Program to interact with Instron Machine

[Will Huntley]

Hi, back ten years ago, we had a program written with LabVIEW that controlled an Instron 4206 Stress machine by keeping it at a constant load because it was not an available setting on the machine. The program would correspond with the Instron machine and would maintain the constant load. We are trying to bring back the program and use it now. We know the program was written with version 5.1.1 and I posted it on the Conversion Forum to get it converted, but any ideas on how to link it back up with the Instron Machine? Is there some hardware we need to buy? We don't have the computer or the person who ran the last program so this is why I am asking.

Thanks

[DianeS]

Hi Will,

The last Instron I worked with (I programmed one for one of my clients) was a pretty old clunker that came with actual 5-1/4" floppy disks.  So I don't know if it was a 4206 or not.  At any rate, I used its GPIB interface to control it via LabVIEW.

Assuming your Instron has a GPIB interface for external communication, which it probably does, you'll need a GPIB board for the computer which has your LabVIEW program on it.  Assuming you are using a relatively modern computer which has USB ports, I'd recommend this one: http://sine.ni.com/nips/cds/view/p/lang/en/nid/201586 

You might also need a GPIB cable for connecting the Instron to the USB-to-GPIB adapter.

Hope that's helpful,

Diane

[Will Huntley]

Okay Thanks! We will try this out

[Will Huntley]

So I looked and we have the Instron Machine and the computer hooked up via an IEEE 488 cable. Will that work? And do you know if we will need a driver for the Instron Machine? I looked up the NI website for a driver but couldn't find one for the 4206 machine.

[Dennis_Knutson]

What kind of driver are you looking for? The windows driver for the GPIB controller is installed on the pc and if any instrument driver was used, it would be part of the code you are trying to convert.

[Will Huntley]

Okay, I will try to run the program with the Instron and see if we run into any problems

[0816287271]

i cannot connection between computer and instron. any help me?

[johnsold]

You need to be more specific if you want help.

Please describe what model of Instron you are using. What is the communication interface? What computer and program are you using? What indications do you have that they are not connecting? Errors? Did it ever work? What has changed since it last worked?

Lynn