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Transfer programs to a MORI SEIKI ZL25 with FANUC MSC RS-232 through MOXA DE-211

daru

Plastic
Joined
Oct 16, 2019
Hi,

I'm struggling with the new setup and I hope you can point me to the right direction.
So we have the old setup from MOXA C320 (C32010T PCI board + C32030T CPU module + 2x C32045T UART modules) up and running, and we wanted to buy the same setup because some ports aren't working, but it's not available anymore. MOXA has recommended to use the DE-211 instead, so that we can have longer distances between PC and CNC machines because of CAT6.
And unfortunately it's not working but I'm not sure what is not working and why. I have tested the MOXA DE-211 with a loopback adapter, and it seems to work.
We have two separate software for program transfer. One is for the older machines with RS-232 (and I guess without MAPPS?) (it's a custom programmed software). And the other is the MORI-SERVER software (I guess for newer machines with LAN and MAPPS?). Now it doesn't really seem to matter which one I try to replace with the MOXA DE-211 it simply doesn't work. If I plug the DE-211 in the RS-232 port of the newer machine, Ready is blinking which should mean there is a DHCP error, but it simply can't be. I have double checked, IP of the DE-211 is fix, but there is no conflict with other devices. If I don't plug it into the machine, it's working fine.
If I plug 2 of 3 from older machines into the DE-211 Ready is also blinking. There is only one older machine where Ready is not blinking plugged in, but the program transfer there is also not working.
If I understand correctly, the older machines control the whole process. Using the control panel of the machine we have to ask for a program nr stored on the PC and you can grab it. Now if I plug the RS-232 out of the old MOXA gear and plug it into the DE-211 we're getting immediately an alarm on the machine. It seems the machine needs this custom software on the PC up and running to be able to communicate with it.
Is there no other way to send programs to the machines? It's okay if we must set the machine open to connections, but isn't it possible to simply send a program from the PC to the machine? Clear: it's absolutely not user friendly, but first I would like to understand what is happening, what should be happening, etc.
What protocol is used by the machine / PC to communicate? Do you have any experiences with a setup like this? Does the CNC program have to be a text file with the extension .mor and the content with % in the first and last lines and in the second line with prg nr. specified?
Thank you in advance!
 
Last edited:
Hi chad883,

thank you very much for your comment. Does it mean that if you have 3 machines, you have to have 3 such devices, and you have to make a copy of all programs 3 times? Or you have to move this device from machine to machine? We have one central place now on a PC to store all programs and all machines have access to them simultaneously and even if these devices would work, I don't think the management would like basically to change the way programs are stored / loaded.
 
If you are storing the program in the machine memory, 1 device moved from machine to machine. The ones in the link are for that purpose, they have ones that stay at the machine also. I think that is usually for drip feeding. All my programs are stored on a central computer. I copy the program I need onto a USB stick and then that stick goes in the device to load to machine. These are the most reliable transfer method I have used. Once you have your settings set correct for the baud rate and all the other settings, it is really easy to put a program on a stick and load to the machine.

Also, they have just RS-232 plugs, so you can buy multiples to leave the plug in the machine and just unplug the CAT6 cable to move to a different machine. Some machines have a different pin out on the RS-232, so you buy the RS-232 to CAT6 adapter for different brands. Mazak has a couple of pins reversed from a FANUC set-up.
 








 
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