501 dsp pendant large files problem

**stirling** · 18-02-2014

Your controller appears to be from Motion Control Products who are in my opinion a good company to deal with. Was it them you talked to? If not I'd suggest you have a chat with them.

**chris** · 18-02-2014

Yep. Spoke to them this morning. They said the pendant 'reads' the files using internal memory. They couldn't offer a solution unfortunately. I expect it is very rare that anyone using these pendants wants to run a file this large. They are probably used mostly for 2d work I expect.

**JAZZCNC** · 19-02-2014

Originally Posted by chris

Yep. Spoke to them this morning. They said the pendant 'reads' the files using internal memory. They couldn't offer a solution unfortunately. I expect it is very rare that anyone using these pendants wants to run a file this large. They are probably used mostly for 2d work I expect.

Sorry but that would be unacceptable to me. 128Mb is not a large file and the documentation says it reads directly from USB for large files and it clearly doesn't.! . . OR. . .You have it set wrong and it's not doing this.?

That said personaly I would convert to Mach3 and use External Ethernet motion control card if you want to use a Laptop. You'll have a lot more options and plenty of backup for the Tit's up moments.!

**chris** · 19-02-2014

Yes I would be happy to convert to Mach 3. It's a question of either learning how to do it myself and the time that requires or, finding someone who would be willing to do it for me (hint, hint). I'm happy to pay, obviously.

My last known good file ran fine. This is a smaller file that hadn't been through the deskproto sub-segment process. So, it's either the pendant messing up larger files or the sub segment feature of deskproto messing things up. I guess if I run a larger file that hasn't been through deskproto sub-seg then that should give me a clue.

**stirling** · 19-02-2014

Originally Posted by JAZZCNC

Sorry but that would be unacceptable to me. 128Mb is not a large file and the documentation says it reads directly from USB for large files and it clearly doesn't.! . . OR. . .You have it set wrong and it's not doing this.?

That said personaly I would convert to Mach3 and use External Ethernet motion control card if you want to use a Laptop. You'll have a lot more options and plenty of backup for the Tit's up moments.!

Agree 100% with Jazz. I'm surprised to be honest at MCP. This is a link to their .pdf about the controller and interface card and it clearly states that it can read from USB OR internal memory. In fact if you look at the table on page 1 it states:

128Mb internal memory. It can also support files of a larger size as it can read direct from a USB memory stick (up to 1GB)

So it even tells you the external file size it can handle - so clearly their answer to you is just plain wrong.

**chris** · 19-02-2014

I know. I quoted the pdf to their man (Nick), who told me about the internal memory checking, reading (call it what you like) the files from the usb prior to running the program.
It suspect it is the manual that is wrong. If anyone knows different and can tell me how to bypass internal memory, I'd love to know.
The pendant is made in China, MCP are resellers AFAIK. It sounded to me like I was the first person to ask how to run a large file direct from usb.
I am going to e-mail them to clarify, as well as contacting the Chinese manufacturer to find out more.

**EddyCurrent** · 19-02-2014

Did you get a wiring diagram or schematic with the machine ?

**chris** · 19-02-2014

Hi Eddy

No I didn't but it should be fairly easy to get one as Exel are based down the rd in Burnley and are pretty helpful.

**EddyCurrent** · 19-02-2014

If you want to convert to Mach3 then ideally you need a copy of the schematic and/or wiring diagram.

**stirling** · 19-02-2014

OK - so I've just been looking at the many and various brandings of this Chinese controller. Each and every one of the associated manuals say you can run files direct from USB. In fact in order to run from INTERNAL memory the manuals say you must first explicitly copy them to the internal flash.

So you go to the menu that displays U-Disk-File-List and Inner-File-List select the former, select the file and it then scans the file and then you get the "run" screen. If you get to a menu that has the three options View-File, Copy-File, Delete-File then you've gone wrong somewhere - unless of course you actually DO want to copy the file to internal flash.

Re: Converting to Mach3 it should be dead easy. If you look at the link I posted above it has the diagram of the interface card for the pendant. You'll see it's just a plain vanilla step/dir with I/O. If you start with Mach3 parallel port it should be as simple as getting a BOB and moving the labelled wires from the current card to the BOB.