Denford Software & Machines

Hi all:

I am trying to get a Starturn lathe up and running. So far I managed to make the RS232 cable, get the right software (FANUCSLD) and try running it from XP, dosbox and freeDOS with mixed results.

When I run the program I get to FANUCSLD edit and simulation screen, and one relay on the board rapidly turns off and on. When I go to the F10 menu and then MACHINE CONTROL (menu item name is from memory might be slightly different) a second relay fires up in the controller.

Next screen is the Jog screen with the big white digits for a readout, and herein lays the issue. There's a message asking me to datum the axes using X and then Z. I press X, Z, Shift+X, poo+Z, arrow keys, PgUp, PgDn and all sort of combos but nothing happens in the lathe. The stepper motors do not seem energized at all since I can manually turn the screws. All fuses are good. The RS232 cable works OK, since when I unplug it I get errors <50> and then <128>. If I plug it back in and run the software I get to the edit & sim screen with no problems. I even checked the override, emergency and door switches and all are working A-OK.

My FANUCSLD.GO is configured thus:

IBM-RS2 1
$3F8 4 MACHINE
QDENFORD.KBD 1
18.2 0
VGA.CRT 0
FANUCSLD.APP

In XP and FreeDOS I get to the edit & sim software; but DosBox on top of XP kicks me off with an error <50> as if the cable were unplugged or the controller turned off. When I use FreeDOS I'm booting from USB and I get response. I'm testing different set ups on 2 PCs but not much changes save for a nasty lag in command inputs.

Is there something I'm missing? I think I made my homework from reading through the forums and getting to this point but this is as far as I can get without schematics and manuals.

For what is worth, my machine is exactly the same as this: https://denfordata.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=1113 I'm 2 or 3 numbers below his serial number though. I'm not using the dongle though.

Thanks in advance for taking the time to help me out!

Hi, have a search for my posts. I have the Starturn 5 and went through a lot when I was getting it set up. Not able to get to my info for a while.

Hope that helps

Pete

First and foremost, thanks TDIPower, your manuals were very helpful.

I almost had the little bastard running except... It turned out there was some funky business with my setup, and the keyboard driver for IBM keyboards (QDENFORD.KBD I think it's called) wouldn't recognize the x or z keystrokes, or anything but the F keys for that matter. Not even using Alt or Ctrl or Shift key combos would work. The lathe steppers went stall and a couple of relays turned on each time but nothing more. A shame, for everything was in working order, mechanically and electrically. If I had the keyboard tutor and the serial ports to handle it I could have spared a ton of work.

I tried dosbox over winxp, dosbox over linux (ubuntu 14), pure ms-dos, winxp and even freedos with mostly the same results; dosbox setups wouldn't even connect and always ended in an error 128. I used 2 different PCs.

But hey, I'm retrofitting to mach3 and maybe one USB CNC control. If those Arduino-GRBL controllers could handle more inputs I would use one and input the spindle RPM encoder and the toolpost binary encoder to have a complete retrofit.

So I guess I'm closing this thread and opening a new one with the retrofit progress now.

I have a friend with the denford tutor keyboard, if it's any help? Like mine it is actually for the starmill but I have just printed the starturn overlay on printable vinyl and stuck it on.


Pete