Haas Ethernet

[Müřlıń®]

Howdy all....Question....

 

Are all the bugs worked out of Haas's ethernet upgrade?

 

We have three machines and need to get our programs out to them faster. Our Haas rep told us a few months back there were still issues with it.

 

I thought I would ask someone who was actually "Using" the feature instead of selling it.....

 

Thanks,

 

Murlin

[5 AX]

I have one machine with ethernet and usb. It still does not work properly.

[mayday]

not

we can hook up with windose networking with a laptop but it wont work with our novel intranet. they tell us there are working on an update.

I really see no need for it. we have a comm cable and for the big prg's a 256 jump drive works real fast

[Don S at Barefoot CNC South]

Hi

Also if you have the hard drive option you can run programs from the hard drive.

[matt m]

Just had our mill and lathe upgraded last week,

The USB works great, but we won't have the enet from our side going for a couple of weeks.Also the hard drive works well. -matt

[htm01]

we have 2 with the harddrive,but it's just as easy to dnc,you can't edit anything on the hd,you have to send it back to the computer edit and send it back,you also can't start in the middle of a tool path. hth

[Müřlıń®]

Hrmmm....seems like it might be easier just to put a PC in front....

 

 

thanks guys

[Jody]

We have a haas and do not have many problems getting a file off of the computer that is networked to. but from the computer I can not drop a program on to the haas's hard drive. I have talk to 6 to 8 different tech support at haas and our dealer and nobody will help me. they say let me email you the instructions and i say the same ones the last guy sent. yes then it should work try it again. jerks.

 

the one thing that I found out is that if you set up another user on the computer (like the book says) be sure that you you all caps for the password the haas does not have lowercase letters. I think I spend two to three weeks on and off when I pull my head out of my a$$ and thought of that

 

I hope that helps

 

Jody

 

[ 04-13-2005, 01:44 PM: Message edited by: ctmJody ]

[MillMan]

I've had a Haas TM-2 working fine since installation...about six weeks.

[dgriffiths]

We have a Haas VF-5 w/ ethernet and have had no problems. Been up and running about a year now. It was a pain however getting it to work properly on initial setup. We are running a Windows 2000 server.

[Chris Rizzo]

Don't get me going about Haas salesmen!!!

 

Can't really directly answer your question Murlin, but we just have a pc at each machine and rs-232 each mill. With a 25' serial cable running at 115,000 baud with no problems. Never had data starvation, Haas machines can't accuratly feed fast enough for that around here. The ethernet / hardrive add-on last I checked was $3,000+, and it does'nt even allow access to the internet.

 

What model Haas' are your guys running your surface work on? We just got a VF2ss and are having some issues with accuracy and gouging on surfacing toolpaths.

[Anthony CIMCO]

Murlin,

 

Have you tried using the CIMCO Edit OEM Version supplied with Mastercam (at no cost to you) at 115k baud? As suggested above, all you need is a serial cable (configured for software or hardware flow control - software should suffice but hardware is always recommended), a free COM port on your PC, and you should be all set. If you have any questions give us a call and we'll help you any way we can.

 

T. 704-644-3587

 

Also, try giving Danny or Danniel a call at MLC CAD Systems. They should be able to help you out. (800-364-1MLC)

[crazy^millman]

Murlin I had perfect results with Win98 and the HAAS and ethernet. That as on a PEER to PEER network. I could see files on the HAASMILL folder and could put and take file off of the machine while it was running with no problem. THe thing I found for running it from the Hard Drive was no TXT in the Nc File or N numbers. When I say no TXT I mean nothing not even a program name. What I did is use a mi6 to do away with all the txt stuff. Send me an email and I will give you something you will like.

 

 

HTH

[Müřlıń®]

Well guys I found out what the problem is. We are on a Unix network and the program that calls up and loads the toolpaths from the server is also written in Unix.

 

It seems the software wont go faster than around 19k or it looses date

 

The Program is being re-written to accept 115k speeds without data loss.

 

 

quote:

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I could see files on the HAASMILL folder and could put and take file off of the machine while it was running with no problem.

---

Running a program while downloading to HDD.....Now that's what I'm talking bout That would pay for itself in no time....

 

Not sure if I could get them to toss this Unix stuff and go with a Windows network for the machine tools though......the wheel of change is sooooooo slowwwwwwwwwwwwww 'round these parts ....

 

But you never know......If I tell them you can go up and down at the same time, I'm sure it will raise some eyebrows

 

quote:

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What model Haas' are your guys running your surface work on? We just got a VF2ss and are having some issues with accuracy and gouging on surfacing toolpaths

---

I think they are the same... I will look tomarrow and get back with you.

 

My reseller fixed me up with a bullet proof post and so far I have not had a gouge yet. We do 3-d surfacing exclusively.

 

Many thanks to all who responded......once again you guys are the best

[Müřlıń®]

CMR we have a 4,5 and a 6....but they should have the same control.

 

I don't have a clue why its gouging. Maybe there is something wrong with the one of the servo's ...

[TimHollis]

Oh Yeah.

 

Sent to Haas tech support.

 

Using a new VF-2 mill with 8 megabytes of memory and the Ethernet option for communication. We use MasterCam as our CAM system.

 

We are having problems downloading files due to their size. Small programs are transferred almost instantaneously, but recently it took 10 minutes to download a 2 MB program at the VF-2 control. The machine would not even accept a 5 MB file.

 

We need the ability to download large files. What’s the best way to implement a drip-feed system? Do we scrap the Ethernet card and revert to an RS-232 system, or go to a third-party drip-feed system?

 

and the survey said!!!

 

Dear Tim:

 

We were able to download a 7.5 MB file in 9 minutes via Ethernet, so you should be able to get similar results.

 

There are several things that may be causing or contributing to your long download times. If your company’s computer network is busy or overloaded, it can increase your download time considerably. Also, there must be sufficient memory available in the Haas control to accept the program, and provide buffer space for the download. It’s possible that the 5 MB file was larger than the amount of memory you had available.

 

The Ethernet option is about 10 times faster than a serial port, so you don’t want to go back to RS-232. Please keep in mind that DNC from a PC to a CNC machine via Ethernet is not the same as transferring a file from one PC to another.

 

To free up additional memory, you can delete old programs, or save them off the machine. And remember, it’s not how many programs, but how large they are that matters (ten 200K files take up the same amount of memory as one 2 MB file).

 

Sincerely,

Haas Applications

 

 

geez!!! who would have thought it!!

 

Tim H.

[Chris Rizzo]

Murlin, our machine is a "SS" model. Faster rapids and feedrates. But I've come to find out that they acheive this by using steeper pitch ballscrews, but with the same encoders.

 

[Müřlıń®]

Uh Oh...you might have to enable that G187 thingy to help with slide driver overtravel....

 

We have the high feed option on theVMC/VOP-D's .....

 

We don't use the G187 but it sounds like you might have to.....That one is over me head....

 

I think some others in here may be able to help you on that one...

 

quote:

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they acheive this by using steeper pitch ballscrews

---

Bummer..... loss of torque

 

 

Yo Ron.....I there is no mention of a HDD installed when you opt for the ethernet option.

 

I wonder how they are doing that??

They mapping the memory and using it as a ram disk?

 

1 meg a minute is still a fast download if they get the bugs worked out....

 

[ 04-14-2005, 01:13 PM: Message edited by: Murlin ]

[MillMan]

We've been using our Haas TM2 machine with ethernet for about three months and have had no problems.

[jbel]

quote:

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1 meg a minute is still a fast download if they get the bugs worked out....

---

NO, NO, NO!!!!!! Do not settle for this. It sounds like Haas needs to fix their problem, not make customers settle for slow download times.

 

We have OKK mills with the hard drives mapped directly to our PC's that run M'cam.

 

Drag and drop 10 meg files while the machine is running finish toolpaths on die cavities with no lag or data starvation in about 10 seconds.

[htm01]

cmr,

we had the same problem with a ss,so we traded it in for the moldmaker model,it has a 6mm pitch instead of 12mm on the ss.cuts very good.

 

we did a test part for haas on the ss with different feedrates on the same surfaces and it stopped following after about 40ipm.

[Chris Rizzo]

Hey htm01,

 

How was the process of returning the ss for the moldmaker? Did you go through your dealer or straight to Haas? Our dealer is a pain in the a$$, wanting to "tinker with some parameters" to remedy the ss issues. A 6mm screw is the only parameter I want changed

 

I've been running the thing balls out (on some loose tolerance work, thankfully) and can't aford ANY downtime right now to run sample parts or deal with a machine swap. However I've got some mold work lined up for this fall an need it resolved by then.

 

thx

[jimspac]

We were able to drip over Ethernet to one of our TM1's for about 6 months. The other TM1 that it never worked on was upgraded to hard drive but havs problems communicating with the network. Not the IT guy's first priority so everything still goes in from floppies.

[Müřlıń®]

quote:

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The other TM1 that it never worked on was upgraded to hard drive

---

Oh so they can be outfitted with a HDD.

 

We just have 17 meg of memory on ours.

 

Heck we could just do what Mayday said and dump large programs off a flash card instead of over the network. I love concurrency

 

how to USB through RS232

 

Murlin teh hates to see machines sittin' idle for 30 min loading a huge program....

 

All that loading time would pay for the upgrade in a year on all three machines...

[DC Gorn]

Since I have been doing networks and CNC for years I figured no real problem. I could not get our VF2 to see the network. I tried everything and I called Haas and tried a few things that made no sense. I had the Haas service guy come out and he could not see his laptop either. They replaced the IO board. I typed in the Domain and I had instant peer to peer. Worked great just like it was suppost to. Whole thing took 5 minutes. I even made folders on 5ax and my desk top. It was a new machine and had a couple of other problems. A week later they said we needed a software upgrade. After they did the upgrade I could no longer see the networks. I was back where I started and nothing seemed to work but now the haas guy can still see his lap top so now its all my problem.

 

I really think Haas is clueless on the networks.