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IntroductionPC-DNC Pro can perform bi-directional communications with up to 128serial (COM) ports simultaneously. The performance of PC-DNC Pro depends agreat deal on the speed of your computer, and on the type of serial ports you areusing. While PC-DNC Pro will run on slower computers, we recommend that youuse a late-model computer with plenty of RAM memory. PC-DNC Pro was developed to be compatible with Windows 7, Windows 8 and 8.1 and Windows 10.Serial ports that are “native” to the computer can be used, as well as USB-toserial adapters, Ethernet serial device servers, and wireless Ethernet device servers.PC-DNC Pro can be used in several ways: As a “File queuing” system, PCDNC Pro uses a queue list to send files in pre-determined sequence to the CNCs.As a “Remote call-up” DNC system, PC-DNC Pro will send and receive files usingremote commands from the CNCs.Unlike PC-DNC Plus, PC-DNC Pro runs as a Windows service, so it’salways running invisibly in the background. A PC-DNC Pro “Client” is the visiblepart of the software, and can be run in the foreground or the background (or closedentirely), and the PC-DNC Pro service continues to function.The PC-DNC Pro Client displays the status of each DNC Window on yoursystem. The DNC windows themselves are separate “threads”, running inside thePC-DNC Pro Service, and each one behaves as a separate 1-port DNC system.You can open or close DNC windows independently from the Client. When youstart PC-DNC Pro Client, the display shows the status of all the DNC windows.When you close a DNC window, the Service closes the serial port. If you close thePC-DNC Pro Client, the Service continues to run and the Client simply disappears.If you attempt to close a DNC Window while it is sending or receiving data, it willnot close immediately, but will close as soon as the ongoing file transfer is complete.Queueing filesA “queue” is simply a list of files that are sent to the CNC in sequence. EachDNC window has its own queue list. Each file in the queue list can be transmitted afixed number of times, or you can queue up files that will be sent repeatedly to theCNC until the CNC operator sends in a remote request for the next file in the queue.There are three ways to queue files: You can use the Client’s “SEND” menuto add a file to a CNCs queue list, you can request the file remotely from the CNCcontrol, or you can simply copy a file to the DNC windows’ “Auto-Queue” folder.x

Remote CommandsEach CNC operator can send files to the PC-DNC Pro system, or receivefiles from the PC-DNC Pro system without touching the computer. A set of“remote commands” can be defined for each DNC window. These remote commands can be tailored to suit the make & model of your CNC controls.When an operator sends a file from the CNC, PC-DNC Pro will examine theincoming data for a “program identifier”. If a program identifier is found, PC-DNCPro will use the characters AFTER the program identifier as a file name. The incoming data will be stored, and the system will return to normal operation. If you want,PC-DNC Pro can “reply” to the CNC operator by sending back a brief “receivedfile confirmation” report then next time the CNC operator presses the READ buttonon the CNCWhen a CNC operator wants to request a file from PC-DNC Pro, he sendsa short file from the CNC that contains a “program request”, followed by the filename. If PC-DNC Pro sees this program request in the incoming data, it will queueup the requested file and wait for the CNC operator to download it by pressing theREAD or INPUT button, or to run it in DNC mode by pressing “Cycle Start”.PC-DNC Text EditorPC-DNC Pro Client also includes our powerful PC-DNC Editor for creatingfor editing NC files. PC-DNC Editor contains several functions for manipulating Gcode files, such as program rotation, scaling, mirroring, comparing, etc. The PCDNC Editor can be used independently of the PC-DNC Pro system. You canlaunch the PC-DNC Editor from the Client’s “Manage Files” menu by doubleclicking on a file name in the PC-DNC Pro file list box.Installing PC-DNC ProPC-DNC Pro is normally downloaded from our website www.sub-soft.com .The Installation file can be downloaded to your PC, copied onto other media ifneeded, and installed later. It can also be installed directly from the website byclicking the “Run” option. Once PC-DNC Pro Server is installed, a desktop iconshould automatically appear for the PC-DNC Pro Client. The PC-DNC Pro Clientonly runs when you need it to, but the PC-DNC Pro service is always running in thebackground.xi

1.0GETTING STARTEDWe assume that you have had some experience with your PC already. Youshould be familiar with the Windows operating system and the procedures forrunning Windows based software before you procede. If you need help installingPC-DNC Pro, feel free to call us for phone support.PC-DNC Pro is compatible with Windows 7, Windows 8 and 8.1, and Windows 10. We will make every effort to release future versions of PC-DNC Pro thatare compatible with future releases of Windows from Microsoft Corporation.When starting PC-DNC Pro for the first time:a) If you plan to use a multi-port serial board, network serial hub, or USB serialhub with your PC-DNC Pro system, install it according to the manufacturer’srecomendations. Any necessary device drivers provided by the manufacturer mustbe installed before PC-DNC Pro can use these serial ports.b) Connect each of your CNC controls to one of your PC’s COM ports with aproperly wired serial cable. Your computer’s serial port will most likely have a 9 pinMALE connector (DB-9P). Refer to Appendix B in the back of this manual forsuggested cable wiring diagrams.c) To install PC-DNC Pro, visit our website at www.sub-soft.com and click the“PC-DNC Pro” button. The install program can be downloaded or run directly byclicking on the PC-DNC Pro Server download link. PC-DNC Pro Server installsitself in a directory called “C:\Program Files (x86)\Suburban MachinerySoftware\PC-DNC Pr0 Server” unless you specify a different directory.Licensing PC-DNC ProPC-DNC Pro is licensed with a simple password procedure. Each computerthat runs PC-DNC Pro Server will have its own unique 9-digit “security number”,which is visible in the “Configuration” menu under the “Server Information” tab.To permanently license PC-DNC Pro on your PC, write down your PCs securitynumber and contact Suburban Machinery Software, Inc. for a licensing passwordand an “Option” password.To enter your licensing passwords, open the “Configuration/Server information” menu and enter your passwords at the bottom. Then, click the “UpdateLicense” button to save your changes, and then reboot your PC-DNC Pro serviceby clicking the “Reboot Server” button, or by rebooting your computer.(1)

1.0GETTING STARTED (cont.)The PC-DNC Pro Service is launched automatically when you start yourcomputer. The service runs silently, in the background, and responds to remoterequests from your CNC controls. The PC-DNC Pro CLIENT is a regular Windows application, and is started by clicking the “PC-DNC Pro Client” icon on yourdesktop.Starting and stopping the PC-DNC Pro Service can be done manually, andyou can control whether or not the PC-DNC Pro Service starts automatically whenyou boot your computer. In Windows 7, click the START button, then right-clickon “Computer”, then select “Manage” to open the “Computer Management” menu.Click “Services and Applications”, then “Services” and you will see a list of Windows services currently running. The PC-DNC Pro Service is listed as“Proserver”. By right-clicking on “Proserver”, you can Start or Stop the service.By double-clicking on “Proserver”, you can set the service to start automatically(the default) or manually. You can also disable the service altogether.Your PC-DNC Pro Client Desktop IconThe PC-DNC Pro Client icon simply starts the Client application, which letsyou manually control events on the PC-DNC Pro system. You do not need to runthe PC-DNC Pro Client at all unless you want to manually queue files, edit files, orconfigure the PC-DNC Pro system. Remember, the PC-DNC Pro Service runsinvisibly, and has no manual controls, so only by running the Client can you seewhat the service is doing or manually upload or download files.If your system fails to start properly, call Suburban Machinery Software, Inc.at (440) 951-8974 for technical assistance, or send an email describing your situation to [email protected](2)

1.0GETTING STARTED (cont.)You can connect most any kind of RS-232 device (i.e. CNC controls, tapepunch/readers, telephone MODEMs, CAD/CAM systems, etc.) to any one yourPCs available serial ports. Devices using RS-422 or 20ma current-loop signals willnormally require an adapter, unless your serial port has provisions for these types ofsignals. Signal adapters are available from Black Box Corporation (412- 746-5530)at a reasonable cost.Standard 9-pin serial ports on your PC are typically wired as DTE (DataTerminal Equipment) ports. This means that most CNC controls must be connectedwith a “cross-wired” or “null-modem” 9-to25 cable. When connecting to a telephone MODEM (or the MODEM plug on the back of a tape punch/reader) you willhave to use a “straight” cable. Refer to Appendix B for some typical cable diagrams. Cables for PC-DNC Pro ARE DIFFERENT from the cables use with ourearlier PC-DNC communications system (using the Bay Tech 528 port controller).PC-DNC Plus and PC-DNC Pro are very compatible, so if your serial ports werefor an earlier PC-DNC Plus system, your cable wiring should remain the same.1.1BACKING UP YOUR FILESWhenever you store valuable information on your PC, we strongly advisethat at least one back-up copy be made on a DIFFERENT hard-drive. Disk drivescan fail unexpectedly, so a regular program of backing up your files is essential.A hard disk “crash” can loose data files suddenly, and without warning. Forthis reason, it is VERY important to periodically back up all your NC data files insome way. You can backup your files to floppy disks, tape drives, “ZIP” drives,secondary hard drives, or to another PC on your network. It doesn’t really matterwhich method you choose, but it is vital that you DO IT!You don’t need to back-up your PC-DNC Pro software itself, but it wouldbe a VERY good idea to backup your system configuration files once the DNCwindows have been configured for use. Simply open the PC-DNC Pro Client andselect any machine in your machine list. Then, click the “Configure” button andlook for the “Backup/Restore” button. Select any disk drive or directory on yournetwork to hold your PC-DNC Pro backups.(3)

1.2PC-DNC Plus Command WindowPC-DNC Pro Client uses a main “command” window (shown below) tocontrol each of the separate DNC windows on your system. This command window contains a list of each of the DNC windows that you have established.Fig. 1Each DNC window is given a machine name in the “Configure” menu. Onceestablished, these machine names will appear in the command window, followed bya brief report of the DNC window’s status.You can select any DNC Window by simply clicking on its name. Onceselected, the command window menu buttons on the right become available tocontrol the selected DNC window. If no DNC Window is selected, the menu buttons on the right are disabled.The status of each DNC Window is shown with a round “dot” next to themachine name. This dot is normally blue when the port is open and idle. Itchanges to green when a file is being sent, and to red when a file is being received.If you manually put the DNC Window into “Terminal” mode using the Diagnosticsmenu, the dot turns yellow. The illustration above shows the machine named“Mitsubishi” as being selected, and the machine named “Fanuc” is in the process ofsending a file to the CNC.(4)

1.3DNC WindowOnce a DNC window is selected, you can use the menu buttons on the righthand side of the command window. These menu buttons let you manually sendfiles to the CNCs (SEND), receive files from the CNCs (RECEIVE), manage oredit files (MANAGE FILES), edit or resequence the queue (MANAGE QUEUE),Configure the DNC window’s properties (CONFIGURE), or diagnose problemsand view system activity logs (DIAGNOSTICS)Fig.2At the top of this menu bar is a “Log on” or “Log Out” button, which letsyou connect or disconnect with the PC-DNC Pro Service. When you are LoggedOff, no manual operations are possible. When you Log On, you can connect withany PC-DNC Pro Service running on your network, or you can Log On using thePC-DNC Pro internal security system. The default Log On for “Administrator”has all privileges to all menu selections. Logging on as a “User” may have anynumber of restrictions placed upon these menu functions.(5)

The PC-DNC Pro manual controlsAfter selecting a DNC Window on the PC-DNC Pro main control window,you can then select from the following six menus:SENDThe SEND Menu lets you select any program from the DNC Window’sassigned file directories and manually add that file to the “Queue”. The queue issimply a list of files waiting to go out to a particular machine.The directories (folders) assigned for sending files to the selected DNCWindow can be selected at the top of this menu. The directory “Tree” within thatfolder are shown on the left, and the files within the selected directory appear on theright. By clicking the “Show File Details” button, you can sort the files by size, bycreation date, or alphabetically.On the right-hand side of this menu, you can select the MANNER in whichthis file will be sent to the CNC. By clicking the SEND button, you add the file tothe queue list for the DNC Window, which gets it ready to send to the CNC.(6)

The PC-DNC Pro manual controls (cont.)RECEIVEThe RECEIVE Menu lets you select any program name and prepare the DNCWindows to receive that file. This function is useful for saving files that do nothave a “program ID”, such as an O-number at the beginning. Use the Receivemenu for saving CNC parameter data and tool offset data.The directories (folders) assigned for receiving files to the selected DNCWindow can be selected at the top of this menu. The directory “Tree” within thatfolder are shown on the left, and the files within the selected directory appear on theright. By clicking the “Show File Details” button, you can sort the files by size, bycreation date, or alphabetically.On the right-hand side of this menu, you can select the MANNER in whichthis file will be received from the CNC. By clicking the RECEIVE button, you arepreparing the DNC Window to receive data and save it in the assigned file.(7)

The PC-DNC Pro manual controls (cont.)MANAGE FILESThe MANAGE FILES Menu lets you select any program name and edit thatfile in PC-DNC EditorThe directories (folders) assigned for receiving files to the selected DNCWindow can be selected at the top of this menu. The directory “Tree” within thatfolder are shown on the left, and the files within the selected directory appear on theright. By clicking the “Show File Details” button, you can sort the files by size, bycreation date, or alphabetically.On the right-hand side of this menu, you can select the files to send to thePC-DNC Editor’s “File/Compare” function. Just highlight any file name and clickthe “Compare this file” or the “To this file”. Once two files are selected, click onthe “Compare” button to launch the Editor in File/Compare mode.To edit a file, just double-click on the file, or click to highlight it and click the“EDIT” button(8)

The PC-DNC Pro manual controls (cont.)MANAGE QUEUEThe MANAGE QUEUE Menu lets you view the queue list (the files selectedto be transmitted) and edit or alter that queue list as requiredWhen files are added to a DNC Window’s queue list, they are typicallyadded in the sequence that you want them to be transmitted to the CNC. If thesequence of files in the queue list needs to be changed, use this menu.The files shown in the list appear from the FIRST to be transmitted (at thetop) to the last (at the bottom). To change the sequence, select a file name ancclick “Move up” or “Move down”. You can also remove any file from the list, oradvance the queue, which deletes the file at the top and moves all the rest up.When finished with your changes to the queue, be sure to click “SaveChanges” to apply the new queue list to the DNC Window.

The PC-DNC Pro manual controls (cont.)CONFIGUREThe PC-DNC Pro “Configure” menu has many selections for setting up yourindividual DNC windows. The Configure/DNC Windows menu is used to add,delete or rename the RS232 DNC Windows on your system, and to define all thecharacteristics of existing DNC windows.At the top of the “Configure/DNC Windows” menu are seven tabs, which areused to configure:a) Serial Ports (COM port number, baudrate, stop-bits, parity, etc.)b) Advanced (Leader/Trailers, character masking, time delays, special mods, etc.)c) I/O Commands (Remote commands from the CNC)d) I/O Directories (Directories of files to send and receive from each machine)e) File names (File naming rules - prefix, suffix, file extensions, etc.)f) Server Information (Status of your current license, server version, etc.)g) Security (Settings for the logon security system within PC-DNC Pro)(9)

CONFIGURE Menu (cont.)Adding, Renaming or Deleting DNC WindowsYou can add a name to the list of DNC Windows by entering a unique nameinto the “Add name to list” box and pressing ENTER. To rename an existing DNCWindow, enter the new name into the “Rename” box and press ENTER. To deletea DNC Window, select the DNC Window’s name and press “Delete from List”Backing up (or restoring) your settingsWhen all of your DNC Windows have been properly configured, it is essential that you back up these settings to a safe location. NOTE: be sure to back upyour settings to a network server or to an external memory device such as a USBmemory stick to insure against the possibility of a hard drive failure on the PC-DNCPro Server PC. Use the “Backup/Restore” button to select a backup location. Ifthe directory entered for system backups does not exist, PC-DNC Pro will createthat directory for you before saving the backup files.CONFIGURE - SERIAL PORTS tabCOM portsThe serial (COM) port used to communicate with your CNC control must bea properly installed port that appears in the Windows Device Manager under “Ports(COM and LPT). It must be a serial port that has a Windows compatible devicedriver, and it must not be used by any other application or service running on thecomputer. PC-DNC Pro supports the use of “native” COM ports on the PCsmother board or on an accessory card. It also supports USB-to-Serial adapters,Ethernet serial device drivers (such as those by Quatech, Moxa, or Comtrol), andalso wireless Ethernet serial device servers.The serial ports usable by PC-DNC Pro must be properly installed accordingto the manufacturer’s specifications, and there must be a unique serial port number(COM port number) for each CNC machine that you connect. Please contactSuburban Machinery Software, Inc. for more detailed advice about installing yourserial port hardware.

CONFIGURE - SERIAL PORTS tabBaudratesThe Configure/DNC Windows/Serial Ports menu contains selections forbaudrates. Standard baudrates are available from 110 to 115,200 baud. Thebaudrate setting for each DNC window MUST MATCH the baudrate used by yourCNC control.“Stop” bitsPC-DNC Pro can be set to send/receive data with a stop-bits setting of “1”,or “2”. The stop-bits settings of the DNC window MUST MATCH the settings ofyour CNC control, otherwise unreliable communications may occur.“Data” bitsThe Data Bits setting should normally be set to “7” for ASCII Even Parityand ASCII Odd parity tape codes. A setting of “8” is typical for all other tapecodes.Tape codesThe tape code that PC-DNC Pro uses to send data is specified in the Configure/Serial ports menu. There are 4 choices available:1) ASCII even parity (even parity, 7 data bits)2) ASCII odd parity (odd parity, 7 data bits)3) ASCII no parity (no parity, 8 data bits)4) EIA RS-244B (flexowriter code - odd parity)When receiving data from a CNC control, PC-DNC Pro uses automatic code recognition. Consequently, PC-DNC should be able to receive data in any code regardless of this setting. The tape code selection only determines the code PC-DNCuses when SENDING files to the CNC control.HandshakingWhen PC-DNC Pro sends a file to the CNC, it can be set to “handshake”with the CNC in 4 different ways. Xon/Xoff is the most common form of handshaking, and is used with most popular CNC controls. Xon/Xoff is also referred toas “DC codes” or “Device Control” codes by some CNC manufacturers.(10)

Xon/Xoff Handshaking (option button)When Xon/Xoff protocol is sel

Section 2.0 PC-DNC Editor Installation 65 PC-DNC Editor main window 66 PC-DNC Editor main menus 67 PC-DNC Editor function list 68-70 The PC-DNC Editor's text box 71-72 The right-click menu 73 Arranging your text boxes 74 Selecting an "active" text box 75 TABLE OF CONTENTS (cont.) vi.