Re: Mitutoyo MUX2, Digimatic Micrometer heads and Labview7
That's excellent work. Well this tests most of the cable connections, you PC and the COM port and the associated hardware and leaves only the trasmitted command. This simple test that you have performed is one of the most basic but important. Because it gives you a baseline to work from. From now on you 'know what to expect'. Look in the instructions and find the string that is used to request a reading it is probably somthing like S1 for channel 1 or similar (I can't find my sheet at the moment, I have moved since I last used it). Type this string in to the terminal program. If it mentions CR then that means Carrige Return and you do that by pressing the ENTER key. If you could post the instruction sheet it will save me looking for my copy, which I may never find. After this it will be a simple matter to get the data into Labview. You should now look into the examples with Labview and search for the parameter 'SERIAL'. This will lead you to an example 'Serial communication.VI' which is an example of how to send a command to a serial prot and aquire the results. It also has a timeout which means you don't end up waiting for ever if the remote device fails to respond (because it's disconnected or the battery is flat in the Digimatic device). The default data rates match those of the MUX so there is almost no work to do!! If your feeling brave type the command into the available control and set the VI running. It should return your data.
Re: Mitutoyo MUX2, Digimatic Micrometer heads and Labview7
Ok first go through the first list I posted here and work out what you are missing. Post a list of what you are missing. i.e do you have the manuals for the MUX2? There is no reason that I am aware of that the student edition won't do. At the moment I have not fully transferred to 7.X so 6.1 would be good also. Anyway the reson that there is no driver is mainly becuase people in production processes (where these things are used in volume) need validated statistical tools. No one has written a complete fully approved automotive statistics tool in Labview (I believe), hence no driver. As the approval process is expensive, long and tortous you start to understand why. To get you going if you have all the cables you should start with the Trerminal Emulator. (I assume Windows here). Set 9600bd 7 data bits, 1Stb, No Parity - no handshake. Press the instrument 'Data' button and the instrument should send a measurement to the Terminal program. You may need to 'tinker' (my first choice was refused by the msg bd) with the data rates and handshake to get the data onto the terminal program as the handshake could be affected by the wiring on the cable between the MUX and the host and the data rate could possibly have been changed on the MUX. You quickly find out that the number of combintations is awesome - Hence the requirement for the manual. So go through the list I wrote and tell me what you have or not as the case may be.
Re: Mitutoyo MUX2, Digimatic Micrometer heads and Labview7
In answer to your question You have the kit for the job.. You don't need GaugeLink, this comment was mis-leading. Now you need to follow the steps outlined. If you want to progress I will lead you through the steps to where ever you want to go.
Re: Mitutoyo MUX2, Digimatic Micrometer heads and Labview7
I think you posted this twice
Re: Mitutoyo MUX2, Digimatic Micrometer heads and Labview7
You need to split this down into various sections. 1) Electrical connections 2) Communications Protocol 3) Software 1.1 Obtain cables for the Mic's to the MUX 1.2 Obtain cables from the MUX to the PC 1.3 Plug them all in 1.4 Test the system 2.1 Obtain data for the comms protocol 2.2 Understand the comms protocol 3.1 Implement some serial code to 'talk' to the unit 3.2 Display the data in the desired format Well that's a very basic start. So I guess you have more questions.. but you need to provide some more information before progressing. i.e What you know and what you don't.
Re: Mitutoyo MUX2, Digimatic Micrometer heads and Labview7
Does Mitutoyo have a sample communication program that you can run on your computer to test cabling, etc?? It may not give you the specific data that you want, but knowing that you can talk to it will eliminate many questions. The instrument assistant express vi's might be a good place to start, but I am not sure they exist in the student edition. I have used the Visa functions to read data and control a YOKOGAWA DL708 oscilloscope. I downloaded the driver and added a few commands for my application. You will need a detailed manual that lists commands that you can execute and the expected results.
Re: Mitutoyo MUX2, Digimatic Micrometer heads and Labview7
Here is a link to a third party Mitutoyo serial port program on the NI site. http://sine.ni.com/apps/we/niepd_web_display.display_epd4?p_guid=D52A66C728FC4950E034080020E74861p_node=DZ52363p_source=external
Re: Mitutoyo MUX2, Digimatic Micrometer heads and Labview7
Here is another website with a labview program to download for the digimatic http://gaugelink.com/index.htm
Re: Mitutoyo MUX2, Digimatic Micrometer heads and Labview7
To the very best of my knowledge (fairly extensive in this particular area, though not necessarily 100%). No they do not, they have a line of SPC software which they sell to handle data from the Digimatic instruments.
Re: Mitutoyo MUX2, Digimatic Micrometer heads and Labview7
The main problem with gauge link is that you need to purchase the gauge link device. When you use or have the MUX series of devices the digimatic interface products connect through MUX to the serial port through the MUX. P.S. MUX stands for Multiplexor. There are a number of types of these devices, including off the top of my head the MUX10, MUX2 and MUX50 In summary Gaugelink would not be suitable as the interface device exists in the form of the MUX.
Re: Mitutoyo MUX2, Digimatic Micrometer heads and Labview7
Again this is for gaugelink and is not a suitable answer to the question posed. Gaugelink is a third party product (Not by Mitutoyo), the MUX2 is I believe a Mitutoyo product. I strongly suspect that gaugelink does not use the same command protocol as the MUX devices. I have had a quick look at the sample VI and have not had chance to compare that with any other data yet. Should I discover they are the same command set I will add to this comment.
