Aahh… CNC punched tape. I’ve been around long enough I used to work with that too. And you’re right, it’s not that difficult to figure out. Just different, that’s all.
One thing though, you scroll through that LED one-line readout reading the code after you load the tape into memory and eventually you get pretty good at zipping through and reading/editing it. When you do that in front of these newfangled whippersnappers, they think you’re an autistic wizard. They might be correct, but still… that old stuff is supposed to be quaint, primitive and simple. So why do the new nerds think us old nerds are wizards upon seeing us rub these sticks together?
It’s all, every bit of it, just one step at a time. These days, the tools are such that you get your head around it pretty quick if you just keep plugging at it for a little bit.
Yep, editing TAP files is very easy compared to counting lines, cutting the paper tape, and splicing in a correction. Truthfully, I never did it. Just the thought told me there was too much room for error. I just made the corrections and created another tape. The other awful thing was we had to prove the program on the turret. Lots of wasted material plus the added waste of time setting up the tools.
Then there were the times when walking from the office to the turret with a hand full of tape I stepped on the loop and ripped the paper in half. It’s much easier to click a button to send the info to the machine. All of that was revolutionary and expensive back then. The first PC I purchased (Commodore CBM) just to program the machine cost more than all three Langmuir tables plus their welding table combined and it only had 8K of ram!
I know this is an old post but, it’s so true, patience, research and time. I was thrown into this and now i feel like i can do it in my sleep. I made a cheat for others so that it made things easier. It’s fairly long cheat sheet but, lots of graphics and settings and it makes it so somebody could take a drawing from Fushion 360 and bring it into Crossfire with ease!
I’m still learning how to draw basics in Fushion but, i’m sure I will get there!!!
Sorry…I forgot to post this when I came across it. This is for the Original Crossfire, Not the Pro version. Hope it helps Fusion 360 CAM - Copy.pdf (87.2 KB)
