Kearney & Trecker

[steve f]

Hi guys and gal,

 

I'm in the process of helping a customer of mine get an old vertical (circa. 1978-80) up and running. The control is a Kearney & Trecker 'Type C' with an RS232 cable patched into the tape reader. My question is if anyone has any experience drip feeding with these antiquated controls or experience in general. This thread might apply more to you veterans out there but any tips and tricks would be greatly appreciated. Thanks all,

 

Steve

[McRae]

Gemini Control - Run the other way... I have never "Drip" fed this type of control, we were never successful at getting a btr to work with the machine. I guess that you could somehow emulate the tape unit by plugging into the circuit and then letting the computer act as the tape.

 

Remember that Bill Gates was still in College when that machine was built so there won't be anything "Generic" about it - legacy machines will make anyone sweat...

[steve f]

thanks Andrew,

 

you've confirmed what I kind of suspected. I'll have to try and try and track down the previous owner to find out what they were doing just to get programs onto the control.

[McRae]

Here is a thought. Call Giddings and Lewis, I think thet bought the rights to all of K&T's legacy data.

 

EDIT***

G&L - K&T Information Link

 

After a websearch, found the following link. For a point of interest, about 6 years ago, i needed the control laddar program for a WS-6 lathe and they downloaded from the VAX system and put it on a floppy, printed it out in a hard copy form all for about $1500US. Not bad for a machine that was essentially free and then we did some maintenance, fitted a home built autoloader, and essentially printed money with that little thing.

 

Hope the K&T works well for you. Incidentially, if you get teh opportunity to see the manuals that came with the machine, make a point of reading them. The Milwakee Matic production system was the model on which all of today's palletech systems were developed on. Great reading considering they were manufactured in the mid 70's.

 

[ 06-11-2003, 12:29 PM: Message edited by: Andrew McRae ]

[Dave1286490654]

I know it can be done on a Gemini "D" controller. If thats what you have you will need a BTR and a p.c.I've done it befor.If you have a Gemini "C" controller good luck.I might be able to recommend a company to help you out if you would like.

[steve f]

Dave,

 

The machine came with manuals for both the Gemini C and E controls as well as an old operator keypad so the machine may have been updated to a Type E control, I'm not sure. Regardless though I'd sure be interested to hear what you did to get the machine talking to the pc. This mill already has a BTR so what I could use are the communication protocol settings you used on the pc side or any other bits of usefull info.

 

Thanks a bunch,

 

Steve

[steve f]

...good news from Giddings and Lewis, the Gemini controls are obsolete and they don't know anything about them.

 

I think my headache has just begun.

 

oh well.

[Dave1286490654]

Steve,

Check your e-mail.I sent you some names that will help you out.

 

Dave

[Shop Floor Automations-Predator SW]

Steve -

 

Who's BTR is on the CNC machine? If you set your communication software up to receive and try resetting the board, you might get some data to come out and at least give you an idea.

 

We deal with CNC communications and depending on who's BTR, we might have a manual to tell you where to start.

 

Give us a call or drop me an email.

 

At your service,

[steve f]

Hi guys, thanks for all the help and suggestions and sorry for the belated reply (too busy to get on here).

 

To make a long story short we found the BTR was run by a "middleman" computer made by Rybett Controls called a Numeritronix 1501. The pc transfers to the intermediate computer which then transfers to the control through the BTR and the only way to drip feed was by getting their proprietary software that runs in DOS on any operating system older than Win 98. I guess it acts as a traffic controller during drip feed. The 1501 was setup for RS422 and was missing some parts so we had it sent to the manufacturer for repair and finally got up and running yesterday. It's amazing what experience will teach ya but I sure wish there was an easier way.

 

p.s.: If anyone asks you how to setup a K&T, start running.

 

thanks again,

 

Steve