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Numeridex LC6000 Paper Tape Punch

E

Endersending

Experienced Member
Joined
Mar 14, 2023
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226
Location
Walker, Minnesota
I have acquired a Numeridex LC6000 Paper tape punch and reader. It is in really good condition. It turns on but that is all of the testing I have done. The unit has a 'Intel computer inside' with a 8080 processor, 32K of ram and some ROMS. It has RS232 ports. GNT36 paper punch. I think the machine was originally designed for metal manufacturing machinery like stamps, cutters, CNC, etc. The unit was intended to hook to a computer or some other device that was designed to create and edit code for these machines. The machine was very dusty/dirty when it arrived so I dissasembled cleaned and reassembled the unit.
I am looking for manuals, brochures, schematics or any information about this machine. I have already talked to the sales department at this company. They explained to me that the company has changed hands over the years and is a small chance they still have information about earlier products. They said they will see what they can do and get back to me.
Maybe someone has used this machine and could explain how it was used and what it was hooked up to. It would be nice to find more history about how something like this was used.
Thanks for the help.
numeridex_serial1.pngnumeridex_top1.pngnumeridex_top2.pngnumeridex_ram1.pngnumeridex_cpu1.pngnumeridex_back1.png
 
Neat! A Multibus system, with what seems to be an Intel iSBC 80/10B powering it. It looks like it's more than just a punch/reader—it seems to be a full computer that happens to have a punch/reader. It would be interesting to see a dump of the EPROMs.
 
Here are the ROM dumps all in a zip file.
just you knowing what intel computer was in it is a huge leap forward for me. I was able to find a technical manual from bitsavers, which means I can finish connecting the baud rate wires and then try to boot it up.
Exciting!
 

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My name is Chuck. I used to work for Numeridex as a Field Engineer. I somehow came across this post.
I worked on these and installed them. It is basically a paper/mylar tape punch and tape editor for Numerical Control machines. The old factory machines ran on the tape similar to 'player piano'. They could connect to some of these machine tools through the RS-232 port or use a 20 ma current loop converter. I dumped all my manuals and other stuff back on the 90's. There was another box the same size which contained 2 - 8" floppy disk drives for data storage and retrieval. I remember connecting these to acoustic couplers, dial up services, machine tools, dot matrix printers and teletype machines.
 
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Thanks for the reply Chuck!
I have not had a chance to work on the machine but hopefully soon. The punch and reader do seem to be popular parts that I can find the manual for. The intel computer inside this unit will be the true adventure.
Right now if I could track down manuals and software for this machine or any similar products made by Numeridex would be a good start. Do you know of anyone else to contact that would have manuals, documentation or knowledge?
I am also very interested ( and I am sure others would be too) about how these machines were used. When you say 'old factory machines' could you elaborate? What does a Numeridex Field Engineer do? Did you fix these units or did you install them? I would be grateful to hear everything that you are willing to type about these environments. What country, in which part, what kind of factories and machines. The stories of things like this are the true grit of working computers.
 
Factory machine tools (lathes, drills, mills, etc. were all manually operated until the 70's and after. It became possible to encode machine movements into a punched mylar or paper tape using ASCII code, 7 bit +parity bit. There were no electronic methods to create these tapes except using a teletype or similar device. The machine operated on the player piano principle, reading the next move. The process was called Numerical Control or NC
Numeridex in the late 70's created the first electronic tape punch and editor. It was the size of a dorm refrigerator. It later was reduced to the LC-6000 size. It had no memory for editing and storage. but edited on the fly or typing line by line. They predate PC's.
We sold thousands of them to factories and small shops. We had 20 field engineers across the country who installed, trained and repaired them. Eventually tape went away as all modern machine tools have built in computer systems. This is called Computer Numerical Control or CNC. Tape went away because the machine tools were linked either by networking or a direct wire RS-232 link to the machines and the programming computers in the office.
I worked for Numeridex from 1977 to 1990 when they were sold to an automation company, Automation Intelligence. They croaked in 1994 or so.
I have only stayed in touch with one guy I used to work with. Don't know of any manuals. I had manuals and spare parts that all got tossed when I separated from my marriage in 2010.
I could put an inquiry out and see.
You have jogged my memory but there is still much I don't remember.
I'll let you know if I find anything
 
Also, originally the units had Decwriter LA-36 keyboards, but when the LC-6000 (Stood for $6000) came out it had an LA-36 Teletype.
YOu have jogged me and things ae coming back to me.
I also saw an LC-5000, first version, for sale with LA-36 and manual. You have the later version LC-6000 which had a monochrome monitor and 8" )boat anchor weight) dual floppy drive and a seperate printer.
 
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Thank you. This is all very informative. There is a numeridex.com website. I tried contacting them last fall. They said they would see if they have any information that would be useful to me but I have not heard back.
Hearing about this makes me want to start restoring the LC-6000 unit I have. Maybe in the next few weeks. From what you have explained, it sounds like I will need some software on 8" floppies to be able to boot the Intel computer inside. Do you remember what kid of operating system it ran? Was it CP/M or DOS like? Did it have a command prompt or did it boot into a user interface? When you say 'monochrome monitor' I assume you mean a RS 232 or current loop serial terminal; like the DECwriter teletype but a CRT console with keyboard.
The back of the LC-6000 has ports for 'console', 'printer' and 'disk'. I would assume I could hook a serial terminal to the console.
There has to be someone that still has the software and manuals for these.
Would it be possible to get physical locations for where you remember these machines being installed and served? Maybe I can give them a call and see if they still have the machines.
Exciting stuff!
 
Given that your main board here looks to have ROMs installed in the four PROM/EPROM sockets, you very likely already have some software.

My guess would be that the floppy drives/disks are used primarily for storing data and running additional software rather than to "boot" the system.
 
Documentation for the GNT36 looks to be on bitsavers https://bitsavers.org/pdf/gnt/ the "6 wing" manual details an 8 channel unit - which is what CNC would use.

I acquired a Fanuc System P Model D about a year ago. There are considerable similarities : paper tape reader and punch, 8086 processor on custom boards, 12" display, digital data cassettes. While the Fanuc has EPROMS, the Editor and other functional programs are loaded from tape. Projects are also stored on tape. My appreciation is that the EPROMs provide the BIOS/HAL/SelfTest/Bootloader with the "useful stuff" (sold) on seperate media (eg tape)

Unless you wish to demo retro CNC (~1980) the most useful part of these systems is the punch which can be used to feed (eg) PDP-11s, PDP-8s, etc etc (all eat 8b paper tape) : interfacing is not terribly difficult, but has to be synchronous. OTOH the unit may support 232 to punch operation in which case - game on. And, there is the small matter of sourcing 1" paper tape.

HtH Martin
 
I already have paper tape for it. I know I can interface the punch and reader as stand alone units. The Intel computer inside maybe end up being a separate system. If I don't have the correct software I would assume I can find something that can could use it as a general computer.
 
While it very much depends on what you have to hand (materiel and expertise) the existing PECs should provide a platform for 232 to/fr Punch/Reader. Specifically, all of the solenoid driver circuits, including snubbers, will be extant. Just add 8086 software.

Martin
 
Endersending said:
Thank you. This is all very informative. There is a numeridex.com website. I tried contacting them last fall. They said they would see if they have any information that would be useful to me but I have not heard back.
Hearing about this makes me want to start restoring the LC-6000 unit I have. Maybe in the next few weeks. From what you have explained, it sounds like I will need some software on 8" floppies to be able to boot the Intel computer inside. Do you remember what kid of operating system it ran? Was it CP/M or DOS like? Did it have a command prompt or did it boot into a user interface? When you say 'monochrome monitor' I assume you mean a RS 232 or current loop serial terminal; like the DECwriter teletype but a CRT console with keyboard.
The back of the LC-6000 has ports for 'console', 'printer' and 'disk'. I would assume I could hook a serial terminal to the console.
There has to be someone that still has the software and manuals for these.
Would it be possible to get physical locations for where you remember these machines being installed and served? Maybe I can give them a call and see if they still have the machines.
Exciting stuff!
Click to expand...
What I have remembered:
The LC-5000 was the first unit sold. It did basic on the fly line changes. It has Boot E-proms. I am thinking the 600 did too. The unit booted from floppy. I doubt if they survived 4 decades. You would also need the disk unit. I did see a unit for sale and I will find the link. I have no been able to find it again.

We had our own Op sys. It used a command prompt and command were things like"
Print, copy, delete, and a text editor with search capability. I'm still foggy on the boot process. There may be Eproms on the SBC.
At one time we were the largest purchaser of Intel SBC's (8010, 8020) in the early 80's.

As far as customers I could not name any exact locations. We put them in big and small places, J. Deere, International Harvester, Boing, Lockheed, small shops, even garages. I'm sure all my old contacts are dead or retired.
You could try advertising on a manufacturing page, machine tool and CNC forums etc. forums. Look for used tape prep equipment;
I would think that these machines are either gone, defunct or put in storage.
I have not heard from my buddy yet but I'll reach out again.
 
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