DB-15 to VGA

[AdamBman88]

Hi all, really hoping someone can help me.

We have a CNC lathe machine that the monitor has died on. They are fairly hard to get hold of and have been quoted over £1000 for a replacement.

On taking the old one out, the machine has a db-15 connector to the (now broken) monitor. Our local electrician checked all the connections and confirmed that there is power going through the db-15 connector.

We bought the above db-15 to vga adaptor and hooked it up to one of our computer monitors to see if it would get a signal which it didn't.

I was wondering if the above adaptor would be any better or any more likely to get a signal to the computer monitor. Basically the boss would rather get a whole new machine than spend £1000 on a monitor, I'm just trying to see if we can save it and somehow get a signal from the machine to a standard vga monitor

Any help you could give me would be much appreciated

 

[velocityg4]

That’s the sort I use for my vintage Macs to use a VGA monitor.

It really depends on the output of the CNC machine. I have no idea what computer it is running. Like I have an old Radius portrait card. It only outputs one refresh rate and resolution. Which is completely incompatible with my multisync monitor. So, if it is specialized it will only work with that special monitor.

This is mostly an issue for late 80’s equipment. Before multisync became standard.

it might be worth having someone who refurbishes vintage electronics repair the old monitor. Most issues aren’t that severe. Just some base components and soldering.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

Was the CNC machine being run by a Mac? Because Apple's use of that port as a video output port was custom to them. Heck, Apple used the same physical shape port *with different pinout* for the Apple IIc and yet another different one for the Apple IIgs. Same physical plug, completely different signals going over them.

And the Apple II line plugs can't be adapted to VGA via a simple adapter, you'd need a signal converter.

Without knowing what pinout the CNC machine used, there's no way to know. It might have been a TTL monitor like CGA or EGA, or it might have been an RGB analog monitor like VGA. And even if it was analog like VGA, it might have used a different pinout than the Mac, thus would need a different adaptor.

 

[Basic75]

How old is the machine? Was the monitor a CRT? What kind (monochrome, amber, colour)? Did it flicker? Do you have an oscilloscope available?

 

[AdamBman88]

The original screen was a Fagor 800t amber monochrome monitor like the one shown below:

Not able to give too much info on the age of the lathe at this moment but I would say no younger than 25 years. My experience with Macs (and its connectors) etc is limited, and at this age even less so.

The machine is an Ajax Premier if thats of any help

 

[Anonymous Freak]

That is almost certainly *NOT* outputting a VGA-compatible signal. In all likelihood, it's a TTL signal like old PC "CGA" or "MDA".