Thanks Allan, the MOXA was recomended by CIMCO because they say that the new PC's ( I have a brand new HP) cannot output the 12volts negative and positive required for the handshake. The COMM port was an add on card as the HP does not come with a COMM outlet.( the card company LINDY say this is crap??) The MOXA was supposed to "emulate " the correct signal, but I think it is garbage and it just did not function at all, so I never got to try it properly. NUM say Get WIN 98 and they have given me software that they guarantee will work. Update coming shortly.

Still battling with CADEM and still only a short way along what is becoming an impossible path to drip feed a program to a CNC in desperation chris f

Yogesh, I have it configured already for 400,000 and kept going up but made no difference ( yes I have enough RAM to do this ). Billh, thanks I will try this chris f

What the heck does "Tool allocation exceeded" mean when I am trying to regen a toolpath. Also, can anyone assist as to how to find open chains and close them in complex geometry. All is well until I try to create a toolpath and it says "close open boundaries...", but I cannot seem to find them. By the way V9 with Art. thanks in advance. regards Chris f

just an update if anyone is watching. Got fed up trying to get Moxa virtual Comm port working,Does not work and the local dealer in Brisbane is hopeless, so it is going back to Moxa, for a full refund. Don't buy one of these unless the rep bothers to install it as it is a nightmare to use with more settings than you can find on a Jumbo Jet. Now I have also given up on CIMCO ( not enough parameters to adjust )and moved to CADEM from India, NC NET so far I am able to machine about 30000 lines of code without errors but I am fine tuning it and so far have found the software to be excellent for DNC problems and the support on the phone great. At least the machine is running again after a week of crap. regards chris f

Yes I have tried all the various settings baud rates etc and am mindful to change at both ends, the CNC seems to like 9600, 7, Even and 1 and hardware. NUM France tell me that it does not matter what I set the settings to, as the controller is configured to accept any combination as readable up to 19600baud and any of the other combinations and they are sure it is in the PC/ Comm setup at the PC I have since been advise by CIMCO Denmark to buy a Moxa N5110 to operate the system as a virtual Com port because they say that the problem I am having is caused by the new Comm card only operating at 3 to 5 volts and the CNC needs -12 to +12 for the handshake to be effective. I have now spent 2 days on this Moxa setup and it does not work at all, (Zip Nothing NADA, replugging all my old bits and at least we can load small programs) irrespective of what I do, so it is back to the original idea and try to keep guessing a solution, while I wait for Moxa USA to respond to the questions

I today,got another 2 new 9 pin and 25 pin plugs with a hardware handshake set up as follows. 9 pin 25 Pin 1 8 2 2 3 3 4 6 5 7 6 20 7 5 8 4 on 9 pin PC side 1 and 4 are connected to each other. On the 25pin CNC side 8, is connected to 20 This information came from 2 sources 1, my reseller and CADEM as well as confirmed by the computer tech who put it together. So I rushed back to the shed believing all would be cured. Plugged it in and restarted and exactly the same thing is happening, in that the program and the CNC run until it gets to block somewhere around N5500 and above and then stops telling me I have an error, for the first 4 hours or so it said ther was an error in the block. I include the block and a few lines before and after for some clarity ( I am by now almost suicidal and beyond simple maths and G code) Here is where the "problem" is or at least starts and can be and has been on any of the blocks and changes on each time I run the program. N5735X5.716Y112.774Z-3.438 N5740X4.573Y111.631Z-3.848 N5745X4.002Y111.06Z-4.107 N5750X3.145Y110.203Z-4.654 N5755X-12.279Y94.779 N5760X-12.564Y94.493Z-4.493 N5765X-12.85Y94.208Z-4.231 N5770X-13.136Y93.922Z-4.059 N5775X-13.421Y93.636Z-3.962 N5780X-13.993Y93.065Z-3.662 N5785X-14.278Y92.779Z-3.58 N5790X-14.564Y92.494Z-3.55 N5795X-15.135Y91.923Z-3.347 N5800X-15.992Y91.066Z-3.243 N5805X-16.563Y90.494Z-3.181 N5810X-16.849Y90.209Z-3.195 N5815X-17.135Y89.923Z-3.117 N5820X-17.706Y89.352Z-2.816 N5825X-18.277Y88.781Z-2.638 N5830X-18.848Y88.209Z-2.585 N5835X-19.42Y87.638Z-2.633 N5840X-19.705Y87.352Z-2.818 N5845X-19.991Y87.067Z-2.756 N5850X-20.848Y86.21Z-3.096 N5855X-21.133Y85.924Z-3.146 N5860X-21.419Y85.639Z-3.068 N5865X-21.705Y85.353Z-3.11 N5870X-21.99Y85.067Z-2.994 N5875X-23.99Y83.068Z-3.078 N5880X-25.418Y81.64Z-3.179 Here is the beginning of the program, forget the E60... codes all they do is establish the programs start point DAT1 according to NUM. %1999 (PROGRAM NAME - DUCKRELIEF99 ) E60000=0 E61000=0 E62000=0 E60000=-2300*1000 E61000=-1300*1000 E62000=80.5-323.7*1000 N10G17G71G90G40M177 N15G=0T=0M90 N20T6M06 ( 6. BALL CUTTER TOOL - 6 DIA. OFF. - 6 LEN. - 6 DIA. - 6.35 ) N25G0X-58.544Y141.908M40M03M23 N30D6S18000 N35M03 N40M111 N45Z5. N50G1Z-4.654F2000. N55X-59.408Y141.044F5000. N60Y139.248 N65X-56.748Y141.908 N70X-54.952 N75X-59.408Y137.452 N80Y135.656 N85X-53.156Y141.908 Now the reason for putting that in was to show that where the hang up is coming looks good to me and I cannot see any code errors because it is in the middle of XYZ moves no added or altered G or M. When the CNC hangs the CIMCO drip feed justs keeps merrily on feeding lines to the CNC and it even continues if I switch the CNC off, so for sure it is not getting a " handshake" to tell it to stop sending data and that is where I believe the problem to be but I don't know how to fix it. I have tried every setting including altering the BAUD rate from 1200 to 19600 and if it is not on 9600 the CNC won't read any of the program at all,and won't start at all, so I stopped doing that. Yes I have disabled the FIFO buffers on the serial Port. I have had a number of errors generated where it also says I have a "Plotter or DNC fault, reader absent or reader fault" so the error is not only block. I can and have been able to send programs ( short ones less than 280K back and forward with all of the plug setups that I have used so I definetly have a connection that is working and the fact that it runs for 10 to 15 minutes without a problem leads me to believe that the "handshake" is missing and the buffer is being overun. And Jim yes today and for the last month I have been the hydrant not the dog. Any more help would be gratefully received. thanks chris

I have an NUM 750 F-MX control on an SCM Record 2 ( circa 1994 ) 3 axis router with a limited ram capacity. I am using Mastercam Art to program it and up until now I have been able to get by with sending the whole program to the CNC and then running it. I am now generating huge 3 plus megabyte NC files and need to Drip Feed. Here's what is going wrong. There are a few methods of setting the NUM to receive different programs. 1. Load from tape( PC) whole program no problems here as long as the programs are less than about 300,000 bytes the PC communicates easily with the CNC. 2. Load a program and run it in DNC mode in other words do not make the program resident in memory other than it creates a 32000 buffer in the program area and is supposed to send to the machine as required. I am able to get this running by using the panel commands on the NUM which are:: Load- selection 3 from current program- Enter PPR ( punch paper read I think ) - Cycle start - then send the program from the PC and the machine starts up immediatly. The only problem I have had is that the machine is stopping on various blocks IE: N4555, I looked at the block that it had stopped on and the code was simple X and Y co-ordinates no G or M codes which could have caused an issue. So I re-ran the program to try to and see if it would re-occur, it did not but stopped an another block after successfully passing N4555 IE N5210, after repeated reruns I had the same crashing problem but on random block numbers. The only thing I can assume is that it must do with handshake/buffer overrun??? 3. This is the "DNC Drip feed setup" Load- selection 3 from current program- Enter PPL ( I do not know why it changes from R to L according to the manual this is what is required it too creates a 32K buffer ) - Cycle start AT this point I immediatly get an Error code 30 if I press the cycle start. Error 30 according to the manual is "DNC LINE FAULT READER FAULT OR READER ABSENT" it is further reffered to in the manual as "data exchange fault". Now, the other thing that is perplexing is that when I go into the CIMCO edit/send and send a program to the CNC it starts sending immediatly, surely it should wait for a signal from the CNC in 1 and 2 above it does not need to as the machine is in "wait" mode. I also think it is just sending data without a handshake of any description. I contacted my Mastercam Reseller but he said the way I had the CIMCO setup was correct. standard serial protocol, comm4, 9600, 7 E 2 17 Xon, 19Xoff recieive Auto all below ascii32, timeout 5 sec transmit 1310 CRLF version is Cimco 4.4.10 What should I look for and what do you suggest to correct this problem. Chris Flint

Thanks Yogesh, but no I have tried to reduce the resolution even to 2 and the blue still powers thru The shading you speak of,Alt S I only use to see a sort of verified view of what it should like like after completion. I would like the blue to be about 10% as dark as it is as I find it difficult to zoom in and out using the types of relief I have. I actually dont know why it is there in the first place and should be switchable on/off using a hot key which would speed up things here. Also regarding the broken chains I have reduced the chain tolerance to 0.1 and when you select them they light up white showing the complete chain, yet when you come to relief it I get the broken chain errors, incidently MC told me it was the quality of the image, what they did not know is that it is one of their images of a bird supplied with Art, and I do not know how to find the breaks in the chains. Some good educational help with the package would also assist. thanks chris

I was given a great tip by my reseller, ( I am a metric boy in an inch country ) and he said draw everyting in metric mode and then scale to inch by multiplication IE. the job calls for a line 12 inches long, just draw 12mm long and then when the whole drawing is complete scale the whole thing up by a multiplication factor of 25.4 you can then use your metric tools without drama. chris f

I am having a problem, in that when I set up Art to start creating the surfaces the first step is file, new relief, I can get the sizes correct etc but I would like to know is it possible to dissapear the relief ""blue"" 152 default color back ground either out of the picture all together until I am finished creating the surfaces or alternatively dull it down to a very light shade so I can see the drawing lines which now dissapear into the blue/grey/green or whatever color I choose it seems to make no difference. I find the background colors far too powerful and they blank out everything and make it impossible ( for me ) to see the construction lines. The next problem I am having is when selecting chains I select say 15 chains that all turn white ( as I would expect a continous chain to ) and then when I am ready to apply a surface I get the error messagge that some of the chains are not closed da da da da. Why does it turn them white if they are not useable at that point instead of waiting until you have selected maybe a 100 chains, and then how do I find which ones are "broken" and how do I repair them. hope someone can assist. chris f

It downloads easily to any folder you choose, I re read Dave's infomation and followed it to the letter, got is on a DVD now no problem.

Karlo, thanks for the reply, but it leads me to ask, how many seats/licences paid for copies of Mastercam Art are there a). In the USA and . Out of the USA. Also regarding the post, my reseller says he has asked you for a post and received a " no you do not have " response, he then sent a request to France MC( the home of the NUM control I have ) and they have not responded at all. Yes I am sure we could eventually get it working but at what cost to all parties concerned. Here is another problem, I now have Router ver 9 with ART, you say that a beta is in progress, ( not wanting to be a bitch but according to this forum to X from beta took around 5 years) I know there is no way you are going to " update" version 9 MC or ver 9 ART ( because X is so different and why would you waste the resourse)so that was why I asked the initial question about learning X when there is only a remote possibility of getting ART X in the distant future, as you said it is Beta ( to me means full of bugs and glitches ( I was a beta tester for Microsoft win 95/98). Other issues that are a major sense of agravation to me are. With the raster to vector convertor if I get a file from the Classic library or data of say a tree/bird follow the instructions of the manual to the letter to convert it to vectors, ( centerlines)it produces more than 1 line in the centre even if I move the herring/fish bone slider to 20% ( more than that and it generates an error can't vectorise file ) so when I start to chain it I get broken chain errors, not linked etc. etc. and a lot of times the system just crashes and the message is "An unknown error has occured please close art and return to the last stable ....... and it then closes the whole MC program and generates a windows " should I send to microsoft la la la etc error report.. Finally you offer help learning ART , I presume that I must travel to or phone the USA because as a result of my being ( I believe ) the only seat in Australia I am the expert, and believe me after many days of trying to learn the program from the poor manuals and help files I think I am smart enought to know I know nothing. Any other suggestion would be welcome.

DOES ANYONE KNOW what the situation is regarding MCX & ART as I have now got Ver 9 MC with ART (still not running and not a single dollar job as yet AND still NO POST PROCESSOR )and just got X but no ART add on,. Is it wise to waste time learning the X software platform if MC have not got a plan to update ART.??? I guess I am alone in this problem ( I am sure I am the only person in the world with ART, as I never see any forum requests info etc). Getting a bit P***ed off and almost convinced I should have gone to DELCAM maybe still will.

I had the same problem when I installed it on a new computer, the reason for my error was that Microsoft updated its operating system in service pack 2 but they forgot to tell aladdin Hasp manufacturers about it so the system drivers are not compatible with service pack 2 on new machines or machines that had not previously installed aladdin hasp. In order to fix it you will need to load a new driver for the hasp from aladdin, it gets a little tricky because it has to be done in the DOS enviornment, suggest you look at their web site or contact your local aladdin rep

This is for Paul at CNC Software, what can I do about getting a post for an NUM 750/SCM Record 2 Router????? ( It has some interesting G codes and E codes ) Still battling to get V9 working ( never done a single job yet with it) and I have X but no codes.

Got mine today and can't wait to get into it, really looking forward to the ability to customise views. Chris Flint Downunder in Aussie

Thanks for the help all of you. I had a setting wrong on COM1 and now everthing is going great. Great forum and By the way I got my copy of X today. Kind regards Chris Flint

Hi Guy' having a god aweful time trying to get my CNC to even see the DNC output from my computer. Here is what I have, a NUM 750 F-MX control 3 axis machine and MC version 9. I am using a cat 5 cable with RS232 connectors at each end with the wires connected so: NC to computer 3 2 8 20 4 5 20 6 5 bridged to 9 on NC adaptor. SO I connect everything and go to the NC and press the button that says load from tape enter and cycle start. Back to the computer and post the program using the standard ( seems to be CIMCO) processing and it says sending etc and then complete, nothing on the NC. I have set the NUM to the following baud 9600, stop bits 1, parity even and com 1 anyone out there have an idea as to where to from here, I am lost in cyberland. chris

Just checked out the video all the things I have been asking for now What is the status of the intergration with ART??? chris

Have you checked to see that you have sufficient RAM on each of the machines particularly the server, ( I use 1 gig )also there have been issues with some makes of video graphic cards you need at least 128meg video cards. I have had some freezes in ART but I put it down to windows in play mode, by the way how was the training you received? chris

Sorry, what I am trying to get at is: for example on the top of my screen I have the Icons starting with ?, file, Anylise, Screen Zoom, Screen Unzoom, Unzoom 0.8 etc across the screen and disapearing to the right ( use arrows to select). Down the Left hand column are the words Anylise, Create, File, Modify, Xform etc etc, what I want to know is can I take some of the Icons from the top and place them on the left hand side and likewise can I place the side written "icons" to the top. What I am asking is can I move the icons around the screen (customise their positions) to suit my style of working.( I prefer to press an icon than a word I find it faster). Hope that is a little clearer. chris

I was wondering if it is possible to customise the layout of the Icons on the top of the MC screen to say some on top and most used some on the side ( instead of the words )and some lesser used underneath the screen and move the written words ie File, Screen to the top as would be normal in a windows environment chris f

Thanks Bruce, drop me an email and I will phone you, southside is just a short drive, I presume you use MC daily? if so I would be keen to see how you guy's use it. Also I got an email direct from Karlo at MC HQ offering me assistance, thanks a lot Karlo. I might mention, before I purchased MC ART I had questions as to performance etc and it was because of Karlo's direct help and answers that I bought MC Art, instead of Artcam Pro even though it cost me about $1000 more, so thanks Karlo and I am extremely grateful for your personal assistance and thanks to everyone in the forum, I am sure we will get MC ART well sorted in the near future. chris flint

I got it too and thought I was the only one as I have just bought Art, I forwarded it to MC direct and placed the SOB on my computer spam list, I certainly dont reply to this type of clown and personally do not think cracked software is of much use, particularly when it is a high tech program like MC where you generally need ongoing support. chris f