standalone drip feed DNC

Has anyone done a pretty thorough comparison of the standalone drip feed boxes for older machines (Fanuc control in my case)? I'm considering these that are available right now: Micro DNC, Titan (Ausys, Shoplink (same as Micro DNC?). Others I should consider?

sigmatero said:

...Others I should consider?

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Predator DNC worked great for us in the past, is feature rich and well supported. We went through a VAR named Shop Floor Automations and always got top notch support.

If you're in the need for more cabling Predator also makes some very good cabling call Grizzly Cable that has great shielding and is terminated with RJ-45 connectors for use with their machine specific connectors. Not sure but I think connectors are included with each cable; just tell them the machine and they'll send you the proper connectors. All of our machines are networked now but back when we did serial, having a good VAR made life a lot easier.

LAN CNC from Calmotion has treated us well on our Tree 1060 & Mazak SQT18

AARONT said:

LAN CNC from Calmotion has treated us well on our Tree 1060 & Mazak SQT18

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When we started having physical problems with our again dnc system we decided to ditch it and use LAN CNC devices for the few remaining machines that didn't support ethernet. I really like those devices a lot.

@sigmatero
There's a lot cool functionality with a dnc system but you might consider LAN CNC devices (or something comparable) as
AARONT mentioned.

I've been using DNC4U for yonks, 20 yrs plus.
I don't do any drip feeding currently but have used it to dripfeed in the past.
It's cheap, was about £125 when we last bought it (perpetual licence).
The help files are good.
Best of all it works great.

Anyone ever tried one of these? I’m thinking about this for an older machine we’re getting:

DNC ONE, DRIP FEED CNC MACHINE, USB DNC | eBay

I'd just buy a low cost laptop, a MOXA USB to RS232 converter and DNC4U software. It will cost a bit more than the DNC box (unless you have/find a used laptop). That gives you editing/viewing ability, easy file management (could easily be networked for file and revision security, something you don't have with thumbdrives), mid program drip-feed restarts, and others.

A long time ago, I used a Greco systems DNC "MiniFile" box. PITA compared to using a laptop.

DNC4U is a good idea it seems. Can anyone recommend a cheap Windows compatible tablet that could be used with this software that I could glue magnets onto the back of of then mount to my VMC? Then have a separate wireless keyboard for editing. That would seem to give the best of all worlds. Plus I could put software on the tablet that would let me pre-run the gcode to check toolpaths. And use all the other Windows programs like email etc.

Vancbiker said:

I'd just buy a low cost laptop, a MOXA USB to RS232 converter and DNC4U software. It will cost a bit more than the DNC box (unless you have/find a used laptop). That gives you editing/viewing ability, easy file management (could easily be networked for file and revision security, something you don't have with thumbdrives), mid program drip-feed restarts, and others.

A long time ago, I used a Greco systems DNC "MiniFile" box. PITA compared to using a laptop.

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I use and have for sale a few Greco Systems CNC Stations upgraded to USB. They are much better than the MiniFile as they have a full keyboard.

I have one mounted on each machine and still have 7 left. I have often contemplated sharing one between 2 machines that are next to each other.

Add me to the dnc4u list. Dirt cheap. Works great. Is highly configurable. Buy it once you own it for life. Plus it includes a full on code editor interface that comes in very handy. And when I've emailed the company with questions I always got an answer back.

I have 3 Fanuc machines I run off of one license using small format shop floor computers at each machine Ethernet connected to the office CAD/CAM file system. I use Remote Desktop to access the dnc4u host computer and/or the main CAD software in the office. Each machine's RS232 input is connected to the dnc4u host computer using powered USB extension cables strung in the rafters. These connections pass through a Tripp Lite Keyspan USB to Serial convertor. I moved all the RS232 connectors on the machines into the control cabinets they were originally mounted to along with the Keyspan and a short DB9-DB25 conversion cable. All you see now at the machines are panel mount USB Type B connectors. BTW - every machines connection can be configured differently if need be. I think dnc4u can run 63 machines.

If the system ever gives me trouble which it seldom ever does, a quick unplug-replug of the USB connector at the machine fixes it.

Again... plus one for dnc4u.

Funny but I also started out with those Greco Minifiles. I had the 5 1/4" floppy ones. I still have a working one with factory instruction book and everything.

Dave

I'm a very big fan and owner of some ShopLink FLASH units. Positively love them. Have used a few of the others over the years and when it came time to buy something for our shop it was a "no-brainer". They're less expensive, super simple, and just always work.

Jerry has been fantastic to deal with, too. Even when the issue was the nut behind the keypad. ( me ) Actually, that's the only issue there has ever been. But Jerry always responded very promptly and walked me through things. Here are a few example installations. We are installing another shortly.

While Shoplink may be nice and all, Jerry at Highland does nothing here but spam the forum (at least under the login shoplink1). Never has he contributed to helping someone with comms issues.

Another vote here for DNC4U.

I purchased a used Dell PC with a parallel port, made my own cable with a braided shield. The PC is inside the Fanuc 3T control panel and i have a wireless Mouse and keyboard.

Zahnrad Kopf said:

I'm a very big fan and owner of some ShopLink FLASH units. Positively love them. Have used a few of the others over the years and when it came time to buy something for our shop it was a "no-brainer". They're less expensive, super simple, and just always work.

Jerry has been fantastic to deal with, too. Even when the issue was the nut behind the keypad. ( me ) Actually, that's the only issue there has ever been. But Jerry always responded very promptly and walked me through things. Here are a few example installations. We are installing another shortly.

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Nice work ZK. +1 for Highland Shoplink and Jerry. Good hardware and Terriffic support.

Zahnrad Kopf said:

I'm a very big fan and owner of some ShopLink FLASH units. Positively love them. Have used a few of the others over the years and when it came time to buy something for our shop it was a "no-brainer". They're less expensive, super simple, and just always work.

Jerry has been fantastic to deal with, too. Even when the issue was the nut behind the keypad. ( me ) Actually, that's the only issue there has ever been. But Jerry always responded very promptly and walked me through things. Here are a few example installations. We are installing another shortly.

Click to expand...

Thanks for showing how you mounted those!

Cable: Amazon.com: EZSync USB to RS232 (DB25 Male) CNC Programming Cable, CNC Controls Programming(Fanuc, Yasnac, Sinumerik, etc), FTDI Chipset, 1.5 Meter, EZSync014C : Electronics
NC link (free): CAD/CAM CNC | NCLink Registration | OneCNC CAD/CAM Software

add laptop/tablet/PC and have at it. I had an extra laptop already so my only cost was the cable.