RS-232 Communications Checklist

Introduction

In order to establish RS-232 Communication with a CNC Controller the following must be known.

Communications Checklist

What COM PORT at the PC is the cable connected to? COM_________

 

Is the CABLE correctly configured for the machine? Yes _______ No_______

 

Does the machine control use hardware or software flow control?   Software Xon - Xoff / Hardware RTS-CTS

(DTR/DSR is a hardware handshake less-commonly used, however, it is used on some older machines and BTR units.  This must be active to use this hardware handshake.)

 

What is the BAUD RATE  set at your machine tool? Baud_______________

 

What DATA BIT value is set at your machine? Data_______________

 

What PARITY is your machine tool set to? Parity_______________

 

What STOP BITS value is your machine set to? Stop________________

 

Are the above baud rate , stop bits and parity set up in the editor ?  Yes / No

 

Are the above baud rate , stop bits and parity  set up in the windows device manager ? Yes / No

 

Are there any beginning, end or end of line codes that the machine controller requires ?  

Example

%  percent symbols are a typical start and end code.  ;  semicolon symbols are common end of line codes.

 

%

 G0 G90 G40 G20;

 G00 X0.0 Y0.0;

 G00 X10.0 Y10.0;

 M02;

 %

 

Start Code               ___________

 

End Code                 ___________

 

End Of Line Code ___________