The history of CNC machine 1960

[RetiredRoger]

Is this guy any of you??   




I did run paper tapes in college on a cnc knee mill.  We would fill out a sheet with our code, and then type it into a paper punch machine.  Every time you would over travel & hit the limit switch on the mill, you would have to run the paper tape again...

[JParis]

Well, I ran a similar Cincinnati machine in high school...wrote out the program sheets, typed it out on a Flexowriter, punched the tape out, set it up and ran it...

I ran that particular, though a later revision of it, in the late 80's & early 90's....the later GE 550 and GE 1050 controls....

Watching him change parts while the machine was running leads me to believe that he was the guy responsible for all of the machine guards we see in place today 

[Incogneeto]

Is this guy any of you??   




I did run paper tapes in college on a cnc knee mill.  We would fill out a sheet with our code, and then type it into a paper punch machine.  Every time you would over travel & hit the limit switch on the mill, you would have to run the paper tape again...

Bwahahahah I still to this Day.....Clear The Buffer!!!!

Only true old School would know why.

[JakeL]

I've been told stories about having to punch holes in tape to program a CNC machine. Seems the industry has come a long way since then.

Really makes me wonder where we'll be in another 50-60 years. What're we going to have that makes Mastercam seem like ancient technology.

[mowens]

It used to be called just NC. No computer was involved at the machine. Before punched tape, machines used punch cards. We always called the command to select a post processor the "machine card". Our job titles here still just say NC Programmer.

[gcode]

I've been told stories about having to punch holes in tape to program a CNC machine. Seems the industry has come a long way since then.

There was a time, years ago when I could actually read those tapes.
Editing them was a real PIA and very easy to screw up.
The first time I ran a machine that had editable memory and programs I was amazed.

[CADCAM396]

and if you had a one line led display that was high tech.
driving blind directed by holes in a tape. that thought makes me cringe now but been there done it.

[CNCAppsJames]

I keep a mylar tape in my toolbox just for some perspective when I need it. ... and so I can beat sniveling millenials over the head with it.

[JakeL]

and if you had a one line led display that was high tech.
driving blind directed by holes in a tape. that thought makes me cringe now but been there done it.

I never ever thought about that. So running the machine was literally putting full trust in the programmer?

No looking at canned cycles, no double checking feeds / speeds, no distance to go. Man that must've been a whole different world.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punched_tape

[JParis]

Man that must've been a whole different world.

Not so much....you didn't get a bunch of posers and pretenders...you either knew what you were doing or you didn't do it....it was generally that cut & dry

[MIL-TFP-41]

I actually programmed and ran a couple of different punch tape machines in college. Every now & then you would get a hole that wasn't punched cleanly (remember the "chads" from the 2000 election?) and it would make the machine do some crazy (sometimes violent) things. Single line LED was your readout - offsets were done via thumb wheel but I don't think we ever got those to work. We would prove out programs by mounting a pen in the tool post that would draw the path on a piece of paper.

I wonder what kind of tax write off the company that donated those machines to the school got. I believe they were scrapped not long after I graduated.

[gcode]

Every now & then you would get a hole that wasn't punched cleanly

and the tapes could get damaged as well
production tapes would be taped together in a loop and there was a tray for the tape to sit in
I remember a guy who let the tape lay around on the floor
It got chips and coolant on it and came apart in the reader head
It was one of the worst crashes I've ever seen ... ripped the vice right off the table.

and

the early machines had the Z axis controlled by mechanical limit switches, not the tape.
getting the taped and the limit switches all synced together could be challenging

[JParis]

the early machines had the Z axis controlled by mechanical limit switches,

Those "cams"  ugh....when they were properly tightened, they worked.... What a sinking feeling watching a tool come down the "cam barrel" rotating to to the set depth and watch it blow right through can stop because it wasn't tight enough....

[mowens]

I know some of the guys' first programming language was pencil cam; I don't go back that far but I do predate wide spread use of cad/cam systems like MC or Catia. This was my first programming language.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/APT_(programming_language)

[Surface]

Did anyone else use data cassettes to store their programs?

These were like audio cassettes, but designed for transferring computer data. When played, the data-transfer sounded like a fax machine or modem.