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Thread: help needed

  1. #1
    Hi all

    New to CNC so need plenty of help.Ive bought a cncest 6040 18months ago for hobby and I am still struggling to conect it to my pc I have the option to connect via usb or parrelle port (but dont have an available socket fitted to my PC) any advice would be greatfully recieved before I bin this machine lol

    Ian.

  2. #2
    No parallel port I can half-understand on any new-ish computer, but USB? That's..... unusual. Any details on the computer?

    The usual recommendation is typically to replace the electronics, but I can't help but think that you should be able to source a spare USB from "somewhere". I'd start there. Anything else might take rather a lot of effort and cash, and if you've yet to connect it after 18 months I'm not convinced you'd have the patience. I'm being unfairly judgmental there, and I'll apologies for that.

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by wilkie5277 View Post
    Hi all

    New to CNC so need plenty of help.Ive bought a cncest 6040 18months ago for hobby and I am still struggling to conect it to my pc I have the option to connect via usb or parrelle port (but dont have an available socket fitted to my PC) any advice would be greatfully recieved before I bin this machine lol

    Ian.
    I assume you mean, no pport on pc, and usb connection from pc don't control the board, correct?. In which case:

    My guess is that the boards parallel port is the control and the USB is just for 5v power supply from pc USB.
    If this is the case then the USB is not a control option.
    Without pport on the pc you have problems.

    If it's a router with a vfd I would not want to control by USB anyway, it can be problematic. 3 options afaic.

    1. Buy a cheap Dell pc from ebay which has a Parallel port. Remember, you will need WinXP or Win7 in 32bit only. 64bit and Win10 won't work with a Parallel port.
    2. Get ethernet controller such as ESS or UC400eth and a IDC26 to DB25 cable, and connect a port to your existing board. Use USB cable to get the 5v power.
    3. Rip your board out and exchange for an AXBB-E.

    You will need to reconfigure ports/pins either way.

    You may also need an extra psu.




    Post pic of your existing board.
    Last edited by dazp1976; 19-08-2022 at 01:45 AM.

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  5. #4
    If it is a PPt controller, one solution could be to use a UC100 motion controller. This plugs in to the standard BoB parallel port input and interfaces to the PC via USB. I have two, on lathe and mill, and they work very well.

    I think you are saying that your PC doesn't have a parallel port, but if you are short of USB ports how about adding a cheap hub on one of the ones you have to get 3 or 4 extra ones so you can liberate one of the ones you have for the machine connection?

  6. #5
    Hi all

    I too am new to this and have a CNCest 6040, connected all up, running autocad light, F-engrave and UGS. all fine until I get to UGS which despite numerous efforts I find I cannot link the laptop to the controller. UGS has a dropdown menu for the com port but mine is empty, when i try and type in manually I just get that no serial port is found which is strange as my laptop does not have a serial port. I would expect a com number for the port but this is also rejected. Physically its a USB laptop connection out, Controller USB in, serial port out, Router is Serial in. Any help gratefully received. Lenovo help desk were no more use that the proverbial chocolate tea pot

  7. #6
    Thanks Doddy I do have usb lead as well but nothing happens when I plug it in

  8. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by wilkie5277 View Post
    Thanks Doddy I do have usb lead as well but nothing happens when I plug it in

    Read my post#3.
    If your breakout board has both parallel and usb, the usb is likely NOT a control. Likely a power source only. The parallel is the control part.

  9. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by dazp1976 View Post
    Read my post#3.
    If your breakout board has both parallel and usb, the usb is likely NOT a control. Likely a power source only. The parallel is the control part.
    Can we agree that there's insufficient information at this time and OP should follow the request of yours from post 2 and provide a picture.

    For what it's worth - I do look in the background for queries like this (particularly if they fall within a 30 mile radius of me), but I've seen photos of the controller cards associated with CNCest with integrated USB controllers and stepper drivers on a single board, through to USB controllers with individual stepper drivers. I follow the logic of the direction you're heading in but let's start with the basics and ask the OP to open the control box and take a photo. Without that, we're all wasting time.

  10. #9
    This is in danger of getting VERY confusing as we have two OPs asking similar questions. I have posted a suggestion to Ian which should work, based on my experience upgrading both a lathe and mill from PP to USB using UC100s. I agree that the USB connection Ian has is probably for power - the BoB on my lathe requires this as well as the UC100 for "data" but the one on the mill does not.

    In reply to Kevin: can I ask why you have installed UGS? And can you please give more details of your system?

    You say...

    "Physically its a USB laptop connection out, Controller USB in, serial port out, Router is Serial in." I think that means that both your laptop and controller have USB ports which are by definition serial.

    I see that at least one CNCEST machine says that its controller needs "G Code" - that may indicate that inside the motion controller uses GRBL on an Arduino (or similar processor). GRBL/Arduino does accept G code commands though needs a lot of other stuff, and programs such as UGS and GRBLController can provide this. So did you install UGS because it was suggested by the supplier? The combination of UGS and GRBL is sort of equivalent to Mach 3 with parallel port. If your controller does use GRBL then I suggest you go to the GRBL and/or UGS forums.

    We await more information! And perhaps Kevin, you could start a new thread with your query please?

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