Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Boss 5 RS-232 wiring

rocketscientistnate wrote:

>I have an old Bridgeport Boss 5 with all the original electronics
>(can't afford an upgrade) When I bought it the seller told me he
>was running it on Bobcad by wiring from the printer port on a PC to
>the 8-pin RS-232 port on the machine, but he didn't have a cable to
>do this with, he used a piece of telephone wire with the ends stuck
>in the right holes (he said you only need three pins anyway) I
>can't get any more info from him, and I need the pinouts. I don't
>know how to set the machine to send or recieve data either. Can
>anybody help?
>
>

Yeesh! Sticking wires in the holes? I have done this for a minute to test
whether I got the polarity right, but that is going too cheap even for me!

On the 25-pin D connector, pin 7 is ground (pin 1 is frame ground.)
Pins 2 and 3 are send and receive, or receive and send, depending on
whether it is "DCE" or "DTE" (essentially modem or computer).
On a PC, pin 2 is transmit, and 3 is receive.
On the 9-pin D connector, 2 is receive and 3 is transmit, and 5 is ground.

I think Bobcad has a terminal program as part of it, otherwise there
are a bunch of programs out there from the old DOS days, like Procomm.
In Windows 2000 you can probably use IE.

Jon