9 ms·

I still use a cnc milling machine controlled by a 386. The only way to load gcode is via manual entry or floppy. However, it still gets the job done just fine f

I still use a cnc milling machine controlled by a 386. The only way to load gcode is via manual entry or floppy. However, it still gets the job done just fine for 90% of my needs.

snek_case 5y ago
There's probably a way to fit an SD card or flash drive in a floppy emulator? I'm curious now. Is that a 386 PC? Does it boot off of a small hard drive?
- Sakos 5y ago
  There are adapters that let you use SD cards in place of floppy or IDE drive.
  - genewitch 5y ago
    compactflash is nearly pin compatible with ATA, i had several laptops repurposed as home routers with CF cards on little adapters. I could probably dig one out and take a picture. edit: shoot, i think i meant IDE, not ATA
    - mnd999 5y ago
      Yep, my Amiga 1200 does exactly this. It’s very tempting to put it on the internet.
    - rvense 5y ago
      ATA and IDE is the same thing. Usually CF cards will just work on adapters.
  - ApolIllo 5y ago
    Do they support hotplugging? afaik traditional floppies do and could be essential to workflows if you can avoid the costly reboot time.
- Keyframe 5y ago
  GoTek being most popular, yes.
- reaperducer 5y ago
  There are adapters to use flash cards in real 3½" floppy drives. I had a nice metal one made by Sony years ago. Flash card slides in one side, and there's a place for a button cell to power it. Then you just stick the whole thing into the floppy drive like a regular disk.
  - Macha 5y ago
    How many OS assumptions does it break to have a massively oversized capacity on a floppy drive? Or is it just using 1.44mb of a multi-GB SD card?
    - kjs3 5y ago
      Often, these present as multiple floppy sized chunks for exactly the reason you cite. I don't know about the Sony described, but the Gotek I have has a little front panel that let's you select a numerical floppy unit that presents as a: or whatever.
    - xxpor 5y ago
      Neutron star density
    - snek_case 5y ago
      I'm assuming if it's a floppy emulator it just has floppy density, but you can emulate an IDE hard drive as well.
      - Macha 5y ago
        Oh, I may have been misunderstanding the parent comment but it sounded like they were saying it was an adapter that let you put flash memory devices of some sort into a regular floppy drive.
        Brian_K_White 5y ago
        There are exactly such devices.
BuildTheRobots 5y ago
We've got an old cnc lathe that originally ran via a BBC Micro. It ended up being supported by linuxcnc so it might be possible to update your controller if it becomes annoying.
- kjs3 5y ago
  Looking at the problem a different way (maybe), you can buy BBC Basic and run it on modern x86 hardware.
bluedino 5y ago
We're in a similar position and the PC runs DOS, with all of it's memory limitations. Any of our bigger pieces need to be run in multiple jobs as one job won't hold enough data to complete it.
- Gracana 5y ago
  You may be able to use a "drip feed" / DNC (direct numeric control) system, where NC code is fed to your machine from an external controller. At a previous company we had a modern PC on the network, with connections to ethernet COM port modules installed on the CNC machines. You'd choose a program for a machine, set up the machine controller to run a program from tape (or somesuch.. it depends on the controller), cycle start.. boom, you're running a large program over the network. It's a very handy solution.
  - bluedino 5y ago
    We have Moxas on almost all of our machines now. This one is a special case.
  - Brian_K_White 5y ago
    Sounds like Klipper but for cnc. The scheme is a huge win on 3d printers even though it adds a component to the system (generally a bad thing all else being equal, but all else is not equal). Even when you aren't talking about being stuck with some old proprietary and limited controller & firmware but can buy powerful new wide open controllers and load your own up to date open source firmware on them, it still ends up being even better to have the minimal klipper firmware on the controller and do all the real work on a host.
- jonhohle 5y ago
  While I don’t recall ever having a problem with DOS, have you ever tried OS/2? We never attempted it due to the relative fragility of the system and lack of support, but thought it would have provided some more modern capabilities (this was back between 2000-2003).
  - 5y ago

I still use a cnc milling machine controlled by a 386. The only way to load gcode is via manual entry or floppy. However, it still gets the job done just fine for 90% of my needs.

snek_case 5y ago

There's probably a way to fit an SD card or flash drive in a floppy emulator? I'm curious now. Is that a 386 PC? Does it boot off of a small hard drive?

Sakos 5y ago
There are adapters that let you use SD cards in place of floppy or IDE drive.
- genewitch 5y ago
  compactflash is nearly pin compatible with ATA, i had several laptops repurposed as home routers with CF cards on little adapters. I could probably dig one out and take a picture. edit: shoot, i think i meant IDE, not ATA
  - mnd999 5y ago
    Yep, my Amiga 1200 does exactly this. It’s very tempting to put it on the internet.
  - rvense 5y ago
    ATA and IDE is the same thing. Usually CF cards will just work on adapters.
- ApolIllo 5y ago
  Do they support hotplugging? afaik traditional floppies do and could be essential to workflows if you can avoid the costly reboot time.
Keyframe 5y ago
GoTek being most popular, yes.
reaperducer 5y ago
There are adapters to use flash cards in real 3½" floppy drives. I had a nice metal one made by Sony years ago. Flash card slides in one side, and there's a place for a button cell to power it. Then you just stick the whole thing into the floppy drive like a regular disk.
- Macha 5y ago
  How many OS assumptions does it break to have a massively oversized capacity on a floppy drive? Or is it just using 1.44mb of a multi-GB SD card?
  - kjs3 5y ago
    Often, these present as multiple floppy sized chunks for exactly the reason you cite. I don't know about the Sony described, but the Gotek I have has a little front panel that let's you select a numerical floppy unit that presents as a: or whatever.
  - xxpor 5y ago
    Neutron star density
  - snek_case 5y ago
    I'm assuming if it's a floppy emulator it just has floppy density, but you can emulate an IDE hard drive as well.
    - Macha 5y ago
      Oh, I may have been misunderstanding the parent comment but it sounded like they were saying it was an adapter that let you put flash memory devices of some sort into a regular floppy drive.
      - Brian_K_White 5y ago
        There are exactly such devices.

BuildTheRobots 5y ago

We've got an old cnc lathe that originally ran via a BBC Micro. It ended up being supported by linuxcnc so it might be possible to update your controller if it becomes annoying.

kjs3 5y ago
Looking at the problem a different way (maybe), you can buy BBC Basic and run it on modern x86 hardware.

bluedino 5y ago

We're in a similar position and the PC runs DOS, with all of it's memory limitations. Any of our bigger pieces need to be run in multiple jobs as one job won't hold enough data to complete it.

Gracana 5y ago
You may be able to use a "drip feed" / DNC (direct numeric control) system, where NC code is fed to your machine from an external controller. At a previous company we had a modern PC on the network, with connections to ethernet COM port modules installed on the CNC machines. You'd choose a program for a machine, set up the machine controller to run a program from tape (or somesuch.. it depends on the controller), cycle start.. boom, you're running a large program over the network. It's a very handy solution.
- bluedino 5y ago
  We have Moxas on almost all of our machines now. This one is a special case.
- Brian_K_White 5y ago
  Sounds like Klipper but for cnc. The scheme is a huge win on 3d printers even though it adds a component to the system (generally a bad thing all else being equal, but all else is not equal). Even when you aren't talking about being stuck with some old proprietary and limited controller & firmware but can buy powerful new wide open controllers and load your own up to date open source firmware on them, it still ends up being even better to have the minimal klipper firmware on the controller and do all the real work on a host.
jonhohle 5y ago
While I don’t recall ever having a problem with DOS, have you ever tried OS/2? We never attempted it due to the relative fragility of the system and lack of support, but thought it would have provided some more modern capabilities (this was back between 2000-2003).
- 5y ago