Hi All
I am trying to get a Boss 8.1 (inch and Metric) R2E3 series I mill working after the previous owner had a few mishaps with it. The machine is in great condition so I don't want to go ripping all the BP electronics out.
From looking at the posts the previous owner posted here on CNCzone it seems as if he had an RS232 comms failure. Which, from what I can see in his posts, I think that he assumed that the issue was a bad battery on the FMDC board and then had issues with the battery change out which then meant a dead machine.
Lucky for me I got it at a reasonable price and I have fixed the FMDC battery replacement board. The DC to DC PSU (EHS board) is also faulty I tracked down the faulty IC but I cant get a new LAS 6300k Switching regulator as they are not made any more. I have instead hacked a PC PSU to give me the + and -12v and the +5v. The -5v from the old PSU is not connected so that was a lucky break as I could not get the -5v from the PC PSU.
I have also single phased all the transformers and put a VFD on the spindle motor so all in all it is working well now.
I am now trying to get it to speak to a PC using EZ-Link but I cant seem to get comms from the BP to the PC. I do seem to be able to get something going in the opposite direction as I see the PC TX led blink (on my 232 passive tracer) when I cancel on EZ-Link this then puts the BP in to error (0040). Which leads me to suspect the MC1488 output line driver (IC24 on the EAF). I have one on order and will change that out once I have it.
The only thing I am not sure of is the cable and the Protocol. The posts on the forum seem to have missing bits of info. In several of the posts various people have referred to the ," Bridgeport technical bulletin 7 " is there any chance some one could send me a copy. It seems to be the go to document for the RS232 comms. PM me and i will let you have my email address.
Thanks
Alastair
I am trying to get a Boss 8.1 (inch and Metric) R2E3 series I mill working after the previous owner had a few mishaps with it. The machine is in great condition so I don't want to go ripping all the BP electronics out.
From looking at the posts the previous owner posted here on CNCzone it seems as if he had an RS232 comms failure. Which, from what I can see in his posts, I think that he assumed that the issue was a bad battery on the FMDC board and then had issues with the battery change out which then meant a dead machine.
Lucky for me I got it at a reasonable price and I have fixed the FMDC battery replacement board. The DC to DC PSU (EHS board) is also faulty I tracked down the faulty IC but I cant get a new LAS 6300k Switching regulator as they are not made any more. I have instead hacked a PC PSU to give me the + and -12v and the +5v. The -5v from the old PSU is not connected so that was a lucky break as I could not get the -5v from the PC PSU.
I have also single phased all the transformers and put a VFD on the spindle motor so all in all it is working well now.
I am now trying to get it to speak to a PC using EZ-Link but I cant seem to get comms from the BP to the PC. I do seem to be able to get something going in the opposite direction as I see the PC TX led blink (on my 232 passive tracer) when I cancel on EZ-Link this then puts the BP in to error (0040). Which leads me to suspect the MC1488 output line driver (IC24 on the EAF). I have one on order and will change that out once I have it.
The only thing I am not sure of is the cable and the Protocol. The posts on the forum seem to have missing bits of info. In several of the posts various people have referred to the ," Bridgeport technical bulletin 7 " is there any chance some one could send me a copy. It seems to be the go to document for the RS232 comms. PM me and i will let you have my email address.
Thanks
Alastair