downloading NC file

R

roll maker

Aluminum

Joined

Feb 10, 2003

Location

wind gap pa

• Nov 29, 2020

• #1

We are brand new at trying to do this, so I hope those of you with a clear understanding and working knowledge will be able to help us. We have received an NC file at our office desktop. Trying to load it to a flash drive, all we get is the computer does not recognize the NC format. What do we have to download or get to store this file on our flash drive so we can take it to the machine?

 

goooose

Hot Rolled

Joined

Nov 14, 2007

Location

canada

• Nov 29, 2020

• #2

The computer will not care what the file type is if you are just copying it to a flash drive, so you must be doing something else along the way.
If you are trying to open the file, NC code is just a text document with a .NC extension. You can open it with any text editor, but your computer will not be set to use an editor for .nc files by default. You will have to tell it what program to use eg, Notepad, Word, a Browser, whatever.

 

Mike1974

Diamond

Joined

Nov 5, 2014

Location

Tampa area

• Nov 30, 2020

• #3

file format? (not just .nc)

Some might just want a number and no name after the O code/line... after the % sign at the very beginning, and a % sign at the end of program. I've seen some weird behaviour with an extra space before the starting % give an alarm. Also, if you have a typo like "(( tool 10)" with two parenthesis, some controls might puke there, or they might just flag it as unknown code...

If you list your control you will get better help.

edit: I see you are at the PC phase, not loading onto machine yet

 

E

ElCrasho

Plastic

Joined

Oct 7, 2020

Location

St louis

• Nov 30, 2020

• #4

Try changing the extension from ".NC" to ".TXT"

 

R

roll maker

Aluminum

Joined

Feb 10, 2003

Location

wind gap pa

• Dec 9, 2020

• #5

I appreciate all the info everyone has posted so far. Here is an update. The control is a centurion 7 on a Milltronics VM22. It was still set up using a 3 1/2 floppy so I ordered in an emulator, blue label it and 6 days total time it was delivered to the wrong location. Then I had a minor surgery and am recovering and a very upset customer. Enough of my woes. At this point the emulator is working fine at the control. We have done everything we would normally do with it. At my desktop we went to a txt file. Considering the age of the machine we had to reformat the flash drive to be compatible with the floppies. Reformatted to FAT on a old windows 7 laptop. Loaded the txt file from the office desk top to the flash drive, taking it to the machine we get a no file message at the centurion control. Any help is greatly appreciated

 

M

magno_grail

Hot Rolled

Joined

May 29, 2014

Location

ca, US

• Dec 9, 2020

• #6

roll maker said:

Loaded the txt file from the office desk top to the flash drive, taking it to the machine we get a no file message at the centurion control.

Click to expand...

Did you change the file back to a .nc extension? I doubt your control recognizes a .txt file.

 

M

machfab

Aluminum

Joined

Dec 1, 2008

Location

sc usa

• Dec 9, 2020

• #7

I own several Milltronics machines. The older ones only want the “O” and four digits and then a period for the file name. Ex. O1000.

 

moldcore

Hot Rolled

Joined

Dec 15, 2005

Location

UTAH

• Dec 9, 2020

• #8

I have a VM24 with a Centurion 6 control with the USB drive. All my programs use the .ncc extension. They start with O1 in the first line(program number that Surfcam gives it?) We use a free program to format the 1GB USB so it has multiple 1.39 MB sections. The program we use is called something like USB floppy manager.

 

R

roll maker

Aluminum

Joined

Feb 10, 2003

Location

wind gap pa

• Dec 10, 2020

• #9

Made sure the program line was a capital O and had a period at the end all to no avail. Using a txt file not nc. If I want to store the NC file at my desktop what viewer would be good to download, so I can then load it to a flash drive?

 

TeachMePlease

Diamond

Joined

Feb 11, 2014

Location

FL

• Dec 11, 2020

• #10

roll maker said:

Made sure the program line was a capital O and had a period at the end all to no avail. Using a txt file not nc. If I want to store the NC file at my desktop what viewer would be good to download, so I can then load it to a flash drive?

Click to expand...

Programs I use that will read a .NC file: WinCNC, Alkart CNC Wizard, Cimco editor...

All of them are expensive and not totally necessary. You just have to change your .NC to a .TXT at the computer so you can read/edit it, and then change it back to a .NC before you transfer it to your control. As a .TXT you can open it in Notepad (or Notepad++) with no issues.

 

Mike1974

Diamond

Joined

Nov 5, 2014

Location

Tampa area

• Dec 11, 2020

• #11

Something to consider. I ran a mid nineties vintage wedm and it had a floppy driver. BUT it would only read the 720kb(?) one, not the 'newer' 1.44mb one... something like that.

Have a look

10 pack 3.5" 720K DS/DD IBM Format New Floppy Disks Diskettes DSDD MF2-DD | eBay

Maybe you can dig around online for a manual and see what it says about formatting?

 

moldcore

Hot Rolled

Joined

Dec 15, 2005

Location

UTAH

• Dec 11, 2020

• #12

One thing I remembered is to use the "Safely Remove Hardware and Eject" Icon at the bottom right hand corner of the desk top before removing the flash drive. I had similar issues you're experiencing before I discovered this.

 

C

carbonbl

Cast Iron

Joined

Apr 15, 2016

• Dec 11, 2020

• #13

TeachMePlease said:

Programs I use that will read a .NC file: WinCNC, Alkart CNC Wizard, Cimco editor...

All of them are expensive and not totally necessary. You just have to change your .NC to a .TXT at the computer so you can read/edit it, and then change it back to a .NC before you transfer it to your control. As a .TXT you can open it in Notepad (or Notepad++) with no issues.

Click to expand...

You don't even need to change the extension. From any text editor you should be able to go File menu -> Open... and then select "All files" from the file type dropdown. You can also make sure .nc files open with your text editor of choice by right clicking the file in the File Explorer and selecting "Open with". From there you can pick your text editor and you should also have an option to always use that application to open files with a .nc extension. Either of these solutions avoid needing to remember to change the extension back.

 

M

mountie

Aluminum

Joined

Oct 2, 2014

Location

Lakewood

• Dec 15, 2020

• #14

TeachMePlease said:

You just have to change your .NC to a .TXT at the computer so you can read/edit it, and then change it back to a .NC before you transfer it to your control. As a .TXT you can open it in Notepad (or Notepad++) with no issues.

Click to expand...

Changing the file extension isn't necessary. As carbonbl says, any text editor will open the file if you use File > Open.... Alternatively, you can set Windows to open .nc or .ncc (whichever your control recognizes) with your preferred text editor by default. Right-click a .nc file in Windows Explorer, select Properties, and Change the file type association (see image)



I use Notepad++. I found a language definition file for it that will do text formatting to more easily go through your code. It does require spaces between words to work correctly. Instructions for doing that may be found here.

 

R

roll maker

Aluminum

Joined

Feb 10, 2003

Location

wind gap pa

• Dec 20, 2020

• #15

Solution found. After all of your assistance and input, weeks of communication with Miltronics, their local dealer and others a solution was found. A tech at Miltronics had us check a parameter for DOS and change it from yes to no or vice versa, problem solved. It changed the behavior of the screen and what it shows button the functioning and allowed us to operate the txt file. thanks for all your input. We learned a-lot.

 

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blackwolf4278

Aluminum

Joined

Oct 1, 2020

• Dec 21, 2020

• #16

CIMCO Edit - is probably the best choice for NC files. Although as other people mentioned a .NC file is essentially the same thing as a .TXT file. So you can open it with any text-editor or simply change the .NC to .TXT.

Another thing, if you have Windows 10 and you don't see the .NC but see only the file name then do this:
Open the folder containing the file, at the top right menu click: View and select "File name extensions". Then you will be able to see all file extensions. Similar process but a bit more complex applies to Windows 7 and older. Just look it up.