Denford Software & Machines

I have just purchased Microrouter Compact Ser.No. II04459/1. It's going to be a little while before I can set it up in my workshop. In the meantime I would like to familiarise myself with the VR CNC Milling software. The plate says it is loaded with V2.23 and I have loaded it from the original disc onto my PC. However it seems I need the original registration key or a dongle to get going. Can you help please?

Ignore the plate at this point, that tells you what the eprom might have but many machines got upgraded (swapped eprom) but not the plate. The only way to know for sure would be to open up the panel and look on the top of the eprom, when you install the software what version does it say it is? VR2.xx or VR5.xx

Now when you say you install is it from floppy disk or CD? You should have a disc which has the licence file on it, if you aren't sure you can search for it. If you have VR2 then you need to search your disks for FLASH.INI it should be in a folder with a SETUP.EXE file you need to run. that will write the licence info into the VR2 (pre this there was a dongle that plugged into the Parallel port on the PC).

If it is VR5 then you need to search for SecKey.tff you just need to point VR5 to where it is when you install.

If you have the original PC you can search that for the SecKey but if it is VR2 you need to find the location of the file which has the licence lines installed. I can't remember which file it gets written too BUT there is a thread on here somewhere that Denford posted telling you where it is written too.

Once you get it up and running I can give you info on getting going. There are some test programs you can run to just get something machined.

Pete

Thanks for your response Pete.
I now have the m/c set up and working in my w/s, but I would still like to install VR on my office PC.
The VR CD I have is V2.28 which I have searched for flash.ini but no sign of. I have found pencilled in the original Commissioning Guide:-
FLASH CODE - .... .... .... ....
In the installation process it asks me to load the Registration Floppy Disc which I don't have.
If I ignore that request it goes on the inform me that no dongle is detected
Dead end

I have searched the forum for 'VR seckey' and have found http://www.denfordata.com/bb/viewtopic. ... key#p13117
This looks helpful and I'll see if I can extract the rest of the data from the w/s PC tomorrow.
Brian

Hi, it is the second and third posts in that thread you need to follow.

There is some really good help files within the software and well worth working through to get running.

Here is a quick video on running VR 5 with a compact. VR2 is very similar.

https://youtu.be/81ufnGRKTNM

Pete

TDIPower wrote: ↑

Sat 12 Dec , 2020 21:06 pm

Hi, it is the second and third posts in that thread you need to follow.

There is some really good help files within the software and well worth working through to get running.

Here is a quick video on running VR 5 with a compact. VR2 is very similar.

https://youtu.be/81ufnGRKTNM

Pete

Thanks for the advise, Pete and sorry about the faux pas.
I have retrieved the Flash lines from the m/c PC and added them into windmill.ini on my office PC as per the Article 1012 procedure.
Unfortunately on firing up the app it immediately throws up 'Dongle Not Found'
At least I seem to have jumped the first hurdle.
Brian

I would just copy the file rather than just the text, or copy the section and paste it into a txt file, open that on the new PC and copy it from there and drop it in the to the same point, I seem to recall if you even get a space wrong it wont work

VR5 is much better as it includes a post processor for DXF files. But VR2 works well I was using it for well over 10yrs

Pete

TDIPower wrote: ↑

Sun 13 Dec , 2020 22:59 pm

I would just copy the file rather than just the text, or copy the section and paste it into a txt file, open that on the new PC and copy it from there and drop it in the to the same point, I seem to recall if you even get a space wrong it wont work

VR5 is much better as it includes a post processor for DXF files. But VR2 works well I was using it for well over 10yrs

Pete

Tried that Pete - just copied the whole file, but same result. Presumably it's working properly and the first action is to find a machine or a dongle. Am I snookered? Would it take an arm and a leg to upgrade to V5?
Brian

I think its a few hundred £ to get VR5. Have you tired installing VR2 on the PC then copying and pasting the licence text into windmill.ini

I have the install setup up files I could send you for VR2, you would need to copy the text from your copy of Windmill.ini into the 'Flash.ini' you would then run the setup.exe and it would install the licence to your windmill.ini I wonder if it adds anything else into the windmill.ini or else where as there are 17 files in total.

Pete

I just read the 'Transferring Flash Data Article #1012' and that seems to indicate it is just a case of copy and paste the 4 lines of code, I am sure I have done this in the past at work when we got PC's with no floppy drive.

Still worth a go with the original flash install

Just a wonder, are you letting the software install to the default directories on the PC? I know denford software sets up several folders, I have always set up my own locations for software but seem to remember the denford stuff didn't like that so let it do its own thing,

TDIPower wrote: ↑

Mon 14 Dec , 2020 23:26 pm

I just read the 'Transferring Flash Data Article #1012' and that seems to indicate it is just a case of copy and paste the 4 lines of code, I am sure I have done this in the past at work when we got PC's with no floppy drive.

Still worth a go with the original flash install

Just a wonder, are you letting the software install to the default directories on the PC? I know denford software sets up several folders, I have always set up my own locations for software but seem to remember the denford stuff didn't like that so let it do its own thing,

I tried installing my 'D' drive but no success. I've given up now but one thought did go through my mind - can VR be installed into a Windows 10 PC?

Turning to inputting g-code to VR, I've discovered that it requires .fnc format files. Is this the only format possible? and are there any CAM packages other than Denfords QuickCam that will save as .fnc's. I've been familiarising myself with CamBam only to find that it will only save as Python or VBScript.
However I have found that I can copy and paste the g-code from CamBam to the VR editor. Should that work?
Brian

G code is effectively a text document so you can open it in a text editor and then do a 'save as' and put .fnc after the file name and it will work. Proper CNC operators can write the G code directly and not need a post processor (clever software that does that guys job)

Now it all depends an if you are doing FULL 3D profiles e.g. half a coke bottle on its side
A 2D path, eg paths machined to a single fixed depth eg a block of wood machined to make a ball maze game
OR 2.5D like a 2D but different paths to different depths.


pete

Hello all,

Im just here to notify about what happend in my institution, im an intern from UTFPR-BR, we`ve got an old turning and milling machine that i didn`t even got the right model to register here, but its old. The turning machine was functioning ok but for something like a decade or more the milling machine has stopped working for some reason that nobody could resolve.

We have the CD-ROM with the VR CNC Milling instalation and a floppy disk that we dont think that has the original files preserved anymore. But a whole imagem from the whole windows OS that has been saved since the days it used to work.

The problem was that we had this error "Dongle not Found", and after many struggle i had the idea of opening it to see if somehow the phisical components were damaged.

under the housing, a thin copper tape insulated the entire device, with solder points that made the ground. But this strip looked like it had been forced, crumpled in, and the solder points had cracks. We decided to remove this copper part and, amazingly, the dongle was recognized by the software again.

So, for anyone having this problem, try to see if there is something like the image inside your dongle, maybe removing the copper tire helps.

ty.