Copam CP-2500 cables / connection

[larsk 0]

Hi everyone,

First of all, I did not buy this cutter from UScutters, as I live in Europe and found a cheap used one. I hope it's okay I post here anyway, otherwise just tell me so, and I'll be gone

There was no cables with the plotter, but I did see cuts it had just made, so I'm pretty sure it's working.

I can't get the plotter connected, here is what I have tried:

- Serial to USB (it's an old model without USB on the motherboard)

- Serial to serial

I used two different null-modem 9-pin cables, that I know work for eg. configuring network equipment.

- FlexiSign 8.1 as DGI OD-60 and 8.5 set up as Copam CP-2500, ofcourse on the correct serial port and 9600,8n1,hardware. If the port is configured wrong (DTS, CTS etc.) it either just sends the job and nothing happens, or it hangs and does not send the job.

My question is:

- what is the correct pinout for the serial-cable (null-modem, direct through, something else?)

- what is the correct pinout for the parallel-cable (1-1, 1-25, something else?)

- is it possible to upgrade the mainboard to a new USB enabled, and what would that cost?

Thanks in advance!

Lars

[larsk 0]

Okay I'll answer one of these myself: The parallel cable should be a male to male with pin 1 connected to pin 1 (and 2 to 2 etc) cable.

I soldered such a cable myself and got the cutter running. My results are fine, but as it was used, everything with the knife was already set up.

In Flexi there is a problem though - in V8.5 you can not run the Copam CP-2500 via LPT (it's simply not possible to select a parallel port connection to this type plotter). But choosing a DGI OM-60 via LPT works fine, so I did this for the test-runs.

I really would prefer the serial connection, as I can hook the cutter up via a serial-to-network extender that way, and not need the computer nearby.

And pointers on solving the serial problem would be appreciated.