25 pin serial cable advice

[Fivetide]

The cable that came with my CNC was for the control box (25 pin female) to the PCi CNC card provided which has a 25 pin Male socket. so my cable is 25 pin Male - Female the PC is a 25 pin Female Socket. However I'm not going with Card because there seems to be no support at all for the for it and even less for the software NCStudio -- Quote from the seller "Easy to use, 3 Axis CNC Milling / Engraving / Router Machine, complete unit, NCStudio CNC software supplied as standard". Actually, by mistake he sent a fully licenced copy of Mach3 instead, I will return it to him if he sends me a copy of the NCStudio software and Drivers.
However I will go with Mach 3 and any good software that has lots of support and tutorials etc..
So I need the correct cable.. and I don’t know which one to get because in another thread I was warned to make sure it is wired correctly, and would a gender changer change the wiring ? I don’t know..
So I need a Male – Male 25 pin cable that is wired correctly for the controller PC and software .
Could anyone please just drop me a link with one so I can buy it .. ebay would be good.. I'm not being lazy I've just got fed up of trying to work it out and was hoping someone had a short, to the point answer

[blackburn mark]

i would have thought a gender changer would be the easy option as it should just mirror odd wiring of the cable that came with it
eeeerrrmmm just re-read your post..... not sure now if the cable was ment to go into a typical printer port ??

i think i would be tempted to stick with mach3 get a cheap bob and go through the heart ache of deciphering the pins etc....?
maybe someone on here has more experience with that type of pci card and knows a workaround ?

[Fivetide]

i would have thought a gender changer would be the easy option as it should just mirror odd wiring of the cable that came with it
eeeerrrmmm just re-read your post..... not sure now if the cable was ment to go into a typical printer port ??

i think i would be tempted to stick with mach3 get a cheap bob and go through the heart ache of deciphering the pins etc....?
maybe someone on here has more experience with that type of pci card and knows a workaround ?

Exactly Mark I dont know it that cable is ment only for the PCI card or does work with normal Serial when a gender bender is fitted ?

[irving2008]

What is the PCI card? any useful markings? or post a pic of it...

[Fivetide]

Hi Irving is this one , the drivers for it are on the software CD which I hav'nt got not that I want them tbh lol

3 axis motion control card for CNC routers, NEW Version

[irving2008]

Hmmm, think you're going to have to open the control box and trace the wiring... what are the stepper drivers?

[boldford]

May I offer a word of caution in referring to the PC's 25 pin connector as serial. Used conventionally the printer port presents the data 8 bits at a time in a parallel format. The serial port proper (RS232) of a PC is usually a 9 pin connector.

Whilst our usual CNC applications (Mach3 or LinuxCNC) using the paraport are not using it in quite the conventional manner we should be careful not to confuse it with the traditional serial port of a PC.

I hope nobody takes offence at what might seem like pedantry.

[Fivetide]

May I offer a word of caution in referring to the PC's 25 pin connector as serial. Used conventionally the printer port presents the data 8 bits at a time in a parallel format. The serial port proper (RS232) of a PC is usually a 9 pin connector.

Whilst our usual CNC applications (Mach3 or LinuxCNC) using the paraport are not using it in a quite the conventional manner we should be careful not to confuse it with the traditional serial port of a PC.

I hope nobody takes offence at what might seem like pedantry.

Well you have educated me boldford and thats not easy ..ask any of my teachers .. although I think they will all be dead by now lol :)

[irving2008]

Well you have educated me boldford and thats not easy ..ask any of my teachers .. although I think they will all be dead by now lol :)

to continue your education and confuse you further... serial data cables (where the data is sent on 1 wire, 1 bit at a time) used to be 25pin D-types. Thats because you often had a primary and secondary (data and control) channel in the same cable. When IBM designed the PC they decided the serial port was only for modem communications and, since only 8 pins are needed for a single channel, used a 9-way Male D type to save costs. I have several 9-way to 25-way DTE-DCE cables from those good 'ol days. In their infinite wisdom they also decided to add a printer port, but again to save costs, opted not to use the Centronics parallel connector but a 25way D Female (to distingush it from a 'serial' 25 Dtype which is Male on an end device). Thus years of confusion and misery were born while people searched for the correct cable.... :)

[Fivetide]

to continue your education and confuse you further... serial data cables (where the data is sent on 1 wire, 1 bit at a time) used to be 25pin D-types. Thats because you often had a primary and secondary (data and control) channel in the same cable. When IBM designed the PC they decided the serial port was only for modem communications and, since only 8 pins are needed for a single channel, used a 9-way Male D type to save costs. I have several 9-way to 25-way DTE-DCE cables from those good 'ol days. In their infinite wisdom they also decided to add a printer port, but again to save costs, opted not to use the Centronics parallel connector but a 25way D Female (to distingush it from a 'serial' 25 Dtype which is Male on an end device). Thus years of confusion and misery were born while people searched for the correct cable.... :)

DEAR GOD ! why something so bloody simple has to be so bloody complicated ?

anyway ... I'm going to pick up a CS17364 from CPC after work.. this is all pins connected -male -male and 25 pins.

CS9115, CS17364 wiring: all pins connected 1-1, 2-2 etc.
Manufacturer: PRO SIGNAL
Order Code: CS17364
Manufacturer Part No: PS11274
CS17361, CSLEAD106/9 wiring: 1-1, 2-2, 3-3, 4-4, 5-5, 6-6, 7-7, 8-8, 20-20
Manufacturer: PRO SIGNAL
Order Code: CS17361
Manufacturer Part No: PS11270
CSLEAD28/29 wiring: 1-1, 2-3, 3-2, 4-5, 5-4, 6&8-20, 7-7, 20-6&8
CS17365 wiring: 1-NC, 2-3, 3-2, 4-6, 5-5, 6-4, 7-8, 8-7, 9-NC
CS15858 wiring: 1&6-4, 2-3, 3-2, 4-1&6, 5-5, 6&, 7-8, 8-7, 9NC (Null Modem)
CS17360 wiring: all pins connected 1-1, 2-2 etc.