17.3 ASCII COMMANDS
There are many ASCII commands that can be used to control or read data from the Force
Tester and the next section outlines the commonly used ones.
A complete list of ASCII commands is shown in section 17.5.
All commands require a single alphabetical character. However, some commands require
additional numerical information and this is indicated by ??? in the text below.
Note that these values are entered without units but the units used are those specified as
the "Default" units set in the Force Tester configuration screen.
For example, if the "Default" LOAD unit is pounds force (lbf) then setting the Upper LOAD
limit to H100.0 (see later) specifies a LOAD limit of 100lbf.
Every command must be terminated with a <CR> character (ENTER key).
All LOAD functions require an UPPER CASE alphabetical character.
All DISTANCE or MOTION CONTROL functions require a LOWER CASE alphabetical
character.
NOTE: PRIOR TO DRIVING THE CS MACHINE USING ASCII COMMANDS 5
PARAMETERS MUST BE SET UP. THEY ARE SPEED, UPPER DISTANCE LIMIT,
LOWER DISTANCE LIMIT, UPPER FORCE LIMIT AND LOWER FORCE LIMIT.
17.4 ASCII COMMANDS
TO
DRIVE THE FORCE
TESTER
The Force Tester can be configured to move the crosshead until a Load or Distance
measurement is reached.
The commands to achieve this are listed below: -
Send Z to zero the LOAD value.
Send z to zero the DISTANCE value
Send H??? to set the Upper LOAD limit (stop at this limit) for driving Upwards.
Send G-??? to set the Lower LOAD limit for driving Downwards.
Send h??? to set the Upper DISTANCE limit (stop at this limit) for driving Upwards.
Send g-??? to set the Lower DISTANCE limit for driving Downwards.
Send e??? to set the crosshead speed in in/min (inches per minute)
Send u to move the crosshead in the UP direction
Send d to move the crosshead in DOWN direction
Send s to stop the crosshead
The following shows how to set the machine to move up by 5 inches at 10 in/min.
Z (ENTER) (Zero the Load)
z (ENTER) (Zero the Distance)
H225 (ENTER) (Set load upper limit to load cell capacity – Safety Limit)
G-225 (ENTER) (Set load lower limit to load cell capacity – Safety Limit)
h5 (ENTER) (Set the distance upper limit to 5 inches – Actual Limit)
g-1 (ENTER) (Set the distance lower limit to 1 inch – Safety Limit)
e10 (ENTER) (set the crosshead speed to 10in/min)
u (ENTER) (start the crosshead – this will stop at 5 inches)
Note that the s command to stop the crosshead is not required because the
crosshead will stop at 5 inches.
116 CS User Manual