CNC stations work based on computer data, and sometimes information needs to be transferred from the machine to the system or vice versa. In such cases, you must be familiar with how to connect the CNC machine to the computer and transfer data between them so that you can do this without errors and move the desired data between these machines. Stay with us in this article from Farsad Machine to teach you the best way to transfer data and connect the CNC machine to the computer
What computer can be connected to the CNC machine?
Old CNC machines do not need old hardware or software to transfer data; As a result, you can even connect systems with Windows XP to these machines. But if you intend to transfer CAD or CAM codes between CNC and computer, you will need powerful hardware, SSD memory, dedicated graphics card, strong CPU and 8 to 16 GB of RAM. For this reason, you should use new generation laptops, powerful PC or Mac.
Connecting the CNC machine to the computer via USB cable
Normally, CNC machines are connected to computers using serial ports; But you should know that most of today’s laptops or computers do not support these ports.As a result, you need a USB to serial port converter to connect old CNC machines to modern computers. You can also use ADU200 converters that turn the computer into a PLC and give you the ability to program the device.
Prerequisites for connecting CNC to computer with USB
For this you need an RS-232 cable, a 25-pin connector and a 9-pin connector. You must also install the software required for communication on the system; These software are called DNC. You must be careful that before configuring the USB-to-serial converter, you must install the appropriate drivers for Windows on the system and then perform the following steps:
Click on Start and enter the control panel.
Enter the system section.
If you have Windows XP or older, select Hardware Tab and then Device Manager.For Windows 7 and above, you need to click on Device Manager.
Click the plus sign ( ) to the left of Ports to display the expanded list.
Now look for the USB to serial converter brand name and left click on it and select Properties.
Click the Port Settings tab and click the Advance button.
Take the COM port number or COM Port Number.
Enter the transfer or DNC software and enter this number in it.
In this way, the CNC machine and the computer will be configured together and the possibility of data transfer will be provided through the intermediary software.
How to connect the CNC machine to the computer via Wi-Fi
If you want to connect the CNC to the computer wirelessly, you can use Wi-Fi for this. In this case, you need to buy a serial to Wi-Fi converter and connect it to your CNC machine.Depending on the power of the converter, you can place the computer at different distances from the device and there is no need to be close to the two; You can also use signal boosters to increase the transmission range. To wirelessly connect the CNC device to the computer, you must go through the following steps:
First, connect the Wi-Fi converter to the serial port of the CNC machine and turn on the power supply.
Now you can check the serial port settings in the user panel. Write these settings down somewhere; Because you will need them later.
turn on the computer; At this stage, it will be better to use a laptop. Otherwise, you will need a dongle to connect to Wi-Fi.
Now look for the name of the serial to Wi-Fi converter in the list of networks and connect to it.
In the web browser, navigate to the WF5000B IP address, which is 10.100.254 by default.Enter the username and password, which are usually admin.
Enter the main settings window and go to the serial port parameters section.
In this section, you need to configure the parameters based on what you have written down. In this section, you should change the baud rate, data bits, parity and stop bits information so that the device and the system are coordinated.
How to create a virtual COM port
In some cases, you can connect the CNC device to the computer and transfer data by creating a virtual COM port in Windows. For this you need a software called USR-VCOM. Download and install this software and then click on Add COM button. Select the port number and set the IP address and port number of WF5000B accordingly.
In this way, the virtual port is created and you can check it in the Windows Device Manager.Now you can configure transfer software using this virtual port and transfer programs wirelessly between devices.
final word
In this article from Farsad Machine, we explained how to connect the CNC machine to the computer wirelessly using a USB cable and described the steps. Be careful that you have to do all the configurations correctly; Otherwise, the connection is incomplete and it is not possible to communicate between the machine and the system. For this reason, you can use Farsad machine installation and commissioning services along with purchasing various CNC machines from the largest manufacturer of woodworking machines in the country so that you do not have any problems in this regard