DPRNT to control Arduino based rotary over serial.

[mhajicek]

When you get it working, consider selling a turnkey solution. I bet you could sell quite a few units. I have a fourth axis, which cost $11k, and am saving up for a TRT70, which is $23k. If I could have a light duty "good enough" five axis unit for a couple K that would be a gamechanger. I just finished some PEEK parts that fit in a 4" square, that took me five operations each. Would have been two ops if I hade a 3+2 system.

I'm considering getting a manual rotary to add to my fourth to make it a 4+1. I'd still have to manually index a few times per part, but it would save setups and improve accuracy.

Milling Machine Rotary Table

 

[CarbideBob]

.so as far i know all of the serial settings are set up right but directly connecting the haas serial rx and tx to the grbl controller board doesn't seem to work. .

It might be control lines. RS-232 comes in so many flavors and everything Hass I've ever seen is picky about those other wires.
A 232 breakout box with lights is good to have and allows for easy playing around with jumpering and mix and match.
When the whole world was RS-232 you needed such to figure out the connection between one strange thing to another or even just a CRT or printer to a computer and I had no money for a storage scope back then.
It is not really a "standard".
What you are trying to do seems like a really good idea and fun to figure out.
Didn't the original Hass product do exactly this? Not sure as having never interfaced one.
It is only bips and bleeps, how hard can it be and how many possible combinations?
It could be signal level but I would be not putting a lot of hope in that.

Also of note here is what is zero. Do the receiver and the machine agree on that? Yes there is a ground pin in RS-232. Argument here not good.
Seen 232 that has it "home" 100+ volts above the connected. In the older controls this tiny wire would take out the board or bit of it.
Make sure all are on the same page and not fighting for ground or zero.

Think of it not a problem but a challenge. Problems last forever, Challenges can and will be overcome.
Bob

 

[D Farms]

I did some reading. the haas is outputing rs232, which uses a +-13 volt signal. the gbrl control board uses ttl, or transistor level logic thats 0 or 5 volts, and apparently the 1 and 0 are switched. I ordered and recieved an rs 232 to ttl converter, so ill try that out. Im fairly confident this is the issue after reading the differences between the two serial communication protocols.

Also yes, one of the reasons I started this little project is I made a mini tombstone to machine parts at different angles, and the repeatability simply isnt there, this solution would be infinitely better.

 

[mhajicek]

I've got one of these for analyzing RS232 connections:

https://cnc-specialty-store.com/rs2...ster-with-led-indicators-db-25-male-to-female

 

[D Farms]

I've got one of these for analyzing RS232 connections:

Buy RS232 Mini Tester With LED Signals - CNC Specialty Store

I was able to use a usb to serial to get the haas to print to my computer, and the same usb to serial to control the arduino using rx tx and ground. that being said the trial of macros has expired, so now I need to use the hs-1 in my garage to continue testing. I was able to make the correct cable using the haas service manual as a guide, and a db25-db9 cable and a breakout db9 connector.

 

[countryguy]

Sent ya a quick Pm on something... CG