Mori Seiki with Fanuc T-6B Can't connect to PC in need of advice

Hello everyone!

My brother and i bought a Mori Seiki with a Fanuc T6B and we are struggling to connect it to our PC. We tried ordering several RS232 cables but none of them worked so far. Today we tried to use a DNC Cable map but that did not seem to work either. ( I can't find the link for it.. once i find it tho i'll post it below.)

We tried to use CimcoEdit and DNC on an old PC we bought which had a 25 pin parallel port on it. We tried to manually configure it and we also ran the Cimco DNCs port tester which also failed.

If anyone managed to connect the same type of machine to his PC, can you please share a picture of how your cables look?

Do you only use the 25 pin on the PC and the 25 pin on the machine or do you need to use both or do we need to wire the 25 pin and the 9 pin together? We didn't really find any information on this.

If anyone knows where we could buy one of the prepared cables that would be highly appreciated as well.


Thank you.

laktozmentes said:

We tried to use CimcoEdit and DNC on an old PC we bought which had a 25 pin parallel port on it. We tried to manually configure it and we also ran the Cimco DNCs port tester which also failed.

If anyone managed to connect the same type of machine to his PC, can you please share a picture of how your cables look?

Do you only use the 25 pin on the PC and the 25 pin on the machine or do you need to use both or do we need to wire the 25 pin and the 9 pin together? We didn't really find any information on this.

If anyone knows where we could buy one of the prepared cables that would be highly appreciated as well.


Thank you.

Click to expand...

A 25 pin parallel port is NOT an RS-232 port! Do not use it.

Serial ports and cables can be either 9 pin or 25 pin or a mixture, but generally serial/RS-232 ports are 9 pin on PCs.

Is your cable a null modem cable?
Usually you want a null modem connection.

The 6T-B can connect. You probably don't have the cable set up right. Looking for a cable? Try Microcimm.

ISTR the 25 pin was for a 20ma current loop (old school teletype).

laktozmentes said:

...Do you only use the 25 pin on the PC and the 25 pin on the machine or do you need to use both or do we need to wire the 25 pin and the 9 pin together? We didn't really find any information on this.

If anyone knows where we could buy one of the prepared cables that would be highly appreciated as well.

Click to expand...

You can use 9 pin or 25 pin on the PC end. The machine is a 25 pin.

You need a crossover cable- tx and rx have to reverse via the cable. A Null Modem cable should work.

You need to set the comm settings to match between the computer and the machine.

You can get the cable configurations and parameter and setting info here:

Machinery RS232 communications settings for CNC controls including fanuc and mitsubishi

laktozmentes said:

Hello everyone!

My brother and i bought a Mori Seiki with a Fanuc T6B and we are struggling to connect it to our PC. We tried ordering several RS232 cables but none of them worked so far. Today we tried to use a DNC Cable map but that did not seem to work either. ( I can't find the link for it.. once i find it tho i'll post it below.)

We tried to use CimcoEdit and DNC on an old PC we bought which had a 25 pin parallel port on it. We tried to manually configure it and we also ran the Cimco DNCs port tester which also failed.

If anyone managed to connect the same type of machine to his PC, can you please share a picture of how your cables look?

Do you only use the 25 pin on the PC and the 25 pin on the machine or do you need to use both or do we need to wire the 25 pin and the 9 pin together? We didn't really find any information on this.

If anyone knows where we could buy one of the prepared cables that would be highly appreciated as well.


Thank you.

Click to expand...

The Cable configuration you need is as follows:

Machine Side ----------------------------------- PC Side
DB25 Male Connector ----------- DB9 Female ------- DB25 Female
1 --- Shield Trace ---------------Not Connected ----- Not Connected
2 ------------------------------------------ 2 ------------------------ 3
3 ------------------------------------------ 3 ------------------------ 2
4
| Bridged
5

6
|
8 All Bridged
|
20

7 ------------------------------------------ 5 ------------------------ 7

If you have some crimping or soldering skills you can make your own. I think with software handshaking you only actually need 3 wires.

Every CNC machine I have seen uses a null modem where Rx and Tx are crossed except for the Dynapath which uses a straight through cable.

Thank you, everyone for the ideas. We will try your suggestions and also upload a few pictures of the cables and the machine itself. Really appreciate the fast responses.

Hello everyone! Happy New Year in advance. I took some pictures of our old PC and the machine itself.

Sorry, we are still cleaning the machine...



So if i understand correctly we have to use the port in the red circle.



This is what we used to connect the PC and the Machine. Is this the one we should use on the machine,right?




This is the back of our old PC... so it seems we will need to install a PCIE serial/RS-232 card into our PC. Which to my understanding looks like the picture below.




Here is our first attempt at creating our own cable. Sadly both end of the cable is the big 25 pin port now but we are planning replacing it with the one you mentioned above.





I really hope we are now on the right path. Thank you all. Happy New Year!

I used to have a Fanuc 6TB on a VDF lathe. The cable I used is http://www.assmann-wsw.com/fileadmin/datasheets/AK149-3.pdf and I bought it from Digikey. Once I got the cable, I took the cover off the 25 pin end, and cut and joined the wires for pins 6, 8, and 20. I also cut the wire for pin 22 and left it disconnected.

In your picture above, the pink port on your computer is a parallel port. I don't see a serial port there.

Instead of getting the internal card, I used a USB adapter.

This combination worked for the Fanuc 6tb, a mill with a Fanuc 6mb, and a Mitsubishi Meldas control.

For software, I found using Realterm was handy to figure out what is going on, as it will show all characters on the line (including the control characters). I also was able to transfer programs with it, but there is better software for transfering g-code.

Hello laktozmente,
All you posted in your Post #9 is correct, except I would have simply purchased a length of Shielded Data Cable containing at least three wires and make the cable from scratch; cable containing six wires plus a Shield Trace is common.

The easiest system to set up on an FS6 control is Software Handshaking and for this you will only require cable with three wires, with the Shield Trace being optional, but very desirable. In my cable pinout schematic in Post #6, pins 4 and 5 on the machine side have been bridged. This creates the illusion for the control that its always Ready To Send (RTS) and always Clear To Send (CTS).

Unless the operating system is Win XP, or earlier and set up as a 32bit system (for XP), definitely install the real serial card and not a USB to Serial converter; there are many USB adapters that just don't work with the 64 bit system and it just introduces another unknown for you when trying to establish communication with the machine for the first time.

adamm said:

I also was able to transfer programs with it, but there is better software for transfering g-code.

Click to expand...

I'm not sure what adamm meant by the above comment as an "also", as the target of this Thread is to set up communication with the machine to be able to transfer programs. If he meant DNC with the control (Drip Feed), then it can't be done with the FS6 control without additional hardware called a Behind Tape Reader (BTR).

Regards,

Bill

angelw said:

Hello laktozmente,

I'm not sure what adamm meant by the above comment as an "also", as the target of this Thread is to set up communication with the machine to be able to transfer programs. If he meant DNC with the control (Drip Feed), then it can't be done with the FS6 control without additional hardware called a Behind Tape Reader (BTR).

Regards,

Bill

Click to expand...

I mean that the program Realterm is good for trouble shooting, and it is capable of sending programs to the machine, but it is not designed for that purpose. Once the hardware and settings are correct, and the communication is working, there are better programs to use for actually transferring programs.

For USB to serial converters, my experience is that ones with a real FTDI chip work well with various industrial controllers. CNC controls, PLCs, VFDs, etc. This is the one I use: from Digikey

adamm said:

I mean that the program Realterm is good for trouble shooting, and it is capable of sending programs to the machine, but it is not designed for that purpose. Once the hardware and settings are correct, and the communication is working, there are better programs to use for actually transferring programs.

For USB to serial converters, my experience is that ones with a real FTDI chip work well with various industrial controllers. CNC controls, PLCs, VFDs, etc. This is the one I use: from Digikey

Click to expand...

Hello adamm,
The issue is not whether its an industrial controller, or not, but with the operating system of the PC and if its set up as a 64bit system. But in any regard, a real serial port is always preferable to a USB to Serial Adapter.

Regards,

Bill

angelw said:

The issue is not whether its an industrial controller, or not, but with the operating system of the PC and if its set up as a 64bit system. But in any regard, a real serial port is always preferable to a USB to Serial Adapter.

Click to expand...

In my experience, industrial equipment is more finicky about the quality of the USB-to-RS-232 adapters than consumer electronics. I also disagree about 64 bit systems being an issue. For about 10 years now, across numerous laptops running Windows 7 64 bit, then Windows 10 64 bit, the FTDI chips with the FTDI drivers are reliable. The knock-off dodgy adapters have dodgy drivers, and have problems. Also there are knockoffs of the FTDI chips around, and they don't work with the FTDI drivers properly.

I bought 3 different USB to RS232 adapters before finding one that was 100% reliable while drip feeding code. Moxa was the brand that worked. I have no idea about what chipset is used. My drip feed laptop is running XP pro 32 bit. The Moxa adapter died after ~10 years use. I replaced it with an express card to RS232 adapter and that worked fine with my test program too.

adamm said:

In my experience, industrial equipment is more finicky about the quality of the USB-to-RS-232 adapters than consumer electronics. I also disagree about 64 bit systems being an issue. For about 10 years now, across numerous laptops running Windows 7 64 bit, then Windows 10 64 bit, the FTDI chips with the FTDI drivers are reliable. The knock-off dodgy adapters have dodgy drivers, and have problems. Also there are knockoffs of the FTDI chips around, and they don't work with the FTDI drivers properly.

Click to expand...

Whether its an industrial piece of equipment, or a consumer targeted PC, each have a UART and its been my experience, long in comms with industrial devices, the industrial components are more robust, reliable than those found used with PCs.

Regarding the 64bit issue, why do you think that at one stage, most, if not all, USB/RS232 adapters worked; then all of a sudden, most didn't? The machine tools didn't change; same machine that was there last month. USB/Serial adapter is the same one that was attached to the computer last month. Hang on; didn't we upgrade the OS to a 64bit system?

Its now the case that SOME USB to Serial adapters work. But when the Windows 64 bit operating system was first introduced NO USB/Serial adapters worked, NOT ONE. And why do you think that some don't work now? I took this matter up with the manufactures directly and was told it was the 64 bit architecture that was the issue and as the use of RS232 comms was on a downward slide, most reported that they had no intention of doing further development to overcome the issue. However, as there were so many devices in place that still required RS232 comms, many reversed their original decision.