Denford Novaturn lathe connection issues

tahomarobotics · Post by **tahomarobotics** » Fri 05 Oct , 2007 20:44 pm

We are having difficulty gettting the computer to detect our Denford Lathe using the Denford Easy Upgrader. The ship date of the machine was 2000, but it has only been used a couple of times and has been sitting in storage for a number of years.

We have looked at the online manual and found that current cables provided by denford are 25 pin male - 9 pin female. However, our rs232 cable that came with the lathe is a 25 to 25 pin. We are using a 9 - 25 pin adapter to connect this cable to the 9 pin serial port on our computer. Is the adapter the most likely cause of our problems?

Martin · Post by **Martin** » Sat 06 Oct , 2007 9:21 am

Easy Upgrader only works with Next Step boards.

I presume your machine will have a Denstep board fitted to it.

If you open up the electrical cabinet\box & then power it up by turning the isolator manually you will see a "7 Segment" L.E.D. in the top left corner. If it is red then you have a Denstep card. If it is green then it is a Next Step card.

If it is a Denstep then make sure you have the correct machine selected.

Machine name only & not "NS" at the end.

Also check that you are connected to the right com port.

It may be worth updatting to the latest version of software.

I think the latest is Ver 1.17.

Post by **Denford Admin** » Mon 08 Oct , 2007 10:15 am

The 9-25 adaptor should be fine as long as it is only a 25-9 adaptor.
To be sure, check the pin connections as shown in this topic:
viewtopic.php?t=544

(This cable check is the same for both Denstep (Red 8 LED) and the NextStep / NextMove ST (Green 8 LED))

tahomarobotics · Post by **tahomarobotics** » Wed 10 Oct , 2007 0:25 am

We opened up the novaturn control box and there is a red L in the upper left side of the board with a blinking red dot next to it. we are runing mastercam 9.1 and using a 9 pin serial to a 25 pin serial adapter with the 25-pin to 25-pin cable that came with the lathe. whenever we create a part and try to send it to the lathe, or even load a part from the test parts, it seems to transmit to the lathe but will not start working.

bradders · Post by **bradders** » Wed 10 Oct , 2007 5:45 am

An L with a flashing red LED dot usually means that the VR Turning software is not communicating with the Noverturn.

Have you checked the RS232 port on the PC, i.e. can you plug in a serial mouse and see is it works OK

Check your RS232 cable pinouts with the theread below

viewtopic.php?t=765&highlight=machine+link

Post by **Denford Admin** » Wed 10 Oct , 2007 10:41 am

Get the latest version of VRTurning from denford.co.uk > Support > Downloads
Make sure you select Novaturn (not Novaturn NS)

This info may also help you test the RS232 communications:

Firstly - make sure any other Denford software is closed and disconnected from the machine
Then run the file: MintMan.EXE which is located in the VR turning installation directory (C:\Program Files\Denford\VRTurning)
Go to menu Setup -> Comm Port
Set the parameters to:
COM 1 (whichever machine is plugged into)
Baud: 19200
Parity: None
Data bits: 8
Stop bits: 2
Handshaking: none
Press OK
Press Upload Version button
If it connects to control OK and finds the mint version, you can now download the .mnt file for your machine
Click Download Mint
Should be: C:\Program Files\Denford\VRTurning\NovaTurn.mnt

I'm guessing that the machine runs from VR Turning already ? If its a DOS machine, then maybe you should look at an EPROM upgrade to allow VR Turning (windows) to control the machine

Denford Software & Machines

Denford Software & Machines

Denford Novaturn lathe connection issues

Denford Novaturn lathe connection issues