MDC Box Signal 1 (In Cycle)

The first signal on the MDC box is sent back to DNC-Max via the DSR line on the serial port and this is normally wired as In-Cycle.

Select DSR Monitor on the left menu and tick Enable DSR signal messages. Set the Input type to Switch (either on or off), the Message (Low State) to CYCLESTOP and the Message (below) to CYCLESTART. Tick the Log message when port starts box, this makes sure that the current state of the signal is sent when the machine port starts.

In Cycle signal (DSR) configuration.

This setup will generate two messages, CYCLESTART when the machine is running and CYCLESTOP when the machine is not. It works like this:

The minimum cycle time is the time taken for the machine to change state - leave this set to 500ms in most cases. This will filter out any electrical noise when the machine changes state.

Selecting the option Debug Mode will force all messages to appear in the port log regardless of the setting in the DNC-Max Server configuration. Once the system is working properly turn this off to avoid filling the port log.

Pulsing Signal on Haas Machines

Some machines (notably the Haas) will flash the in-cycle lamp when the part has completed. We can use this fact to generate a PARTCOMPLETE message on the same signal as the In-Cycle signal.

Tick the Message when pulsing box, set the Minimum pulse count to 2 (to prevent a single flash from triggering a message) and the Maximum pulse length to 1 second. Set the Message to PARTCOMPLETE.

Pulsing signal configuration for Part Complete message.

If the light is flashing once a second you will need to increase the Minimum cycle time from 500ms to more than 1 second otherwise you will generate continuous CYCLESTART / CYCLESTOP messages.

Note that on some machines (e.g. DMU) a flashing in-cycle lamp means waiting for operator and you can use this to generate a different message (e.g. WAITINGOPER).