READ WRITE PARAMETERS | FANUC

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For various items such as cycle time, spindle & axis control or tool life management it is necessary to read parameter values from controllers. If you’d like to synchronize devices with each other or simply ‘tag’ a machine with things like work-order or operation number it is also useful to be able to write parameter values that can be read by CNCnetPDM later. For machines equipped with FOCAS-enabled Fanuc controllers you can use the utility programs FanucParamReadGui and FanucParamWriteGui to do so.

Read- & Writeable Parameters include (Fanuc 30i, 31i, 32i Model A):

• By using our universal device driver for Fanuc controllers you can build and adjust your own customized driver based on all output of FanucParamReadGui.
• For bidirectional communication between machines with FANUC controllers connected to CNCnetPDM and your applications you can use our free Open Source Client (C-Sharp)

DOWNLOAD SOFTWARE | LICENSING | SETUP | READ PARAMETERS | WRITE PARAMETERS | UNIVERSAL DRIVER DATA TYPES | HSSB | PARAMETER DOCUMENTATION | UPGRADE PROGRAM

DOWNLOAD SOFTWARE

Important: If you’re using HSSB (High Speed Serial Bus) see notes on HSSB below. In both cases run the test directly on the PC with the HSSB interface card!

If you can access the controller via the network it is highly recommend to use the program on a laptop with a network connection at the shop-floor in front of the machine.

LICENSING

If you have installed CNCnetPDM on your PC with a license other than a ‘free license’ and run this program from the folder where CNCnetPDM is installed input and output of parameters is unlimited. Otherwise the program outputs or allows input of a restricted set of items. Please see licensing for details or contact us if you have any questions.

• Note: If you like to run this program from a different location on your PC you can simply copy your CNCnetPDM.ini file to this directory.

SETUP

1. Download fanucparam.zip.
2. Extract all contents of fanucparam.zip to a folder on your PC.

READ PARAMETERS

1. Navigate to the folder with FanucParamReadGui and double click it.
2. In section input parameters enter all information to identify controller, axis parameter, start and end parameter to be queried.
3. If you access your controller via network enter the IP Address or DNS Hostname.
4. Under Port enter the port number configured for the FANUC FOCAS option at the controller, default 8193.
5. Only if you access your controller via HSSB change Method to 1 for ‘real’ HSSB or 2 for NCGUIDE HSSB.
6. Enter the correct axis number for the parameter to be queried (-1 = all axes, 0 = no axes, 1-n = axis number).
7. Input Start and End number of the parameters that should be read.

After clicking [Query] you should see output similar to the following in the right pane:

FIG 1:    FanucParamReadGui: Read parameters 6710 - 6713

In this example data from address 6710 (Count Up M-Code) to 6713 (Parts required) with no axis (0) was queried via network from a controller with DNS Hostname FANUC. If data can be found at the selected addresses the program outputs 5 values: byte, INT (word), long (dword), real (float) and bits 1-8.

In the above example the program found data at all addresses. In case of an error the program outputs the reason.

Tip: By clicking on [Copy] you can copy the output to the clipboard and simply paste it into a text file.

Notes:

• Parameters with a preceding axis name (1) have to be queried with the respective axis numberg. X = 1, Z = 2
• Items without preceding characters (2) have to be acquired either with Axis = 0 (no axis) or Axis = -1 (all axes)

WRITE PARAMETERS

1. Navigate to the folder with FanucParamWriteGui and double click it.
2. In section input parameters enter all information to identify controller, axis parameter, parameter number, new parameter value and select input type.
3. If you access your controller via network enter the IP Address or DNS Hostname.
4. Under Port enter the port number configured for the FANUC FOCAS option at the controller, default 8193.
5. Only if you access your controller via HSSB change Method to 1 for ‘real’ HSSB or 2 for NCGUIDE HSSB.
6. Enter the correct axis number for the parameter to be written (-1 = all axes, 0 = no axes, 1-n = axis number).
7. Input parameter number and it’s new value. If you select Bits you have to enter 8 digits only containing 0 or 1.
8. Select the correct data type for input, Bits (e.g. 01000010), Byte, Word (int), DWord (long) or Real (float).

After clicking [Execute] you can see the result of the writing operation similar to the following in the right pane:

FIG 2:    FanucParamWriteGui: Write parameter 6713

In this example parameter 6713 (Parts required) was set to +155 via network on a controller with DNS Hostname FANUC. As this parameter is axis independent axis was set to 0. Input format was set to DWord (long).

If the parameter can be found and the writing operation succeeds FanucParamWrite outputs the new value of the parameter in the right pane. Otherwise FanucParamWrite outputs the reason for the error.

Notes:

• Parameters with a preceding axis name (1) have to be written with the respective axis numberg. X = 1, Z = 2
• Without preceding characters (2) parameters have to be written either with Axis = 0 (no axis) or Axis = -1 (all axes). Usually Axis = 0 is correct.
• For plain numbers (5) it’s best to start with data type DWord (long).
• Use a dot ‘.’ as delimiter for decimal numbers (4).
• For Bits (3) input 8 digits only containing 0 or 1

UNIVERSAL DRIVER DATA TYPES

To get correct values output by our Universal Device Driver for Fanuc controllers when reading parameters set ‘Output item’ in your device INI file as follows:

• For output that shows bits 0-8 (3) use output item ‘bdata’
• For output with a decimal point (4) use ‘rdata’
• If plain numbers (5) are output use either ‘cdata’, ‘idata’ or ‘ldata’, compare values displayed at the controller with FanucParamReadGui

FIG 3:    Fanuc 31i Model B Parameter output A

FIG 4:    Fanuc 31i Model B Parameter output B

HSSB

If your machine has a PC that is connected to the controller via HSSB or you use HSSB features of FANUC’s NCGUIDE simulation software the setup procedure is slightly different. In both cases do NOT use the dll files starting with fwlib (e.g. Fwlib32.dll) included in fanucparam.zip. For HSSB on a real machine use the fwlib dll’s that the machine’s PC uses (search for them). For NCGUIDE use the following 5 dll’s that are installed by NCGUIDE: fwlib0DN.dll, Fwlib32.dll, fwlibNCG.dll, hssb.dll and mcnhssb.dll.

PARAMETER DOCUMENTATION

Detailed documentation of available parameters on Fanuc 30i, 31i, 32i Model A including parameter numbers, description and output data types.

UPGRADE PROGRAM

If you already have a previous version of the program installed and would like to upgrade to the most recent version in the same folder proceed as follows:

1. Stop the program if it’s running
2. Delete all DLLs that start with Fwlib e.g. fwlib0iD.dll
3. Extract all content of fanucparam.zip into the folder where you have the previous version installed, overwrite existing files.
4. Run the new version.