[vcf-midatlantic] Paper Tape readers from CNC machines

[Bill Degnan]

question for you - what power does yours use, did yours come with a power
supply?

On Mon, May 18, 2020 at 1:32 PM Bill Degnan <billdegnan at gmail.com> wrote:

> Jeff,
> I have one coming to me in the mail today...FANUC A860 with a
> A20B-0004-0270 controller,  so I am right there with you.  I have found
> that what you need to dump tapes from one of these is a "behind the tape
> reader" (BTR) that attaches to the punch / OUT port of the reader.  You can
> buy a used BTR compatible with the reader or create your own with an
> arduino.   In my case the DOSTEK-440A appears to be the ticket, but there
> are others out there.  New ones are pricey so I can see why people make
> them with Arduino's.
>
> Reader --> punch port-->  BTR --> PC RS232 port.
>
> There are a few vendors out there but they're not too helpful to the
> vintage computing enthusiast IMHO....so I learned everything I needed to
> through a few hours of Google.
>
> DOSTEK is a program that runs on the PC that can manipulate tape images,
> but I am sure TeraTerm and a HEX editor would also work.
>
> Bill
>
> On Mon, May 18, 2020 at 12:45 PM Jeff G via vcf-midatlantic <
> vcf-midatlantic at lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
>
>> Hey all, some of you may have grabbed one (or more) of the paper tape
>> readers readily available on ebay that likely have come from CNC machines.
>> I was just wondering if anyone has actually made these work?
>>
>> It seems many of these have a standard pinout/spec depending on what CNC
>> controller they were connected to.I had one I bought some time ago, a
>> Sanyo-Denki 2401 model, and it seems this was often used on a Yasnac 2000G
>> controller, and has a 40pin ribbon cable connection, whereas others use a
>> 50pin ribbon cable (on Fanuc controllers).
>>
>> Just wondering if anyone has ever gotten one of these running, or perhaps
>> knows anything about them? I spent a couple hours with mine yesterday and
>> determined most of the pinout, but I don't know what voltages the power
>> input should be.
>>
>> I have a bunch of notes and the data side is relatively simple, its the
>> control side I'm struggling to sort out.
>>
>> Jeff aka Bags
>>
>