CNC using MCC cards

[MattyCT]

Hello MCC and others. I'm an IT consultant in Connecticut and have a customer with a custom-made CNC controller computer which incorporates two MCC cards: a PCI-DAS08 and a PCI-PDIS08 (among a few others such as a Delta Tau card.) The machine is malfunctioning and the gentleman that created and serviced the machine died. I'm not a machinist or tool maker by any stretch. They are searching for either an individual or a company that can tackle getting the CNC solution back up and running. At the moment the industrial PC running Windows works fine. The CNC software cannot communicate with the cards or it needs some kind of configuration that I know nothing about. I tried to diagnose to see if the cards are functioning but much of this is a specialization that I just don't have. They are somewhat desperate and are hoping for a solution. Thanks for any and all ideas or leads.

Matt

[Fausto]

Hello @MattyCT.

MCC does not have any field service reps. 

Was the Windows OS recently upgraded?

Are you seeing errors specific to the MCC PCI cards?  

Try searching your installed applications for InstaCal and run it to detect the MCC PCI boards.

Regards,

Fausto

[MattyCT]

Howdy. Thanks for the reply. Yes, I do understand that MCC doesn't have field reps. As this is an industrial PC it doesn't have Internet access nor any external drives of any kind. It hasn't been modified since 2007, or so, when it was installed (It runs Windows 98!) I did see the InstaCal app. I ran it. It detected the DAS08 but not the PDIS08. It's fair to label me as a PC expert but I'm flying somewhat blind in the data acquisition world.

I'm hoping against hope that MCC has a reseller or partner network whom can help as CNC machines aren't my area of expertise. Regardless, my customer will need a resolution to this, even if it's replacing the entire system if only we could find a vendor that has expertise in this area. Any assistance is greatly appreciated. As an aside the man whom created the system was from Massachusetts, not far from MCC HQ if I understood correctly!

Matt

[Fausto]

Upgrading the Windows OS to 10 or 11 may get the MCC boards to work with InstaCal, but would the CNC application work under a new Windows OS?  Would the other boards be supported under the new OS as well?  Is this a one-of-a-kind system or is there an identical system that you could reference while troubleshooting?   

[MattyCT]

The version of Instacal on there is the version that was included with the system from 2007. I found it buried in some folder of utilities on the hard drive. I haven't uploaded any newer software for fear of making things worse. Unfortunately, it's the only system like it in the shop and, since it isn't working, they are in a terrible bind. I don't even know where to go with this other than to contact MCC only because I found the company name buried in a text file and Googled it.

The industrial computer is probably a late 90's vintage hardware so it certainly couldn't support a modern operating system. The OS runs fine, as it is, this is more of an add-in card and/or application/configuration issue. Does MCC have a partner network of any kind that can be of assistance? Or, even any integrators of any kind in New England or the Northeast that can potentially assist?

Thanks again,

Matt

[Fausto]

Sorry, no list.

What's the version of InstaCal?

Do you have screenshots of error messages or what is not happening in the application?

[MattyCT]

I'll get that info together and post it here. Thx.