I remember my dad going to take an NC course at Sundstrand. The concept of NC (Numeric Control) vs manual control was a big step in industry (think of looms vs Jacquard looms - a lot of manual labor between these technologies). The makers of big mills that milled parts for Bell Helicopters back in the '60's (and others, this is just where my Dad worked). They used paper (actually mylar backed paper to let the tapes last longer) tape ASCII codes on a Friden Flexowriter (a Teletype style machine mainly used to punch holes in tape for communications or equipment control).
The N in Numeric Control was a nod to the fact that numbers were used versus analog signals. Today we might use the term Digital Control instead of Numerical Control. -- When I was in college there were still Analog Computers being used (a waning technology even then) and the difference between analog and digital were pronounced. Today the lines blur, but even today there are some occasions where analog outshines digital in given applications. The 'controller' that read the tapes and controlled the machine was the size of a large refrigerator at the time, and the only computer at the company was a new IBM 360 used in the accounting department. Over the years the paper tape readers and controllers have been replaced by computers with various types of input (from paper tape, magnetic tape, to networking of various flavors). It was a big step in industry to go from G-codes punched into paper tape to computer controlled (still with basically the same G-codes, just in file format instead of paper tape). Any more, CNC vs NC is just a historical moniker (like use of cell-phone or mobile-phone versus just telephone). Today with computers being so pervasive in our lives (inside light bulbs, multiple in your car, and replacing simple analog circuits just about everywhere) even noting that a computer is involved is less important than the function it enables. If CNC bothers you, deal with it. It is a historical thingie that our society uses. Just enjoy the technology and its uses, or don't. Your life is up to you. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
