I'm modern, got blue tooth Deckel!

Ok so i have a customer (nice guy) that is a venture capitalist. He has a small machine shop in his garage and i have been helping him learn some about cutting metal. Loves tinkering with stuff and is quite a wire head on computers. Anyhow he sees my Deckel and the RS232 cable i use to load programs or run my DNC and he goes nuts. Comes in today with a box of small electronic gadgets and some software. Before i know what is happening we have setup a "Blue Tooth" wireless network that talks to both my Deckel and my Romi CNC lathe. Thing works off the USB port on the computer. It has a little transmitter powered off the USB. The thing is a wireless network that goes from USB over the air to a reciever and then to serial (RS232). Each machine has its own address so the number of connected machines is almost unlimited...i have only two so for me its easy, but i don't have any cable connected anymore.
The system is pretty easy to use. I just open the Blue tooth icon on the desk top and choose the device that is orbiting about the sun (the sun is the computer and the orbiting devices are what i want to connect to). Once i know the sun and orbiting device are connected, (shows as a dotted line between the sun and orbiting device)i simply use my file transfer program just as when i had a cable strung out....Pretty slick. I get the power for the reciever in the control off the circut board for the electronic hand wheel (5 vdc fused) on my Dialog4. Can't send any pictures of the setup as it is not final yet and i forgot my digital at home.

Don, you might have a color LCD on your FP2A but i got Blue Tooth on my FP4NC.

Cheers Ross

Cool...you ought to post this in the CNC forum too...some of those guys would be very interested in the setup !

Next thing you know you'll be walking around with one of those Bluetooth wireless ear buds growing out of your outer ear ! I see these Bluetooth guys at auctions calling into the home office to ask "do we need this?" and "what is this worth?"...look like dorks

Being a fellow "Wirehead" I've often wondered why this hasn't been done ages ago. That's cool.

I expect (not being a CNC guy) that RS232 has survived as long as it has because file sizes aren't particularly large.

That, and you can re-assemble a conenctor when someone trips over it using normal hand tools. not that I've ever done that.

However, I wouldn't run wireless networks in a machine shop -- the 2.4ghz type -- on a bet. They seem awfully susceptible to interference, and every &@)!) baby monitor in the 'hood makes the connection drop.

Ross, I'd be very interested to hear how reliable it is over the long term.

Al:
Your caution is well put. I have thought about the interference issues as well. I have not thrown away the wire or my connectors and don't plan to. My biggest worry here is the TIG welder when running a repair on some Aluminum castings..that high frequency can be a killer.
Good newa is that running a wire connectionor the Bluetooth is of little setup difference. Just need to plug in the connector to make the wire work.
Thanks for the interest , will keep the group informed as to how this works out.
Cheers ross

That is cool.

I just picked up a Nikon D200. In a couple of months, they will be selling a wireless for downloading pictures from the camera. It's the same basic concept, I believe.

Now if we could do something about an actual tooth, I'd be impressed. Let's put the research into dental and health care. Meanwhile, it's pretty cool stuff.