How to Set Up MTConnect on a Hurco WinMax Control and Connect It to Spall

A Hurco WinMax mill or lathe speaks MTConnect, run state, program, part count, the same open standard the rest of this series covers. The part worth knowing before you start: it isn’t there by default the way it is on a Haas or a Mazak. Hurco ships MTConnect as an installable adapter package, matched to your exact WinMax version and base drive, and on older WinMax versions it also needs an option activated first. None of that is hard, but skipping it and expecting the machine to just answer on a port is the fastest way to waste an afternoon.

Before you start You’ll need to know your WinMax software version (shown in the upper right of the control screen) and your base drive version (in the Hurco icon menu on the console keypad). Those two numbers decide which adapter package you need. You’ll also need an Ethernet drop, a fixed IP from your network person, and the Spall gateway on the same network. The gateway reads only. It never writes to the control.

1. Check whether your WinMax version needs an option activated first

On WinMax versions before 10.4.0 on a mill or 11.3.4 on a lathe, MTConnect requires the Ultimonitor option (or the MTConnect Support option through OptiClient) to be activated before the adapter will do anything. If your control is on an older version, activate that option first, through OptiClient or with your Hurco dealer, before moving on. Newer versions don’t need this extra activation, the adapter alone is enough.

2. Get the right adapter package

The MTConnect adapter isn’t something you download and run yourself in the normal case, it’s provided by a Hurco service technician, matched to your WinMax and base drive versions. If you have access to the WinMax releases site you can pull it directly. Most shops get it from their Hurco service contact.

The package depends on both numbers from before you start:

Getting this wrong is the most common reason the installer fails partway through or the agent never starts, so confirm both numbers before you request the package, not after the install stalls.

3. Install the adapter

On the control, enter the service password (46268) to open drive access from the Service menu, then run the adapter installer and accept the license agreement. This is a one-time install per machine, not something you repeat.

4. Confirm the agent is answering

The MTConnect agent runs on port 5000. From the control itself, or any PC on the same network once networking is configured, check:

http://127.0.0.1:5000/current   # from the control itself
http://192.168.1.60:5000/current   # from another PC, once the IP is set

If you get XML back with run state and part count, the adapter installed correctly and is running. If nothing answers, the most common cause isn’t networking, it’s step 1 or step 2, an activation that didn’t take or a package mismatched to the base drive version.

5. Put the machine on the network and open the port

Give the control a static IP, or a DHCP reservation, in the same range as the Spall gateway. If a PC elsewhere on the network can’t reach the XML from step 4, ask IT to allow TCP port 5000 between the Hurco and the Spall gateway.

6. Point Spall at the machine

In Spall, add the machine, choose MTConnect as the source, and enter the address and port:

192.168.1.60:5000

Assign the Spall gateway on that network and save. Run state and part count start populating within seconds. Run a cycle and watch the state change and the count move.

What Spall does with this data

Availability. Every hour splits into running, idle, and down straight from the standard MTConnect execution state, no clipboards, no operator guesswork.

Downtime and reasons. Each stop is caught the instant it happens. Operators tag the reason, and Spall ranks them into a Pareto so you fix the biggest loss first.

Production. Spall reads part count directly over MTConnect for target-vs-actual by shift and job, once the adapter is reporting it.

Quality and OEE. Availability, performance, and quality roll into one OEE view, each loss ranked in dollars so the number points at an action instead of a score.

One thing worth repeating Spall reads. It never writes. The gateway pulls MTConnect data on your network and sends it outbound over encrypted MQTT. There’s no inbound port opened on your firewall for machine data, no VPN, and no changes to your part programs or the control. Worst case if it can’t reach the machine is a gap in the chart. The spindle keeps running.

Quick recap

• Check your WinMax version, versions before 10.4.0 (mill) or 11.3.4 (lathe) need the Ultimonitor or MTConnect Support option activated first
• Confirm your WinMax and base drive versions, they decide which adapter package (Legacy, 32-bit, or 64-bit) you need
• A Hurco service tech provides and installs the matching adapter, service password 46268 unlocks the Service menu
• Verify :5000/current locally before worrying about the network
• Set a static IP, open TCP 5000, add the machine in Spall

The version-matching is the one real speed bump on a Hurco. Once the adapter is installed and answering, it behaves like any other MTConnect machine in Spall. If you’re not sure which package your machine needs, send us the two version numbers and we’ll help you get the right one from Hurco.