The Craftmans Shop > New from Old
Rebirth of a Denford MIRAC CNC Lathe
awemawson:
Well today after a lot of faffing about I've cloned the PC that came with the MIRAC onto a Compac DC7600 SFF (small form factor) that I had kicking about. I chose one off the pile that already had the correct moulded front panel incorporating a floppy as well as as a CD/DVD player and loaded it up with DOS 6.22 as I had the original installation disks.
The PC that came with the MIRAC (a Viglen Genie) was running DOS 6.2 and it turns out that MSBACKUP in DOS 6.22 cannot restore disks created under DOS 6.2 without a different compression algorithm (DBLSPACE) being loaded as a system device - fortunately I found a copy and it worked :ddb:
Now I just need to sort out a second serial port on this PC :ddb: - it uses one to talk to the operator panel keyboard and one for the LCB3 CNC driver board. Needs to be a low profile PCI card and i think I've sourced one on eBay arriving Thursday.
The power interlock for the electronics cabinet has been smashed - long square shaft from DIN rail isolator at the back of the cabinet should engage a door mounted handle, and has obviously been slammed shut a few times out of alignment smashing the external activator beyond repair - one on order should arrive Monday.
The open slot trunking in this cabinet is missing much of it's capping cover - again some should arrive Monday
DICKEYBIRD:
I'm really liking this Andrew! Just think of the pi$$ you can take out of the Windoze & Linux crowd. No ethernets, internets or clouds needed with this machine. Ahh, the memories! :thumbup:
awemawson:
Glad you are still there for the ride, Milton :thumbup:
Today's task: work out how to get MSDOS 6.22 to talk to a CD/DVD drive, and get a floppy installed into one of my other PCs to transfer files Internet > Other PC > Floppy > COMPAC DC7600, as the various CD drivers need sucking off the net and currently the only means of input to the DC7600 is floppy.
awemawson:
Haven't got the CD talking to DOS 6.22 yet, but have a special CD & Mouse extension program arriving later in the week.
This morning Adrian the Parcel Force man delivered the new panel isolator switch from RS Components - though I sent him into a flurry when I told him there was supposed to be a second parcel with the trunking capping in it - probably come tomorrow.
Assembling the DIN rail isolator on the bench it was obvious that the extension rod and its fittings weren't quite right - one female plastic socket thingy had a pair of projections preventing the male sliding in. A quick call to their help desk revealed it was the wrong extension despite being referenced in the isolator illustration :bang: Solution - another £25 for a different isolator OR a bit of vertical paring with a small wood chisel - I'll let you guess which I did :lol:
As the rear panel on this machine is double skin and this switch assembly requires more hardware on the door than the previous one, I had to do a bit of butchery and cut a square hole for an escutcheon, then get it all lined up and the shaft cut to length. Got there in the end :thumbup:
David Jupp:
RS are sometimes a bit careless with the illustrations - often just a generic image rather than the actual part number you have called up. If the data sheet isn't clear it can be pot luck what you end up ordering.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version