dcoupar]

Are you sure about the connector? Has it got 9 or 15 pins? Laptop serial ports are usually male... at least all the laptops I've seen and owned. It might have a label like IOIOI or something similar.

[Doug_M]

Are you sure about the connector? Has it got 9 or 15 pins? Laptop serial ports are usually male... at least all the laptops I've seen and owned. It might have a label like IOIOI or something similar.

Yep your right It's a 15 pin connector not a 9 pin . Thanks again .

[gm3211]

Yeah..that 15pin Female is the external monitor port. If you dont have the DB9 MALE pin, then you will need to add the serial port as Dave mentioned.

Use a PCMICA or Xpresscard or USB.

We have options for the laptops on our website if you need further help.

[Al_The_Man]

6 PDF attached.
Al.

[Doug_M]

Thanks for all the help guys !

[Doug_M]

OK since my last post I have been able to obtain a disc containing the old PCDNC program we have always used along with the programs that were in the directory the last time we loaded it into a laptop . I bought a USB to Serial Port adapter , loaded the drivers for it, and tried it out at work today . So basicaly I'm using a proven program , and cable , same settings I have always used in the past the only things different than I have always used is the laptop and the serial port adapter . First I tried Machine to Laptop . Program transferred beautifully . Then I tried the other direction . Not so great . About 6 lines of the program loaded and then I got a RS232C Alarm . Looking it up in the fanuc manual it seems to indicate a data overflow problem . I went to the properties af the serial port and found some adjustments for FIFO buffers . I tried slowly adjusting the buffer for transmitting until I had it bottomed out . It DID load a little more of the program but still gave me the same alarm . Is there some other way to slow down the data flow ? Any help would be greatly appreciated .

[dcoupar]

I've been told that it's best to uncheck the "use FIFO buffers" after adjusting the sliders all the way down. Also, you need to restart your PC after changing the FIFO buffer settings?

[Al_The_Man]

Fanuc procedure is to use XON/XOFF for data flow, if the CNC sends a XOFF and the PC sends more than 100 characters you get an overflow.
Al.

[Doug_M]

OK Al and dcoupar . I'll try these things out Monday ..LOL I somehow thought that using this program we used before was going to save me a ton of trouble . Maybe not . I tried it again today and had totally different results. I couldn't get a program from the machine to the Laptop and at first couldn't get 1 the other way either till I hit the F1 key on my laptop , then it sent part of it to the machine and gave me the same RS232C alarm as yesterday . Don't have a clue why it suddenly quit working from Mach / Laptop I'm thinking I'll just uninstall everything this weekend start from scratch and try the things you guys have suggested. Thanks for the replies . Doug

[Doug_M]

Well today I learned that someone came walking by Saturday and jerked the cable out of the RS232 and did some slight damage to one of the pins . Fixed that and just as before I can send mach/ laptop but not laptop/machine . I tried the xon/ xoff setting I tried disabling the Fifo buffers and still the same result . Then after many tries the whole program went to the machine and I thought my problems were over. So I tried it again ...RS232 Alarm again .
Now for another question .. My machine baud rate has always been 1200. I assume that years ago when it was part of a big shop with many machines hooked up to a main computer maybe they just set them all to the same baud rate . We have another machine from that same shop and it is also 1200.If I change the baud rate to 2400 or even 4800 will this allow the machine to read the data faster and solve this problem I'm having ? It still puzzles me why it worked that one time and then right back to the alarm .

[gm3211]

What type if USB to Serial Adapter did you purchase for the laptop? As the cheapo stuff seems to be the results of what you are speaking about. Generally we recommend a PCMCIA or Xpress card for laptops to provide a true serial port with a Uart. This seems to work perfect for Vista and XP operating Systems.

If you want more information, give us a call and we can recommend a solution or find more details on our website.