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Tornado 300B

I don't know if this is the correct group to be posting this question but if there is a more suitable one could someone let me know or point me in the right direction elsewhere. I have an 8 year old Colchester Tornado 300B with a Fanuc OT control. It has an RS 232 port on the front which I would like to use to download and store programs on a laptop. At the moment the operator is having to repeatedly input programs - not very efficient! Before buying some CAM software I have been told to check if the port is 'active' as some of these machines were fitted with ports but they were not actually activated for use. Is there a simple way to check? Also I am looking at CAM software at the moment; I need something which can take existing SolidWorks drawings and produce the code for this lathe. I have looked at a few different ones and I just wondered if anyone had any specific thoughts or opinions.

Thanks,

Paul

Reply to
paulus9528
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Yes, this is the right group. Nobody has replied yet because, either no one knows the answer to your question, or it would be a lot of effort to get you your answer and this is your first post here.

I don't know if there is a simple way to see if your control has this option. Looked in your documentation?

I would be surprised if you can not send programs over the RS232 port. Do you have your parameters manual? There are different parameters for the different input devices, so you need to set your control to receive data over the RS232 port. And set a baud rate, probably 9600. Get a computer and a program to send data over and a Fanuc compatible RS232 cable. They are not all the same, you can find one on ebay. Code shark is a free internet download that will work for you needs. You will need to set your serial com port. Off the top of my head, I'm thinking it is

9600 baud rate 7 bit data Even parity One stop bit And some kind of flow control

Read your manual for the procedure to input a program. The gist of it is, you go to the programs screen and type in a new program number (O0001 for example) and hit the input key. LKS will flash, indicating the control is looking for a file. Send a file over.

Reply to
Polymer Man

Paul;

Call

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Ask for Greg Mercurio. He knows this stuff well, and has all the hardware and software you'll need.

Reply to
Steven Haerr - CNCTrader Corp

From

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System 0 series

a) Set parameters 0002 and 0012 to: 1xxxx0x0

b) Set parameters 553 and 554 to: 6 (300 baud)

c) Other SETTING values: PUNCH CODE = ISO, I/O = 1 ]

Be 100% CERTAIN to back up parameters before changing any. A good place to save a copy is inside the control. AND elsewhere.

Crossposted to comp.cad.solidworks .. you might ask there as well. How much do you want to spend?

Reply to
Clhuprich

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