Denford Software & Machines

Following on from the threads mentioned below where I am trying to get a great piece of equipment and software working:

viewtopic.php?f=45&t=3445
or
viewtopic.php?f=45&t=2517

I tried again tonight.
I simply did not attach the desktop tutor keyboard (because there is no port yet until I buy a twin port card) and I am hoping the keyboard is optional??

All other leads and dongle etc were set up as you guys have recommended.

I am making progress, but I am stuck at getting the software to start the milling of the test design created and coded.

I have used the milling software to store the code created.

I stored the info as .fnc and all the other formats.

I then tried to open the .fnc data and the computer asked me what software to use to open the data with, so I chose Fanuc, but was prompted with bad command.

So I opened the Fanuc software on its own, it opens with the prompt c:\denford>

What do I type after that?

I have tried DATA\ABC.FNC where abc.fnc was the design saved as g-code.
And it says bad command.

I tried a lot of commands I could think of. I searched the internet for "Fanuc commands" etc, but failed.

I tried to photograph the computer screen with a keyring camera (my ‘phone does not have a camera) and I can try to upload those if it would help anyone kind enough to tell me where I am going wrong.

Thanks in advance,
Tim

Here are 3 photos from my keyring camera.
Ignore date (I don't know how to change it).
Photos show
(1) The Fanuc Milling (Dos?) programme that is waiting for me to type the magic command that will open the saved file in the DATA folder and start the milling machine (I hope!).

(2) The data folder with a few examples saved. Most are .fnc file formats.

(3) the software that creates the design and converts it to G-text (Mill Cam Designer) and saves it to the Data folder as Martin pointed out and Fanuc Milling (which appears to be DOS based.


Thanks

Fanuc Milling ??
Not sure what this is.

Is there a exe file called "Fanucsmd" or "Starmill"?

If not you can download it from the Denford website. (You will also need to copy the" DRIVERS2" file.


http://website.denford.ltd.uk/support/9 ... s-software

The correct software should link to the machine & display the Denford control Panel.

Martin,
thank you so much, once again.

I will search those downloads out now.

Are the pieces of software self explanatory or do I simply open the test.fnc (coded design) stored in the denford/Data folder, using the fanucsmd.exe programme and the milling starts?

Thanks again for the invaluable help,
tim

For getting screenshots, why not use the 'print screen' key on your PC then use Photoshop (which I can see you have on the PC) to crop the picture to show the bit you want.
Quicker and easier than using a camera!

Andy

You are right and I also have a capture device that records live motion upon the screen (on another computer).

The reason I used camera in this case (one with no viewfinder, just point and hope it captures something - cost £8 ) was the computer and machine was in workshop, not hooked up to internet, no wifi.

But now you have mentioned it, I could have pasted the screenshots into word and saved them to USB stick and then when I got home to a 'proper' computer, uploaded them and posted onto forum.

Just shows how badly I'm thinking at moment.

Thanks for the tip.

I hope to try the new software Martin recommended tonight.

I tried the downloads.
I unzipped them to the hardrive. I don't know if they installed properly.

I hope the attached word doc. with screen dumps shows what trouble I am having.

Any ideas?

Thanks for helping,
Tim

Hi Tim,

It looks like you are missing the drivers which you can download. They need to be placed in to the same directory as the rest of the machine software. ie the Fanucsmd directory.

You can download them from the link below/

http://website.denford.ltd.uk/support/9 ... s-software

You open the .FNC file after connecting to the machine.

Thanks again Martin.

I downloaded Drivers2 as you suggested, but did not put it in the Fanucsmd folder as you can see.

I placed the fanucsmd, starmill and drivers2 in the Denford folder.

I will put the drivers2 folder into the fanucsmd folder tomorrow and have another go.

I am getting really excited at getting this machine going and creating something.

Thanks very much for the help,
Tim