Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] CNC Without a PC for Amish

Ken Strauss wrote:

>RO=Receive Only (no keyboard)
>KSR=Keyboard Send and Receive
>ASR=Automatic Send and Receive (paper tape reader and punch)
>
>KSR/ASR-33=economy version
>KSR/ASR-35=industrial strength version
>
>

It is pretty unlikely you will find many ASR-33's in functional condition.
A friend of mine worked at the computer center and got curious about
the lifetime of these, and went through Teletype's documentation and found
the shocking truth. They were rated for one rebuild at 1000 power-on
hours. At 2000 power on hours, you pitched them in the dumpster.
1000 hours = 41.7 days. So, they had an operational life of less than
3 months. They got into this discussion because some units reached
wear-out before the warranty expired, and Teletype refused to repair
them any more.

As for non-computer NC, there is (was) the abominable MOOG hydra-point
machine, that used an all pneumatic tape-NC control. If you can provide
hydraulic power and compressed air with Diesel engines, all you'd have
to hack would be the spindle drive. It didn't take ASCII G-code, though.
And, they were a nightmare of the finest Rube Goldberg technology!

Jon