Epson 6110 / 6120 Paper Tape Punch : Interface Spec / Maintenance Documentation / Guidance

[Martin Bishop]

I have a salvaged Epson 6110 tape punch on the bench, also it's interface card from a Data Dynamics Zip 30. The 6110 is the shiny paper tape punch which was very common, at front left, on TTY etc in the 70's and into the 80's

I'm working on reverse engineering the Epson 6110's connector / interface, it's a "Centronics" 24 pin. Does anyone have or know of a spec for the Epson interface, or manuals for a system using it.

The basics are plain enough 24V power, ground connections, 8b+sprocket, all low side drivers (54SN463's), one output (to a 7414) I presume Ready_n, and another three inputs I guess Clock_n, Advance_n and Reverse_n (?); so "5V TTL active low" signalling. The connector depicted in the rear view mates with an Amphenol 57-30240; colloquially "Centronics 24 pin".

While RevEng should get me there confirmation of the pin out, signal functions and especially interface timing would be most helpful and one less unknown to serve up jokes.
- ideally the interface specification
- hopefully the maintenance manual
- if you have it the documentation, down to the timing / schematic level, for hardware which uses these punches (late 70's TTY, Fanuc CNC equipment, etc)

The objective is to interface the punch to a contemporary machine and use it to punch tapes.

Martin

 

[klaly]

I'm currently trying to examine the puncher's pinout.
My puncher is built into a FANUC punched tape duplicator.



I took it to a vintage computer meetup last weekend.

Best regards,
Klaus Loy, Germany

 

[Martin Bishop]

Hi Klay

A Fanuc PPR - good to know that I'm not alone in wrangling PaperTape Hardware

Which pin out are you investigating, the "centronics" on the rear of the 6120 or the D-25 on the trar of the case ?

Best Regards

Martin

 

[klaly]

My FANUC only has a 25-pin RS232 interface.
I'm trying to understand RS232 handshaking.
Over the weekend, the FANUC was connected to an ALTAIR 8800 mini.
A functioning handshaking function would have been useful.

That's why I'm trying to understand the 8031 firmware.
Since that's nearly impossible without a hardware schematic,
I'm trying to examine the controller board.
I also wanted to use this opportunity to understand the pinout of the puncher unit.
I probably won't be able to do that in a short time.

> the "centronics" on the rear of the 6120 or the D-25 on the trar of the case ?

Now I understand you...Yes, I'm determining the pinout of the 24-pin CANNON connector "centronics."
This is connected by wires to a 34-pin pin header connector.

Why do you want to capture the pinout of the 6120 ?
Best regards,
Klaus Loy

 

[Martin Bishop]

Klaus

It's too late to provide a substantive answer tonight : weissbeer

But, I have driven a PPR through the D-25 connector, 8/N/1 4800 to recollection BUT IIRC you have to honour CTS at the computer end.
The punch has an output rate of 50 octets /sec, much slower than a 4800 baud line.
The baud rate etc is switch selectable on the PPR

I want to capture the pinout of the 6110/6120 because I have a salvage unit I wish to set to work, and its controller is effectively a dozen drivers, everything else is in 6800 code behind a PIO (I presume). And, like your 8031 RevEng that would be hard pounding. Also, the knowledge can be reapplied to other systems use and maintenance.

What condition is your unit in, can it punch and read tapes ?

Best Regards

Martin Bishop

PS I have a continuity (buzz - buzz) based pin out for the 6110, bench testing to verify is tbd

 

[Martin Bishop]

Klaus

I have written up my interfacing notes and published them in a seperate thread

Fanuc PPR : Printer, Paper Tape Punch and Reader - RS232 Interface​

HtH; Martin

 

[pbirkel]

My puncher is built into a FANUC punched tape duplicator.

View attachment 1305744

Great color scheme!

 

[carlopedersoli]

Hello,

my Name is Matthias, i have found this Thread while i'am seraching for information about the Epson 6110 tape puncher, i own a device with these puncher and want to use it for my old computers directly without the electronic board.

i do i little bit reverse engeneering, i found the 24V the Ground connection and the 8 Bits , but i'am not sure with the controllines. @Martin Bishop do you have a full pinout for the 24-pin centronics plug ?

this is what i have:

Centronics

1 24V
2 24V
3 24V
4 24V
5 Bit0
6 Bit1
7 Bit2
8 Control?
9 Bit3
10 Bit4
11 Bit5
12 bit6

13 bit7
14 Control?
15
16 Control?
17 Control?
18
19
20 Control?
21
22
23 GND
24 GND

best Matthias

 

[carlopedersoli]

i trace the pin8 from the centronics back an its the Puncher-Ready Signal - i think

 

[Martin Bishop]

Hello,

my Name is Matthias, i have found this Thread while i'am seraching for information about the Epson 6110 tape puncher, i own a device with these puncher and want to use it for my old computers directly without the electronic board.

i do i little bit reverse engeneering, i found the 24V the Ground connection and the 8 Bits , but i'am not sure with the controllines. @Martin Bishop do you have a full pinout for the 24-pin centronics plug ?

best Matthias

Hi Matthias

Just seen you post, too late to respond tonight, but I have some RevEng notes on that the 24 pin centronics probably does. However, I have not done any bench testing to validate them. Too late tonight for a substantive reply, I shall try to get back to you over the weekend. FWIW your pin out crib is on the correct lines.

Best Regards

Martin

 

[Martin Bishop]

i trace the pin8 from the centronics back an its the Puncher-Ready Signal - i think

Hi Matthias

My reckoning is that pin 8 is the lo side drive for the Sprocket holes, and pin 20 is the shaft position indication.

The attached png / pdf [260117Aa...] summarises my current appreciation of connectivity; However, it has not been validated.

[1652] view from above, with cover plate removed
[1685] view from below
[1699] view from front, NB solenoid connections

My current thoughts on bringing these units up to validate the pin out and to learn how to operate the unit are:
- power on at 24V, with all grounds connected, ideally using a voltage / current limited bench supply in a prident manner
- measure voltages on all the other pins, my expectation is that all the solenoid lo side drives will sit at 24V and the sync output will be at a TTL level
- manually rotate the opto disk and "learn" the relationship between shaft position, specifically the relationship between punching (ie bail) motion and sync_n
- Note the shaft has a rest position with the bail retracted, ie inactive
- NB if I understand correctly, the electromagnets should be stable (on or off) while the bail punches via the interposers (which are positioned by the solenoids)
- identify which Lo side drive makes the motor run, or inhibits it; my expectation is that pin 16 Lo runs it
- with the mortor off, verify that the LoSide drivers activate the intended solenoid / interposer
- air run the logic to drive sprocket punch and fwd motion, synchronised to shaft rotation
- etc etc

The Punching Mechanism pdf is an overview of interposer mechanisms
The GNT36 is an OEM manual for different, punch mechanism
Both of these are "quick picks", an evening's searching would doubtless find better
Nonetheless they merit study to understand both the mechanisms, their temporal usage and how to sequence the low side drivers

HtH; unfortunately I have no time currently to put a unit on the bench

If anyone knows more than I or has documentation - please jump in

Martin

 

[Martin Bishop]

Fairly certain this unit is pre Epson 6110/6120, but the similarities are plain

Perhaps a better or complimentary study; cf my earlier picks

Martin

 

[carlopedersoli]

Martin,

many many thank for all the stuff ! where do you find all the manuals from the puncher ? sensational!!
i think with all these information i can build a interface for my pdp1 simulator ...

best Matthias

 

[Martin Bishop]

Matthias

The pinout working fiction was obtained by inspection and buzzing of a 6110 and its interface board from a DataDynamics Zip 30.

The pdfs are all from internet searching and sifting.

Best Wishes

Martin

 

[carlopedersoli]

with the Help from @Martin Bishop i was able to create a schematics and a Sketch for my ESP32 to punch my bytes sucessfully with my espon 6110 puncher. i take a lot of paperstrips to debug and tune my sketch, yet i can reproduce a perfect punch







more details to come, i make a full documentation in my git the next days.
thanks a lot @Martin Bishop

best Matthias

 

[Martin Bishop]

Hi Matthias

Thank you for your kind words - well done getting the Epson punching "stand alone", I look forward to perusing your documentation.

You may find the attached files useful for generating human readable headers - the font tables at least

Martin

 

[carlopedersoli]

today a build my first beta-version of my esp32-interface and punched my first program to the tape.
its a simple helloworld program for my pdp1 simulator. when i have cleaned up the pcb-design and get a full working software on the esp32 controller a make a full documentation.


the puncher connected with my interface - ready for punching


my first full program on tape!

The first attempt for the cleaned pcb-design:



best matthias

 

[Martin Bishop]

today a build my first beta-version of my esp32-interface and punched my first program to the tape.
its a simple helloworld program for my pdp1 simulator. when i have cleaned up the pcb-design and get a full working software on the esp32 controller a make a full documentation.

Noted, and not surprised that the ULN2801A can serve as low side drivers. The wiring between interface and punch, and the timing of typical waveforms would be great interest.

Out of curiosity, what tape reader hardware are you using - to feed your simulator.

Best Wishes

Martin

 

[carlopedersoli]

@Martin Bishop sorry for the late response i build my reader from the same device where the puncher is from.


here is a picture from the test-circuits - the pcb to control the reader is in production. in the readerhead are some ir-diodes and some photo-transistors, the motor from the device was not working, so i use a nema17-motor from a old 3d printer to the reader.I made some successfull tests with my example-papertape, more later when the pcbs for the puncher and the reader here in my hands and working ...

best Matthias

 

[Martin Bishop]

Fine work - the reader support is nice engineering.

I note that the reader is a sprocket type, not my favorite - tape slotters. Ex CNC machine friction drive readers are available which run at 300 cps, using 100V 60Hz, 24V @1A+ and 5V at <1A see eg https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/113743976096?_skw=fanuc+tape+reader not the best price I have seen, nor the worst. I have reverse engineered the interface card, see https://www.emeritus-solutions.com/papertape/fanuc/A20B-0007-075D_FanucPtrLogic.pdf : 8 data + 1 sprocket at its simplest.

Best Regards

Martin