Difference between revisions of "VTube-LASER to Eaton Leonard Premier Communications Tutorial"

VTube-LASER uses the legacy Eaton Leonard Current Loop protocol to communicate with Premier controls. The protocol requires that an RS-232 signal be converted to Current Loop, then sent to the bender.

This diagram demonstrates how a Benderlink Ethernet Module completes the Current Loop connection between a FARO VTube-LASER computer to an Eaton Leonard Premier, or EL-2000 bender control.

The Benderlink Ethernet Module can be wired or WiFi wireless (optional).

All communications from the PREMIER control occurs in the VECTOR 1 screen shown here.

VTube-LASER knows how to communicate using the VECTOR 1 protocol.

When you enter this screen note that the REQUEST TRANSFER box on the right is BLACK. This means that the Premier is not ready for communications yet.

To put the Premier in communications mode, make the REQUEST TRANSFER box active (green) like is shown here. The WAITING field will be highlighted.

Before you make that button active, check on the following settings:

CHECK 1 - CORRECT MODE IS ACTIVE
The MODE in the upper left corner should read "EXTERNAL MODE". It is controlled by the yellow button on the bottom right side of the screen. This mode allows VTube-LASER to control the communications.

CHECK 2 - BENDER NUMBER MATCHES
The bender number in both this menu and the VTube-LASER Benderlink setup must agree. If they don't, then VTube and the PREMIER will at least issue warnings or dialogs.

CHECK 3 - CORRECT PART NAME IS ON THE SCREEN
If you plan on using the RECALL inside VTube-LASER, then it is important that the correct part name shows in the Part Name field.

If the part names don't match during a VTube-LASER RECALL, then communications will fail. (VTube-LASER sends a 4 byte request, then the PREMIER returns a short 20 byte answer - which is not an entire part, then VTube will time-out.)

SENDING data from VTube has slightly different rules than performing a RECALL.

PRINCIPLE 1 - VTube-LASER Data OVERWRITES When SENDING to the PREMIER
When you SEND data from VTube-LASER that has a different part name or different YBC data, then whatever is sent OVERWRITES the data in the PREMIER.

The PREMIER control just politely assumes that whatever data is incoming is the new correct data - and just allows it to overwrite the current data.

PRINCIPLE 2 - KEEP THE CURRENT SETUP FOR A NEW PART The data that is overwritten is the PART NAME, the CUT LENGTH, and the YBC data with all the FUNCTION blocks cleared. So when sending a new part, you might want to keep the current tool setup of the previous part as a starting place. Otherwise you will need to reset all the values before bending the first part.