Help please on physical setup between 6040 and PC

OK I am either not seeing the answer before me or the supplier is out to annoy me?

I brought a CNC 6040 machine off ebay and received the following items:

fully assembled CNC 6040 unit (sod to get out of the box)

VFD Black box 220v setup, EU plug (which I have got rid of and replaced with UK lead)

water pump

the X Y Z motors

USB to LPT connector cable marked up as CNC USB Connector

USB Connector software

Now after doing my research and asking around I understand that the USB to LPT lead is pretty much useless.

So how do I connect my PC to the VFD Box in turn to run the cnc machine???

I have since heard of U100 adapters but does everyone have to buy one just to connect their cnc machine or do I buy myself a LPT female to female connector lead?

I am so confused and have had the machine since end of November and yet still not used it.

any and all help is much appreciated.

Kind regards

Graham aka Palletlad

If it came with it's own software then it's that which runs it through the USB adapter.

Generally speaking the USB/LPT adapter not working is about MACH3, for MACH3 you would need a Plugin from the manufacturer of the USB hardware to run anything via USB.

Connect it as the supplier recommends and it should work.

As Magicniner says - and the plugin needed for Mach3 is probably the "USB connector software" you mention. Can you list what is on the CD/memory stick/whatever? It's very likely that you have everything needed except for decent instructions on putting it all together!

Initially I presumed that's what I am meant to have done and plugged in the lead from the vfd box to my pc and installed the USB driver but it done nothing other than saying successfully installed the software.

this is the lead I was supplied with (see attached)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Palletlad

Initially I presumed that's what I am meant to have done and plugged in the lead from the vfd box to my pc and installed the USB driver but it done nothing other than saying successfully installed the software.

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Great, you've installed the Windows Driver, that isn't Controller Software!
What controller software do you think you will use with the machine and where is that supposed to come from?

OK, this is split across multiple threads with none of them having all the info.
Did MACH3 come with it or did you just assume that was what you needed?
Did the supplier say it worked with MACH3?
A link to the supplier's ad would also be good because Everybody and His Dog makes a "6040" in China, Ditto USB to DB25 adapters.

I grabbed the disk and it has the following:

CNC User Manuel - MS Word doc
CNCUSB_Setup - Application
DirectX_9c_redist - Application
dotnetfx35 - Application
USB CNCDefault settings - File

I tried understanding the manual but its poorly translated making it difficult for my brain and is too large to attach here I will see if I can sort this out tomorrow as late now.

Cheers guys

Here is the manual (converted to PDF) I am probably just not yet in the know how to fully understand what it all means at this stage... or I'm just too tired right now I will re read it tomorrow and see if it makes sense to me then.

if you are able to make a simpler explanation on it I be so grateful for it.

Kind regards

Graham

Hi Graham,

That USB to LPT lead is a motion controller of sorts. You need to install the .NET 3.5 (or later), DX9 (which looks like Microsoft DirectX) and then the CNCUSB software (from PlanetCNC). Then you need to register the software or it will only run 25 lines of code. I think you will find you have to buy that licence for €69 from PlanetCNC.

After a few minutes flicking through the pdf, I would advise you to learn Chinese.

I love the Chinglish, things like hook (meaning corner) and again somewhere else, hook meaning tick. I also like the expression 'The Z axis will lift four units of exhumation to a safe altitude'.

Personally, I would bin the software supplied and download Mach3 from Artsoft and when you have installed their demo version and it is set up to your satisfaction, buy a full licence.

Seriously - you will find more help on Mach3 from the Artsoft documentation or from this forum than you will find for the that controller software and USB controller cable.

Finally if your printer cable has the wrong pins for the computer socket - buy a db25 gender changer from Fleabay, it is cheaper than a cable.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cropwell

That USB to LPT lead is a motion controller of sorts. You need to install the .NET 3.5 (or later), DX9 (which looks like Microsoft DirectX) and then the CNCUSB software (from PlanetCNC). Then you need to register the software or it will only run 25 lines of code. I think you will find you have to buy that licence for €69 from PlanetCNC.

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There have been Chinese clones of Planet CNC hardware and Planet CNC don't support 3rd party hardware, their OEM hardware is clearly branded, before buying any software check with the software vendor that your hardware is compatible.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by magicniner

There have been Chinese clones of Planet CNC hardware and Planet CNC don't support 3rd party hardware, their OEM hardware is clearly branded, before buying any software check with the software vendor that your hardware is compatible.

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Yes Nick, I did suggest that software was fit for the bin ! I wouldn't use it as it is unfamiliar to me. If I were to spend money, it would be on a Mach3 licence OR if I wanted to learn something new then I would try LinuxCNC.

Cheers,
Rob

And may I be the first to wish you all a Happy Easter!:playful:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cropwell

Yes Nick, I did suggest that software was fit for the bin !

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Rob,
I was just adding the missing info that if a license for that software were purchased it would be unsupported without Genuine Hardware ;-)
Regards,
Nick

So was there a :pirate: registration code included in the package ?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cropwell

So was there a :pirate: registration code included in the package ?

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It wouldn't matter as it would still be unsupported ;-)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by magicniner

It wouldn't matter as it would still be unsupported ;-)

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Yep Nick, but I was just wondering how much the vendor actually cared about whether his stuff worked.

very quick question, after installing the software that was supplied by the seller (USB CNC controller) and using the USB to LPT cable I was able to move the motors abet very slowly however I weren't too happy with the software and cable (it does seem to be a cheap clone and pirated software especially when I have an activation code that does not work and so stuck with a trial version) also it did not allow Mach3 to work either or register as an add-on (I may have not set this up right though...)

So to simplify things for me I am looking at using the old fashioned way of parallel port to parallel port connection between the pc and cnc machine for now then later invest in a UC100 and purchase the legit software.
My question is this - both my pc (main board) and cnc machine are 25pin female connections, do I simply buy a 25pin male to male cable? or would I need a different setup as I found a parallel port 6040 on ebay and the cable supplied was a male to female connector?

It seemed so simple but when I researched this on the internet it seems everyone just forgets about this part and talk about setting up the pins or jumping straight from packaging to milling...

Buy a parallel port cable which fits your socket configuration, unless it happens to be cheaper to buy male to female and a gender changer, sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't.

Planet CNC USB Controllers have never worked with Mach3, according to Planet CNC Support -

http://forum.planet-cnc.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2246

I can't see it being different with clone hardware, unless the manufacturer has written a working Plug-In Mach 3 was only ever going to work with your current hardware using a parallel cable, fingers crossed ;-)

- Nick

Quote:

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My question is this - both my pc (main board) and cnc machine are 25pin female connections, do I simply buy a 25pin male to male cable? or would I need a different setup as I found a parallel port 6040 on ebay and the cable supplied was a male to female connector?

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A picture would help. Is this 25 pin (D25) on the back of the PC as quite often there is a D25 that is a serial port and not parallel. Or is it on the mother board? ie headers

If it's a serial port on the PC it will have visible pins (male), parallel ports on the PC have holes (female) ;-)

Success I have finally made my PC talk to my CNC machine, I have brought a male to male LPT 25pin cable and the response is smooth.
I will eventually invest in the USB converter devices that you mentioned but that's for another day when I have some spare cash.
I've done a Youtube video as well for you all to laugh at as not done a Youtube video in years, showing my inexperience on the topic. https://youtu.be/KoGgAq6H0Ww
now to buy mach3 and trial Vcarve.
cheers all for your help I will pick your brains on other subjects sooner probably than later.

That's excellent to hear, I'm really pleased to hear you have it working!

- Nick

"The Old Fashioned Printer Connector" is a Centronics connector, sadly I didn't have to look that up ;-)
Centronics connectors were also used for SCSI I connections and lots of other interesting stuff.
The other connector you wanted is a DB 25 Pin D-Sub connector.

You can have a look at my blog
http://the-cnc.blogspot.co.uk/p/home.html?m=1

I have a 6040 and have no problems running with their software, but, have tried without success to make it run with Mach3 and I own a copy of Mach3. I have downloaded their driver to mach3 and nothing happens, so what am I doing wrong. And how do you start a new thread on here?

Hi Chuckcoe, have a look at my blog, it might be of some help