Re: Fanuc evolution

Warren wrote:
Kirk,

Great history lesson. I have a couple of nitpicks but really minor
ones:

I don't mind nitpicks. Better to know if I've been mistaken. However...

1) The 10 series seems to have been a low cost version of the 11. It
doesn't use bubble memory and therefore its memory is pretty limited -
no megabyte bubbles.

I think both 10 and 11 controls used bubble for the execs. I could be wrong, though. I don't know if the 10 was a low cost 11, or the 11 was a supercharged 10. I always thought of them as parallel offerings for different uses, with neither being "primary" or "secondary" in the pecking order. Just an impression, though. I never really thought about it.

Unplug that battery and get ready for trouble.
Parameter re-loading is pretty tough for most people. Features similar
to the 3 series more than the 11. Most non-FAPT versions are limited in
program memory to 128K if analog (yellow motors or red motors with pots
on the VCU) or about 320K if digital (red motors and no pots on the
VCU). It doesn't have a parallel reader port so it can't use a high
speed BTR for mold making. Drip feeding via serial port is possible but
not very fast.

I never tried to do any high speed machining with either a 10 or 11, so serial DNC always worked well enough. I don't recall that I ever even looked at the tape reader interface. 10's and 11's were the first controls I ever worked with where the tape reader was an option. By that I mean that they were the first controls I saw that could actually function without a reader, since RS232 had become a real and functional part of everyday life. 128K of user RAM sounds small, today; but at the time it was huge. That would have been 320 meters of tape equivalence, in FanucSpeak, which, as you say, was the limit for the 10 series. Still, in the late 80's, most shops I worked in wouldn't have known where to find a computer with that much capacity or disc space, so memory on the machines still made more sense than drip feed from the office. Everything was changing in a hurry, though, which made it a fun time to be playing with new equipment.

2) I agree that the 6 series is probably the best control ever built. I
think its success was partially due to the Honda plug (very reliable
connections), E-Proms for the exec program rather than exec tapes, and
of course the bubble memory. The machines with this control could
travel from Japan, get plugged in, and start making parts without
having an expensive guy like me come out and re-load the software. Used
machinery dealers loved them too for the same reason. There was a third
version of the 6 you didn't mention - the 6B level up. Very advanced
features, sometimes with a 14" color CRT. Used by Makino, Hardinge and
lots of others. This controls' mother board part number starts with
A16B-1000 and has M series software.

I've never in my life even seen an exec tape for a Fanuc control, even though I've logged thousands of hours of using, installing, and fixing them. Are you maybe confusing these with some other brands from the same era? As far as I know, everything that ever shipped from Fanuc to the US market had exec software on either PROM, EPROM, or bubble cartridges. More recent controls have changed that, of course; but I'm talking 15 series and earlier. Maybe you know something I don't. Or maybe I was just lucky that I never had to rescue one that was totally brain-dead. But I remember fixing bugs, in several cases, by changing ROMS or EPROMS on controls as early as the 2000C.

You're absolutely right about startups on the 6 series. I should have mentioned that. The 6 was the first control I ever used that travelled well and almost never woke up dead, which was real common with earlier models. It was definitely the best control ever at the time; but I'd still take a 10, 11, or 15, if I had to choose one today.

KG



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