New member from the East Midlands - Question about RS232 / USB / PC connectivity

[RVGM]

Hi all,

Glad to join the forum! My name's Ryan. I handle CAD & Tool Design for a CNC manufacturing company. Have 7+ years experience in CAD & CNC machining and more recently IT / networking too.

My first question to the forum is:

One of our older machines is a Takisawa TC-20 with Fanuc Series 21-T and we need to connect a computer or USB drive to send NC files to the machine. The only connection the machine has is a RS232 DB25.

There have been many posts about this general topic online, but it would be good if someone could give advice on the best solution for this specific machine, if possible.

We don't have any computers with built-in RS232 ports anymore, so an adapter of some sort is looking likely. Although if we could get an adapter/reader for a USB stick without needing a dedicated computer that would also be great.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Ryan

[AndyUK]

First off - I have no experience with this machine and how it communicates.

But, the lack of an RS232 port on a PC shouldn't be an issue. You can pickup USB to Serial converters very cheaply - maybe £5 on ebay? Although to avoid problems with drivers etc, I recommend going with an official FTDI one. I believe RS sell one for around £15 which I've personally used on a number of OSes and drivers are nicely kept up to date. Something like this: https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/interface-development-kits/0429252/ - But obviously you'll need a 25pin version.

Next problem - getting it onto the network without a PC. I'd wonder about a Raspberry Pi solution or similar - you'd be able to plug the USB RS232 into the Pi, and a wired or wireless network. The files could get to the Pi via a samba shared folder, or a fancy web interface if you've got someone to program one for you. The issue here is I don't know how your machine uses the RS232 to transfer the file to the controller, there must be some communication protocol there that you'll have to pin down - it may even require proprietary windows software which will stop the RPi idea.

Good luck!

[m_c]

I'd ask over on Practical Machinist forum, as there should be a good few people there who can help.

[RVGM]

Thank you for both of your messages.

An RS232 to USB adapter does look like a simpler solution, but I have heard some horror stories about damaged motherboards from serial adapters like this.

I’ll put some more research in and ask on Practical Machinist too. I’ll post the outcome back here when we get there.