@skcncx
When I purchased my PM lathe I also got the Magnetic DRO installed. Later I found an issue and so I took it back out to PM (I live in Pittsburgh so they are not far away.) and they did a software update on the DRO which fixed my concern. So that RS232 or a cat 5 connector port or others could be used for programing the DRO. Of course, I do not have this software! I am not for sure what the application would be that one needs to connect the DRO to a PC unless you want to control something with it. For example you wanted to feed this back to a CNC style lathe it would be a useful component. The one application that I though would really be nice to have is the ability to preset a point on the DRO reading which when reached would send out a signal. This way you could use the DRO to stop the lathe, much like many folks do with the "proximity detectors". The descriptions of these Proximity sensors/detectors are all over the HM forum. I put one in my lathe's VFD conversion and it is described in the write up posted, See Part II ... of the write ups. Anyway, if you could get this signal from the DRO you would not need the proximity sensor system and it would probably be nicer/more accurate and could be madeto be anticipatory in controlling the motion. The simple proximity detectors signals are just an on and off signal which is provided to just shut the lathe down via the overall safety latch mechanism in the controls. If you had two signals from the DRO you could use one to slow the travel motion via the spindle speed as you approached the desired stop point and so not over shoot. The momentum of the lathe causes over shooting when the proximity detector is used and off course this over shoot is dependent on the speed/momentum and so is different for each speed setting. If you are trying to use this to cut threads the over shoot is not too critical as it is pretty repeatable if your always use the same spindle speed and gear settings. But if you want to use this to keep from hitting the spindle chuck with a cutter then you have to set the proximity sensor distance such that the overshoot is not an issue.
Anyway, it is nice that they sent you this info on the RS232 data stream etc. I have actually seen this document before and think that it is kind of universal information the product suppliers send out.... even if it is not relevant to the product. It is pretty detailed and well defined, but I don't think it is unique to your machine and may not be exactly matched to your machine either. If you are a pc low level programmer you can probably get this to work to give your PC a reading of where the DRO is at the moment.
I purchased some digital "dial gauges" a while back, plunge style gauges which are pretty accurate. They have phone style USB connectors, which operate very similar to RS232 data streams. The good ones are by Clockwise tools. They also sell a data cable which I purchased. It connects the gauge to a PC USB port and has an inline electronics encoder/conditioner (3 to 5 volts signal shifter) and a switch button. Each time you press the button switch the data displayed on the gauge appears at the PC via MS-Excel or Word. Keep pushing the button and you get a list of the readings. It is pretty handy if you want a history of reading and do not want to stop to write them all down. I discussed these devices on HM and point out that not all of the various made digital dial guages are of the same quality. However, the all look very similar on the outside. When you tear into them you find that they are not equal in build or in performance. Also, some of them run off of 3v Li coin style batteries while other take a 1.5 volt button cell. So the electronics inside are somewhat different. I checked the calibration on the Clockwise units I purchased and they pretty much met the Clockwise advertised spec.
I mention all of this because during this search for a good plunge gauge I first purchased a cheaper gauge which also had data port, but seller did not offer a cable for it. So while searching around on the web for a cable for it I found a description of someone who had figured out the data stream via looking at the output on an oscilloscope. He then built some electronics to interface the the gauge output to the PC USB port etc and so built his own data cable. He pretty well described how this signal was encoded and how it was transmitted via the RS232/USB port as well as how to write code to import it into Excel. It might be useful for you if you want to study it. It has been a while, but I think this is the URL describing this hack... https://hackaday.io/project/511-digital-dial-indicator-cnc-surface-probe This was in 2015 or so there is lots of this stuff on the web now. At the time, I did find another link to some discussion about how to import from the USB port to Excel... http://janaxelson.com/forum/index.php?topic=1762.0 In addition, there were a couple of files doing these things at https://www.eevblog.com/forum/projects/usb-communication-with-ms-excel/
Good luck.
Dave L.
When I purchased my PM lathe I also got the Magnetic DRO installed. Later I found an issue and so I took it back out to PM (I live in Pittsburgh so they are not far away.) and they did a software update on the DRO which fixed my concern. So that RS232 or a cat 5 connector port or others could be used for programing the DRO. Of course, I do not have this software! I am not for sure what the application would be that one needs to connect the DRO to a PC unless you want to control something with it. For example you wanted to feed this back to a CNC style lathe it would be a useful component. The one application that I though would really be nice to have is the ability to preset a point on the DRO reading which when reached would send out a signal. This way you could use the DRO to stop the lathe, much like many folks do with the "proximity detectors". The descriptions of these Proximity sensors/detectors are all over the HM forum. I put one in my lathe's VFD conversion and it is described in the write up posted, See Part II ... of the write ups. Anyway, if you could get this signal from the DRO you would not need the proximity sensor system and it would probably be nicer/more accurate and could be madeto be anticipatory in controlling the motion. The simple proximity detectors signals are just an on and off signal which is provided to just shut the lathe down via the overall safety latch mechanism in the controls. If you had two signals from the DRO you could use one to slow the travel motion via the spindle speed as you approached the desired stop point and so not over shoot. The momentum of the lathe causes over shooting when the proximity detector is used and off course this over shoot is dependent on the speed/momentum and so is different for each speed setting. If you are trying to use this to cut threads the over shoot is not too critical as it is pretty repeatable if your always use the same spindle speed and gear settings. But if you want to use this to keep from hitting the spindle chuck with a cutter then you have to set the proximity sensor distance such that the overshoot is not an issue.
Anyway, it is nice that they sent you this info on the RS232 data stream etc. I have actually seen this document before and think that it is kind of universal information the product suppliers send out.... even if it is not relevant to the product. It is pretty detailed and well defined, but I don't think it is unique to your machine and may not be exactly matched to your machine either. If you are a pc low level programmer you can probably get this to work to give your PC a reading of where the DRO is at the moment.
I purchased some digital "dial gauges" a while back, plunge style gauges which are pretty accurate. They have phone style USB connectors, which operate very similar to RS232 data streams. The good ones are by Clockwise tools. They also sell a data cable which I purchased. It connects the gauge to a PC USB port and has an inline electronics encoder/conditioner (3 to 5 volts signal shifter) and a switch button. Each time you press the button switch the data displayed on the gauge appears at the PC via MS-Excel or Word. Keep pushing the button and you get a list of the readings. It is pretty handy if you want a history of reading and do not want to stop to write them all down. I discussed these devices on HM and point out that not all of the various made digital dial guages are of the same quality. However, the all look very similar on the outside. When you tear into them you find that they are not equal in build or in performance. Also, some of them run off of 3v Li coin style batteries while other take a 1.5 volt button cell. So the electronics inside are somewhat different. I checked the calibration on the Clockwise units I purchased and they pretty much met the Clockwise advertised spec.
I mention all of this because during this search for a good plunge gauge I first purchased a cheaper gauge which also had data port, but seller did not offer a cable for it. So while searching around on the web for a cable for it I found a description of someone who had figured out the data stream via looking at the output on an oscilloscope. He then built some electronics to interface the the gauge output to the PC USB port etc and so built his own data cable. He pretty well described how this signal was encoded and how it was transmitted via the RS232/USB port as well as how to write code to import it into Excel. It might be useful for you if you want to study it. It has been a while, but I think this is the URL describing this hack... https://hackaday.io/project/511-digital-dial-indicator-cnc-surface-probe This was in 2015 or so there is lots of this stuff on the web now. At the time, I did find another link to some discussion about how to import from the USB port to Excel... http://janaxelson.com/forum/index.php?topic=1762.0 In addition, there were a couple of files doing these things at https://www.eevblog.com/forum/projects/usb-communication-with-ms-excel/
Good luck.
Dave L.