EASIMILL DNC (easyDNC) communication

[kmitronikas]

HI to all of the DENFORDusers

Thanks to Author Martin my EASIMILL is back to life.
With his help (electric diagrams) i found the Z-axis DIR opto MCT6 to be dead, and i replaced it.
I believe without the help of DENFORD team many old Denford cncmachines would be for scrap or needed retrofits.

Trying to be helpfull to other users i shall share my experience using EASIMILL.

1- after long search only the easyDNC software seems to work for me,and i use it with FEATURECAM in the same desktop computer, under winXP.
( do not use laptops are not working for dnc)
The setup for easyDNC -last version trial-is:
mode: PNC2-4
Data rate: 2400 or1200 for older computers, 4800 is not working
Data bits: 7
Stop bits: 1
Parity: EVEN
Block end: CR
Block delay: 70 ms or more
Step size: Smooth
start code: STX,02

2-PROCESS
open and zero EASIMILL
open easyDNC and enable your configuration in Drip Feed mode
find you datum point by joging X-Y axes
in EASIMILL press DATA LINK +PRESS 1
in DNC type in CAPS LOCKS G55 X----Y-----Z50 (X-Y from joging,i use Z50 but you can have something 20<Z<60 )
G0X0Y0Z0
press SEND in easyDNC and Easimill will execute it
BEFORE anything else you turn key switch to AUTO ( if you go on in MAN probably program execution will stop soon on G2,G3 because the tolerance in arcs is+ - 0.003125 but is+- 0.1 mm in AUTO)
you load from CAM your g-code file you have and press SEND.
That is all the program will run to the end.
if you like to continue in the same datum do not use M2 IN THE END OF THE PREVIOUS PROGRAME, just load the next one and go on .
(after an M2 the former datum will be canceled).
In an older post i said ***in my mill the rs-232 socket has pins 1,7,4 for TxDa,RxDa,Ground respectively *** it is not correct ,any way are the two end pins and the middle one

I hope to be helpfull

my best regards to everybody (sorry for my english)

KONSTANTIN

[Denford Admin]

Thanks for your feedback, I'm sure it will be of use to others.

In an older post i said ***in my mill the rs-232 socket has pins 1,7,4 for TxDa,RxDa,Ground respectively *** it is not correct ,any way are the two end pins and the middle one

Please could you clarify what the Pin connections were ?

[kmitronikas]

Us described in the EASIMILL user manual (PINS : 7-6-2 for TXDA-RXDA-GROUND )
any time
Kostas

[SMD]

Hi, I am trying to establish a serial connection between my EasiMill 3 and a PC (no sucess yet) can I ask what you mean by ( do not use laptops are not working for dnc) ? I am trying to use a Dell laptop with XP

[kmitronikas]

TTL signals using a laptop are weak to establish a serial communication with EASIMILL.
If you try ,probably laptop recognize EASIMILL but not the reverse.

[SMD]

I have now managed to establish a connection between the PNC3 and the computer running easyDNC. I hope to transfer programs I have loaded into the machine to easyDNC to save them to the computer rather than storing to tape.

When I select Data Transfer to the computer I get the screen stating data is being sent but easydnc does not receive anything until I quit the tranfer process by hitting the reset key.

Then easydnc receives just the first line of my program, I cant figure out how to get it to receive all the lines. Any ideas?