Mitutoyo-RS232c-Multiplexer

Question

Hello All, Being a LabVIEW and DAQ newbie, I am seeking as much advice as
possible for my student project.
I am attempting to receive positional data from 3 Mitutoyo Digimatic linear
scales with digital readouts (DRO). The scales & DRO are common to most
manual machine tools, i.e. lathes, milling machines, etc.
The DROs translate the square-wave quadrature signals into a string of
thirteen 4-bit numbers for each position. Apparently the multiplexer (model
MUX-10 handles 3-input axes) further translates this into RS232-C data.
My application would look at roughly 12 static (X,Y,Z) positions on the 3
scales. The operator would push a button (keyboard, footswitch, or similar),
and the position of the 3 axes would be logged as o
ne position in space. The
V.I. would prompt the operator for the next general position, and may also
keep a running tally of the points collected.
Questions: 1) I believe LabVIEW supports RS232 input, where do I access the
relevant sub-VI or driver? (RTFM, right?). Also is the "C" appended to RS232-
of any consequence?
2) Does anyone have exprience with the MUX-10 or similar devices. Are there
cheaper off-the-shelf alternatives? (<$700)
3) Once the data is collected, where can one do the real number crunching?
I'm looking to solve distance formulas and 3 equations for 3 unknowns, etc. I
understand that the data can be sent to spreadsheets, but can it be exported
to Matlab or Mathcad or...?
Again, any advice is appreciated, I'm a babe in the woods here!
Auf Deutsch oder English, wenn du willst....
Thanks,
Will Slade
Student, Univ. of Minnesota, Mech. Eng.
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.

Answer 1

For the people who have LV 5.0 here it is again. I hope.
Tim
Timothy John Streeter wrote:
> Hi Will
>
> I have just reciently written a LV5.1 program that waits for data from a Mitutoyo digital readout and displays it in consecutive
> cells in an Excel 97 spreadsheet.
>
> I have not used the MUX-10 but the adapter we used was the new IT-007R for connecting single devices to the PC's serial port. We
> are eventually going to collect data of 2-axis's with 2 x IT-007R and two spare serial ports on the PC (The cost of 2 extra serial
> ports is very cheap).
>
> To access the serial port I used the VISA drivers.
>
> With my program I interactively collect data and pass it to Excel. In your case, if you want to import to Matlab, I would save it
> as a text tab delimited format using the array to spreadsheet function which can be imported. Another option, if you like using
> Matlab scripts for number processing and have LV5.x, is the use the Matlab script node, which lets you execute Matlab code while
> staying in LV. LV itself is has potent math capablities as an option.
>
> I am attaching the code for my program, noting that it is LV5.1 for win95 and talks only to IT-007R's and uses COM2, but it
> provides an example of communications using VISA's serial capabilities.
>
> Hope this helps.
>
> Tim
>
> [email protected] wrote:
>
> > Hello All, Being a LabVIEW and DAQ newbie, I am seeking as much advice as
> > possible for my student project.
> >
> > I am attempting to receive positional data from 3 Mitutoyo Digimatic linear
> > scales with digital readouts (DRO). The scales & DRO are common to most
> > manual machine tools, i.e. lathes, milling machines, etc.
> >
> > The DROs translate the square-wave quadrature signals into a string of
> > thirteen 4-bit numbers for each position. Apparently the multiplexer (model
> > MUX-10 handles 3-input axes) further translates this into RS232-C data.
> >
> > My application would look at roughly 12 static (X,Y,Z) positions on the 3
> > scales. The operator would push a button (keyboard, footswitch, or similar),
> > and the position of the 3 axes would be logged as one position in space. The
> > V.I. would prompt the operator for the next general position, and may also
> > keep a running tally of the points collected.
> >
> > Questions: 1) I believe LabVIEW supports RS232 input, where do I access the
> > relevant sub-VI or driver? (RTFM, right?). Also is the "C" appended to RS232-
> > of any consequence?
> >
> > 2) Does anyone have exprience with the MUX-10 or similar devices. Are there
> > cheaper off-the-shelf alternatives? (<$700)
> >
> > 3) Once the data is collected, where can one do the real number crunching?
> > I'm looking to solve distance formulas and 3 equations for 3 unknowns, etc. I
> > understand that the data can be sent to spreadsheets, but can it be exported
> > to Matlab or Mathcad or...?
> >
> > Again, any advice is appreciated, I'm a babe in the woods here!
> > Auf Deutsch oder English, wenn du willst....
> > Thanks,
> > Will Slade
> > Student, Univ. of Minnesota, Mech. Eng.
> >
> > Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
> > Before you buy.
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Name: Write to SS.llb
> Write to SS.llb Type: LabVIEW VI Library (application/x-unknown-content-type-LabVIEWLibrary)
> Encoding: base64
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