Hurco KMB-IS CNC update

Powered up the beast this evening for the first time in at least 15 years.

No smoke.

Was popping the shop GFI though. I was using a variac autotransformer to generate the servo drive AC. Apparently they require a fully isolating transformer. On the hunt for one now.

So I disconnected the variac, and the fans come on and after a minute or two:


Tried to load both sides of the tape. It does spin for a while but then I get:


I'll probably play around with the tape drive. Try to clean the heads, etc. It would be cool if could get the Hurco control program to run.

But its not critical. Really trying to see if the servo system works before converting to Linux CNC.

Hey Good Deal, your making progress now..

Ok yeah it is asking to load the master program.... And unfortunately the tape is probably the last job ran on the machine. Ok, so now if it is possible to find the Hurco tape, then you can get it going. Looks like it may be working ok.

I know that I don't have a functional tape, but I did not try at all to get one as I was already committed to doing a LCNC retrofit way before the MPU board lost the master. I had the upgrade with the master burned onto a ROM, therefore you did not have to worry about the machine being plugged up to power all the time. The original control was only good for 15 minutes un-plugged, past that time you had to re-load the master program using the parameter tape.

Ok the hunt begins, as that would be great if you could fire it back up.... would be able to test a lot of things quickly. Plus, out of curiosity could run that job tape to see what they were making. I would be curios if it did work...

Will have to see what I can find myself even. What is bad is I saw the tapes on Ebay about a year ago, but someone snatched them up and I did not need them anymore. Wish I had them now.


Robert

Buddy Mahon (Maghon?) at AMTS is up about 4 hours from me in Lawrenceville and has the masters online. You can download and then upload with a PC somehow, but I have never tried it. I was going to try out the MasterCAM post back before my master wiped out.

hurcousa.com/download.php

He is the one that built the replacement MPU boards with the master burned to the ROM, as I had his board in mine.


Robert

Cleaned the heads with a QTip and isopropyl. No joy.

I'm pretty sure this is the official Hurco system software tape:


Manual says same image is written to both sides. Tried both sides. No joy.

A bit surprised the tape even turns. I'll take the top off the console and look at the drive from the back side. We'll see.

Wow, yeah that is it for sure... Hurco numbers and all...

Ok since it is so old, you probably will have a different problem that I had with a different tape, but will be the same problem. What I would do is try to find a set of micro cassette players, play the tape with one and record with the other. What I had problems with was the tape is so old "1980's" that the glue holding everything on gave way. So I had one shot at playing the tape. I got most of it, but at the end the tape was clogging up the head. It will literally come off as brown chunks and leave behind clear tape on the cassette. So when I took the cassette tape apart, the wound up tape was completely clear and the head of the tape player was all gunked up with the brown part of the tape.

I would watch the tape and see if it starts to do what I am talking about so that you can salvage it if possible. I am stunned the master tape was in there. That is awesome.


Robert

Don't have any micro cassette players.

It seems to spin back to the start, advance forward for a while, then spin back and do the same thing again. I suspect its trying to do a retry.

What about this tape emulator?? Don't see any place to connect it up?

And the other thing I really need is a schematic of the LH cabinet. The easiest way for me to put it back together is to start with a schematic.

Leith

Scratch the request for the LH cabinet schematic. I think you already sent it.

Leith,

Yes connecting the tape emulator was something I was going to check into back a few years ago, but never did investigate because of how my setup was. The AMTS board that Buddy built had a DB9 connector so that you could hook directly to a PC COM port. I simply drip fed from the DB9.

I believe there will be 2 routes possible here, but not positive of this.

First way)
On the back of the machine should the round 8 or 9 pin Amphenol type connector and you should be able to hook up here. I will upload a schematic of the connectors.

Second way)
I think we bought one years ago, but never used this, don't even know if we have it still. It's called a BTR and stands for Behind The Tape Reader. So this was a device to wire in downstream of the tape reader to "emulate" the tape and feed to the machine directly from the PC. This was huge back in the day for "Drip Feeding" from the PC so you didn't have to break big programs into smaller programs that the machine memory could handle. We had one little machine that only took 999 lines of code, not a big deal for small stuff, but anything elaborate was a problem.

So, with that said I would think a BTR in today's age would be ultra cheap. They were only big for about a 10-20 year span until controls gained more memory.

The rear connector may be the easiest route, but I never did use mine. The schematic is below.
EDIT: Yeah after looking at the schematic the connectors are tied right to the MPU board, so that is going to be the cheapest easiest way to do it. Should only need 3 or 4 wires for data transfer.

EDIT #2: I can't remember if it's a male or female connector, but I would not spend the money on the connector. Unless you have one, they are pretty expensive and I keep any I come across. If its a female connector, just skin the wires and push into the female pin, if it's male, then use a red or blue barrel connected to the wire and then slide it over the pin for a temporary connection. This is obviously not a long term way, but will do for a cheap fix to upload the master.

Hope this helps,
Robert

Leith,

One thing real quick... I probably didn't explain fully about how to hook it up.

If it is like other DNC type software, then should be like this.... you put the Hurco software on the computer and then use the DB9 com port to wire into the Amphenol connector on the back of the machine... usually just 3 wires if I remember correctly. You have the PC ready and when when you fire up the control and it ask to load master, you then upload with the PC.

Worst case could call Buddy and find out exactly what to do.

EDIT: I have to run to town, but later I will look at the wires you need to hook up from the DB9 if you don't already have it figured out. It's been a really long time since I have built a cable for doing drip feed.

Robert

Leith,

Ok here is the pin out for a DB9 with the pinout for the hurco schematic for DNC type connection. This should work for the Hurco software to communicate. You will need to do a few settings to setup the port such as baud rate, etc....


Will be back tomorrow,
Robert