Denford Software & Machines

I just acquired a used micromill (Integrator) and I can’t get communications working.

I don’t have the Denford software (yet) and I may purchase it but I would like to be sure it works before I invest.

Since it doesn’t have a Start/Stop button I’m assuming it is totally ‘driven’ by a connected PC.

It has an ON/OFF switch, E-Stop, a key switch and a lighted push-button. I believe the ON/OFF switch is for the spindle motor. I turn it ON using the key switch and OFF by pushing the lighted button.

I have connected many CNC machines during my previous job so I’m confident the serial cable I made is correct…but I don’t know and haven’t been able to determine the communications protocol.
I also have a very thorough understanding of G-Code and NC programs.

It appears to have the DenStep controller. When I turn it on the status displays ‘8’ which according to the PDF manual means the axis motors are on and in an ‘idle’ state…and the stepper motors are indeed on and ‘holding’.

Using my ‘trusty’ serial port monitor program (Aggsoft) I receive data when I open and close the interlock door and when pressing and releasing the E-Stop button…the data value received depends on the baud/bits/parity/stop setting. I’ve tried just about all combinations…higher baud rates produce 2 received bytes and other combinations report ‘errors’ from the monitoring software.

I’ve tried sending basic G-Codes (G28, G01) but nothing happens…varying the serial protocol…I've also tried test NC programs using the DOS denford downloads...

Does this machine use a proprietary format?

If I knew the values sent from the machine when opening/closing the interlock door and the E-Stop cycle I could at least get the comm. settings right…

Any help here would be appreciated…

Try 19200, None, 8, 2

However, the comms protocol is special - the denstep reads in a Mint program via comms which handles the logic (eg M codes turning outputs on)
The mint can be set to reside in flash onboard and to run automatically so you don't have to download it every time.
The comms protocol is packet driven commands or requests with some checksum bytes thrown in...
From memory something like "MA 0,1,2,23424,3333,0 {&" would be an Absolute Move a number of steps.


HTH

Thanks for the response…you were right about the protocol…still couldn’t get any ‘action’ from my port monitoring software…

I did quite a bit of research on MINT at the Baldor site but ultimately it was Denford’s MINTMAN utility that got things moving (literally)…just downloaded the VR Milling v2.31…no registration key but MINTMAN still ran…enough to verify machine integrity…

Basically uploaded the MNT program from the control…’broke’ the MINT execution…then sent some of the init commands and finally some move commands…succeeded in single axis, vector, and circular moves…all axis…spindle also…had to be careful since I don’t think any of the ‘safeties’ were there…

Guess I need to investigate software purchase…

Not really interested in 3D contouring…2 ½ axis pocketing and pecking…routing type stuff.

The firmware is DENMINT 2.0.B10/S/B19-JD5…would VR Milling v2.31 work with this eprom?
Is VR Milling v2.31 still available?
Thanks again for the help…

The firmware is DENMINT 2.0.B10/S/B19-JD5…would VR Milling v2.31 work with this eprom?

Yes that version sounds about right - not sure if thats the one with data length checking though (Mintman should tell you) there was a later version which overcame some inadeqaucies in the RS232 checksums which very occasionally generated a random move where the comms was noisy.

Is VR Milling v2.31 still available?

Its not part of our range anymore so would have to ask about doing a one off

Thanks for checking...please let me know via email...

I am following the steps in this post trying to test a used micromill 2000 with a denstep controller. So far I have established a good connection but having a lack of MINT code knowledge, don't know any INIT or MOVE commands that ozofnash spoke of. I am assuming these are entered into the command line interface. Can anyone help me with some example commands to test with before I buy the full version of VR Milling? Much appreciated.

Download VRMilling v2 from here:
http://www.website.denford.ltd.uk/suppo ... -downloads

Have a look at the .mnt files in there... they should give you some clues about mint commands. We don't have any electronic manuals on it but there may be something on the Baldor site ?

I have already installed VR Milling V.5.26 and am running the mintman.exe file from that. It is better to use the older version for some reason?

After trying many combinations of commands, no motion from the mill yet. Some of the syntax in mintman is "Card aborted on axis 2", then P> seems to be after anything I enter. THe number on the controller is 3 while I am communicating with it. Is this normal? I haven't been able to locate a manual for the micromill 2000 yet. Thanks.

It might be worth running one of the mints, then stopping it.
Running it will setup some of the modes like feedrate override and enable the stepper drives.
Then try something like

I download the mint then break out if it. Prior to giving commands, the controller card reads 8. After giving commands, I get, "card aborted on axis2" after that, the controller card reads E until I power off and back on. The spindle drive board doesn't have any removable fuses that I see, all the main fuses are ok. Are there any suggestions for me to try?

I really can't remember if you could get motion working from the command line, its not something we ever did - all the motion was sent from the VR software...I can't see why not though, if the mint has run once and initialised some stuff, and the STOP input is not active (ie its connected to 0v)

Found this bit out of the novamill mint which should move the Z axis if you had 200 steps per mm:

SPEED[2] = 400 * 200 / 60 : REM 400mm/min
MA[2] = -71.5 * 200 : GO : REM move Z -71.5mm