Fanuc 15M Series A FRUSTRATIONS

I have very little to no Fanuc experience. That being said, I purchase an older Kitamura with an Fanuc control figuring it is time to learn. I have worked with Hurco, Centroid and Siemens controls in the past and I seem to always have problem with the Fanuc whenever I give it a try... I purchased a Titan DNC to load a program into the machine. I installed a short program to test the setup and have not been able to get the machine to read the program. I tried drip feed in edit and nothing. Is there anyone who can give me a step by step on feeding the program into the machine?
I have watched numerous videos trying different methods and nothing. The machine works perfectly with the old programs stored in it.

Loading parameters of DNC: Protocol RS232, Flow Control software, Code ASCII/ISO, Baudrate 9600, Data Bits 7, Parity even, Stop bits 2.

Obviously operator error... any help appreciated.

I will ask the obvious - have you set the CNC's I/O params to what the device wants?
Also, your RS-232 cable needs to be be configured properly.

DouglasJRizzo said:

I will ask the obvious - have you set the CNC's I/O params to what the device wants?
Also, your RS-232 cable needs to be be configured properly.

Click to expand...

What Doug said is important. But the machine may already be properly setup since someone got programs into it already. Whatever you are using to send must be setup the same way as the machine. The cable is probably the culprit because you cannot use any old RS232 cable. One is no handshake, the other is full handshake. Either method determines what type of cable you need.

Well, I feel like an idiot. I thought about Doug’s comment about the obvious and stated from scratch. When I changed the baudrate in the DNC to match the machine, it did not save. I guess when you stare at something long enough your eyes glaze over.... You guys have always been a great help, thank you very much

One more stupid question and maybe more to come. Is there an operational difference between the series A and B in the 15M? I was looking for manuals and they all seem to address the Model B.

flylo31 said:

One more stupid question and maybe more to come. Is there an operational difference between the series A and B in the 15M? I was looking for manuals and they all seem to address the Model B.

Click to expand...

Hello flylo31,
There may be some differences in the Screen Soft Key layout, but operation wise theu will be the same.

With regards to your RS232 interface, set the machine parameters to as follows:

Parameter
#0000
Bit 0 = 0
Bit 1 = 1
Bit 2 = 0
Bit 3 = 0
Bit 4 = 0

#0020 = 1
#0021 = 1
#0022 = 1
#0023 = 1
#5001 = 3
#5110 = 3
#5111 = 2
#5112 = Baud Rate (10 = 4800)

Setting Page Setting
I/O = 1
ISO Format = 1


It has been a long time since PCs have been supplied with a DB25 Serial Port and many nowadays aren't supplied with a Serial Port at all. If your external device only has USB Port, I'd suggest have a real Serial add on card installed rather than use a USB to Serial Converter; many don't work well.

Following is the pin-out for use with Software Handshaking (Xon - Xoff)

Machine Side --------------------- External Device
DB25 Male ----------------------- DB25 Female ----- DB9 Female
1 Shield Trace ----------------- Not Connected --- Not Connected
2 -------------------------------------------- 3 --------------------- 2
3 -------------------------------------------- 2 --------------------- 3

4
| Bridged
5

6
|
8 All Bridged
|
20

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


External Device Software
Handshake Method = Software (Xon - Xoff)
Data Bits = 7
Stop Bits = 2
Parity = Even
Baud Rate = 4800 (Starting Point)


Regards,

Bill

LockNut said:

What Doug said is important. But the machine may already be properly setup since someone got programs into it already. Whatever you are using to send must be setup the same way as the machine. The cable is probably the culprit because you cannot use any old RS232 cable. One is no handshake, the other is full handshake. Either method determines what type of cable you need.

View attachment 318391View attachment 318392

Click to expand...

Hello LockNut,
The Cable pin out pictures you've Posted aren't actually correct for your definition.

Neither of the two are No Handshaking. The picture on the left is the pin out of a Loop-back Handshaking configuration and is used with Software Handshaking; this is the configuration that uses DC Codes. The pin out shown in the right hand picture is the configuration of Full Handshaking and uses Hardware Handshaking (RTS/CTS); this configuration is not meant for use with DC Codes as the label on the picture implies.

The DC Codes are DC1 to DC4, where typically, DC1 (Xon - Ascii 17) and DC3 (Xoff - Ascii 19) are used.

Regards,

Bill