Flex/2 System

One of the issues every DNC customer must deal with is the length limitation of RS232 cable. The Flex/2 Bundle allows you to distribute your I/O Hubs around your shop floor and across departments and buildings to minimize RS232 cable distances and maximizes performance. Full, simultaneous support for 128 CNC's from one PC.

Includes the following features:

• Eliminates multiple long distance RS-232 cable runs.
• Flex/2 Hubs can be located up to 1000 feet from the PC using RS-422 Grizzly Cables.
• Fiber Optic converters can be used for distances up to 1.2 Miles from the PC.
• RJ45 or DB25 style hubs with surge suppression.
• Supports up to 128 CNC's per PC.
• Requires Windows NT/2000.

Single Source for Hardware

Fed up with multiple hardware and software vendors?

Predator Flex/2 Bundles include all required DNC hardware from a single vendor. Just add a PC and RS-232 cables for a complete shop floor network.

Open Architecture Design

Tired of proprietary hardware?

Predator Flex/2 bundles support Windows NT/2000 and can be used with any software application. Optional device drivers are available for DOS, SCO Unix, Solaris, Unix SVR4, and Novell.

Plug and Play™

Frustrated with IRQ's and memory conflicts?

Predator Flex/2 Bundles support plug and play installation under Windows NT/2000. Conflict free IRQ's and memory addresses are automatically assigned without setting dip switches or jumpers. Supports extended IRQ's and can even be configured without an IRQ.

Expand to 128 CNC's or RS-232 Devices

Want to eliminate switch boxes?

Predator Flex/2 bundles add up to 128 industry standard RS-232 ports to any PC. Each RS-232 port connects to one CNC or RS-232 device for communications. Every RS-232 port can have different baud rates and parameter settings. Communicate simultaneously to all of your CNC's, CMM's, Tool Pre-setters, Gages and more with Predator DNC.

Surge Protection

Have a noisy environment or frequent lightning storms?

Every RS-232 port on a Predator Flex/2 hub is individually surge protected. Save thousands of repair dollars from electrical spikes and surges. Improved reliability during RS-232 communications by filtering electrical noise, surges or spikes from EDM's, welders, air compressors, machine tool motors and numerous other sources of electrical, RF and EMF noise.

Up to 115,000 Baud

Is your bottle neck RS-232 performance?

Predator Flex/2 Bundles support up to 115,000 baud for even the most demanding high speed machining throughput. Standard PC serial ports support up to 19,200 baud.

Multiple Intel based RS-232 Co-Processor

Concerned about overloading your PC?

Predator Flex/2 Bundles add a 32-bit RISC based RS-232 co-processor for superior performance. The RISC co-processor handles 99% of all RS-232 communications freeing the CPU for other tasks.

Multiple 128k RS-232 Buffers

Suffering with dwells marks, data starvation or slow feed rates?

Predator Flex/2 bundles include a high speed 128k RS-232 buffer on the communications card and in every I/O Hub. Standard PC serial ports support a buffer size of only 16 characters or approximately a single CNC program block.

8 or 16 CNCs or RS-232 devices per Hub

Need to add more CNC's, gages, CMM's, or other RS-232 devices?

Expanding your Predator Flex/2 bundle is easy, just plug in another 8 or 16 port Flex/2 hub. Daisy chain up to eight Flex/2 hubs for a total of 128 CNC's or RS-232 devices per PC. Plus, these hubs may be extended out to 1000' via RS-422 or 1.25 Miles via Fiber connections. Every Flex/2 hub uses industry standard male DB25 or RJ45 style RS-232 connectors to simplify wiring to your CNC's. We highly recommend Predator Grizzly Cable for your shop floor network cabling needs.

Note: Fiber Optic or RS-422 cables are not included with the system. For RS-422 cables for the Flex/2 System ask us about Predator's specially developed Grizzly Cable System.

Small Footprint

Have space limitations?

16 port Flex hubs are 12"'x7"x4.3" and 8 port Flex hubs are just 12"x7"x2.3".

5 Year Warranty