Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: Can I drip feed a bridgeport boss 5

Luke1027 wrote:

>Hello Alan,
>
>Please re-download the "DRIP.ZIP" file from:
>http://www.pennswoods.net/~luke1027/DRIP.zip
>This file has the Drip.exe file, the DXF of the pinout Cable, and
>the TXT file from the original author on this program.
>If you do not have a means of reading the DXF file, please
>let me know and I will get a different format for you to
>view it.
>The only other thing I was advised on when using this
>program was to add the command mode lpt1;''p to
>the autoexec.bat file. This, as you well know, would set the printer
>port for infinite retry.
>
>Now you will have all I have received for the dripfeed to the BOSS5.
>Again, this is for the Parallel port off the PC to the Tape Reader
>cable, not the RS232 on the BOSS5. I only repeat this for those
>reading that may have missed some of this thread.
>
>As far as the PC I tried this Drip Feed program on and got errors:
>1.) 486 with win 2000 loaded for OS, program came up correctly
>so I tried running an NC file.... PC locked up with no results.
>2.) Same PC 486, booted from DOS 6.22. Run the Drip, came up correctly
>and started the NC file and saw the first line of the NC file echo to
>the screen, as it should,
>hit the LOAD switch on BOSS5 and the RUN light went on and it ran the
>machine.
>But only until, what seemed like the memory was used up, then it wouldn't
>retreive any more data from the PC. It just seem to stop dripfeeding.
>I just could get it to read any more of the progam.
>Any thoughts on this?
>
>

The BOSS may have captured as much of the file as it could while the
computer
was sending it, then began to run the program from memory, and by the time
it reached the point to read more, the computer had sent everything (and
the BOSS
had lost the rest of it). The BOSS needs to send some kind of signal
that it is
busy, and the computer needs to wait until the "send more" signal comes from
the BOSS. I'm guessing you are hooking the computer's parallel port to
the BOSS's paper tape reader. That interface is neither completely TTL
level
compatible, or compatible with the signals and timings expected of a
computer
printer. I don't know what sort of interfacing you are using to connect
the two
together. I built a drip-feed setup to go between an ancient laptop and an
Allen-Bradley 7320 CNC control some years ago. Mine was WAY more
complicated than it had to be, and used a custom Pascal program to handle
the PC's side of the job. It was able to handle both forward and reverse
reads, so it really performed exactly like a paper tape. You could skip
backwards or forwards through the tape, etc. I also used it to load the
executive
program into the 7320 computer, as it had to be loaded any time the
memory was
shut off.

Jon