Right now we are uploading and down loading prog's in machines using a laptop computer with wireless connection to a server which lasts about one year and needs replaced.
There must be a better way I have looked at several different ways of doing this but was wondering how the majority out there does this.

Thanks
davbro14

What has to be replaced after a year? I would think the supplier should be able to work out the problems you are having or warranty them.

You can set things up a few ways. Some machines I use the laptop through the RS232 port right at the machine. Other ways I have set up the RS232 to a hub or directly to a PC and use remote request in the DNC software.

What kind of controls are you using?

Stevo

(The opinions in this post are my own and not those of machinetoolhelp.com and its management)

Stevo,
The laptop is what needs replacing once a year it just falls apart from being on the shop floor from the oil and being rolled around on a cart.

We have a wireless link from a sever which holds all of our prog's to the laptop we roll the laptop up and plug in via the RS232.

Right now we have some custom software for managing our prog's on the sever computer but it has windows 2000 on it and we will be forced to do somthing different because the custom software we are told will not run on the newer op systems and someday that computer will need updated to allow other software to run.

Most of our controls are Fanuc o,18i,10t and one mitsubishi.

We have looked at a handheld device for uploading progs but it was kind of pricey but may pay for itself in the long run but this would need some way of comunicating with the custom software that we have that will pull, putaway,edit,and in some cases add or remove code for similar machines.

Are there any other such programs out there for managing machine tool programs?

davbro14

Yes there is tons of software out there for communicating with the machines. My last place we used Dostek. It was only a few hundred dollars for the software after the trial. They have good support. Ask for Doug Struthers.
Dostek Incorporated
238 Westheights Drive
Kitchener, Ontario
Canada N2N 1j9
Tel (519) 742-5721
Fax (519) 741-8669
Dostek - DNC Systems and Software

At another forum there is a gentleman named Dan Fritz and he has a vast amount of knowledge in this area. He has his own software and helps out on many occasions. Here is the link to his website
Suburban Machinery / Software Division Home Page

Right now I use eNetDNC. They are very knowledgeable with good resources. You can reach them at either link below.
eNetDNC - Home
Port CNC, Inc. - Home

I highly recommend any of the 3. I take no preference to either so I opted to give you at least 3 options.

Do your machines have the RS232 ports on them?

Stevo

(The opinions in this post are my own and not those of machinetoolhelp.com and its management)

Stevo,
Thanks for the info I will look into these links.
And yes our machines do have RS232

davbro14

Your welcome.

Stevo

(The opinions in this post are my own and not those of machinetoolhelp.com and its management)

We use PC-DNC to link from our server to computers stationed thru out the shop floor. This software works well for all of our machine controls except the Heidenhain which has its own software supplied free by Heidenhain.