Novamill and Vr milling 2.31

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bpmsl
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Novamill and Vr milling 2.31

Post by bpmsl » Tue 17 Nov , 2009 0:19 am

OK stick with me on this as I'm new to CNC, I've just bought Greenwhich Universities 1999 Novamill, and ran it up on VR 2.9 which came with the machne dongle and all and the system homed perfectly and jog worked to move the bed in the expected directions. Never got the spindle turning as I havnt got that far in the manuals but all seemed great...

I then go on the downloads section to look for later software etc. I've downloaded VR 2.31 and when i connect to the mill after a couiple of failed attempts due to loose cable (via a usb to rs232 dongle from my laptop rather than the dedicated rs232 port on my desktop used with 2.9 previously) the application suggests that the mnt file (i think it was) on the pc is newer and i should upgrade the mill, which i did. There was a download to the machine which went ok.
Now comes the problem...

Now when i tried to home the z axis it ran down to the bed of the machie and drove itself down hard into the bed before i could hit the kill switch with lots of loud motor stalling... and now i cant jog the z axis away from the bed to clear things because it hasn't completed the home.

Having given up for the night I've now found the secret home location which i will try tommorow night to allow me to back the z axis off of the bed. But what i think is happenng is that the mill is traveling in the wrong direction as the y movement home moves the bed towards the pillar rather than away as in the Vertual machine...

Easy upgrader wont recognise the mill, but VR 2.31 does... I'm confused..

So the plan for tommorow night is drag my desktop back to the garage and try running the novamill with v 2.9 again, hope it
works... If not can I undo the file download, i.e. reset the machine to its previous firmware??
HELP!!!!!!!

Ta
Barry M

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Re: Novamill and Vr milling 2.31

Post by Martin » Tue 17 Nov , 2009 9:55 am

It may just be easier to copy & reset the machine parameters.

Have you got the correct machine selected in the VRMilling 2.31 one?

If you go to "Setup" then "Setup Machine Parameters" (the password is"denny") then you should be able to compare the Home & Feed & Machine capability lists.

I think reverting back to the 2.9 software would be the wrong way to go.

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Re: Novamill and Vr milling 2.31

Post by bpmsl » Tue 17 Nov , 2009 18:48 pm

Thanks for the pointers, but checked the machine settings and all seemed the same as v2.8 (not 2.9 got that wrong last night). Thanks for the setup password.

It seems that VR 2.31, or the novamill mnt file at version 2.14 has issues with my mill that VR 2.8 and mnt file 2.8 dont, so I've got that running on 2.8 (both files) fine again... and the usb rs232 dongle works fine with the mill and the desktop too. Just got to install 2.8 on the laptop and i should be away.

Any ideas what the issue is with 2.31, or mnt 2.14 and my mill?

What do i miss out on by not having 2.31? Should I persist and get it working?

Barry

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Re: Novamill and Vr milling 2.31

Post by Denford Admin » Wed 18 Nov , 2009 15:51 pm

It would be worth getting the latest version working as numerous bugs will have been fixed, and features added.
There isn't much in the way of version history here, so it's hard to say what all the features and fixes might be :?
I'm pretty sure scaling, rotation, mirror and macro variable programming were added after v2.8

You could try keeping the current mint file and seeing if V2.31 will connect to it. The issue could be that a parameter like motor or homing direction was ignored in v2.8, but has been implemented by 2.31 so the parameter would just need changing for your machine.
Off the top of my head, I don't think the mint file would have any effect on axis direction, but it might be worth you attaching the v2.8 mint file so I can compare it with the v2.31.

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Re: Novamill and Vr milling 2.31

Post by bpmsl » Wed 18 Nov , 2009 23:08 pm

Thanks admin for any help mnt file attached.

If it helps comms was very scetchy and intermittent with v2.31 but rock solid with 2.8, also at one point the pc stated that the machine firmware was at version 0.0??? To be honest I was just happy when things started working properly again with v2.8. If you need any diagnostics running I will be happy to do them if you give me step by step instructions. I wondered if the upload had been corrupted, but i tried it twice prior to reverting to 2.8. Did wonder if the supplied rs232 cable was intermittent, and I have a new null modem cable to connect directly to the internal connection on the card if its worth a go.

Would appreciate some feedback prior to trying a later version again as I don't want to risk buggering up my new best toy :-). Just as an aside its a cracking bit of kit even if its 10 years old, very chuffed with it so far even with the teathing problems. Looking for a novaturn next just want to get this little gem going properly first.

Ta
Barry
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2.8 as txt file as .mnt upload not allowed.
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Re: Novamill and Vr milling 2.31

Post by Denford Admin » Thu 19 Nov , 2009 9:48 am

Ok - there are no differences in the mint file to do with the axes at all. It looks like the latest version might have a better memory of what station the tool carousel is sat on after power off, so look out for problems with that. Looks like we have also added M8 M9 coolant support in the later version.

I would say then, that if v2.8 is enabling you to do what you want with the machine, then stick with it :)

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Re: Novamill and Vr milling 2.31

Post by bpmsl » Thu 19 Nov , 2009 22:57 pm

So if v2.8 of the mnt file is basically the same am I ok to use it with VR 2.31? Or do you suggest I stick with both at 2.8?

Cheers
Barry

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Re: Novamill and Vr milling 2.31

Post by Denford Admin » Mon 23 Nov , 2009 9:58 am

As long as you definately download the correct one from Mintman, then I'd go for the new mint with v2.31 as it remembers what station the tool carousel is on. v2.31 may rely on this info from the mint (ie, in the machine), whereas v2.8 may have remembered it just on the PC (in software).
v2.31 is worth another try :?:

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Re: Novamill and Vr milling 2.31

Post by Martin » Tue 24 Nov , 2009 21:08 pm

What is the Eprom version?
It may need to be upgraded to Version 2.1

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Re: Novamill and Vr milling 2.31

Post by Denford Admin » Wed 25 Nov , 2009 11:40 am

It may need to be upgraded to Version 2.1
That is v2.1 of the EPROM - not the VR Milling software.

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Re: Novamill and Vr milling 2.31

Post by bpmsl » Wed 25 Nov , 2009 23:51 pm

OK folks, assuming EPROM means a chip... I've checked the main board and this is the item I have it is a denmint V2.0 b10/s/b19-jd5. Pics attached.

Looks like its been upgraded as I have what looks like an earlier version chip V1.6? in my bits n bobs box that came with the novamill, ESMINT 3.28 V1.6H/S-JD5. So looks like I'm at V2.0 not V2.1, so is the upgrade a freebe or how much is it gonna cost, do i need it for running v2.31 of VR milling?

Thoughts...

PS thanks for the help so far...

Cheers
Barry
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Re: Novamill and Vr milling 2.31

Post by Denford Admin » Thu 26 Nov , 2009 9:45 am

"DenMINT V2.0.b10/s/B19-JD5" - The early Version for running VR Milling Ver2 superceded by Ver 2.1b6
Ver 2.0 EPROM will work fine. v2.1b6 was updated to improve RS232 error checking, so if the cable is poor quality or in an electrically noisy environment then v2.1 was less likely to suffer from data corruption.
v2.0 EPROM suffered from a very rare data corruption which went undetected and occasionally led to a random machine move within a program.
While it will be worth trying to get a v2.1 EPROM off bradders, I don't think this would cause the original symptoms you had when upgrading to v2.31 VR Milling

I think I'd get used to whatever is working for the moment - bearing in mind that not all version upgrades of the VR software had important fixes or features...many were simply because we had added new machine or controller types which wouldn't effect the novamill.

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Re: Novamill and Vr milling 2.31

Post by bpmsl » Thu 26 Nov , 2009 10:20 am

Thanks guys, thats very interesting.

I have always suspected that the upload to the machine had been corrupted but wanted to exclude any other possibilities prior to trying the new software again. I think I'll use my new null modem cable to bypass the provided cables direct to the main board connection and try installing v2.31 again with its associated mnt file. Obviously this time I'll have my hand on the emergency stop when first pressing the home command in case the problem persists...! At least I know now I should be able tor revert to V2.8 with confidence.

Thanks for all your help, will advise how I get on.

Obviously if there is still a later version EPROM in stock I'd like to get it all to the latest standard if at all poss.

Cheers
Barry M

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