XIAC Museum — 2009 — King TB5: the leap of faith
The King TB5 with ATLC bottle indexing system became the platform that proved legacy tablet counters could be modernised without replacing their mechanical core.
The decision
The TB5 entered my life through a service quote. A customer had purchased the machine second hand and asked for a full overhaul. The numbers didn’t make sense for him.
For me, however, the calculation was different. I believed the machine deserved better than being written off, and more importantly, I believed that upgrading existing equipment could be a viable engineering path.
So instead of walking away, I bought the machine myself in 2009. The price was AU$2,000 — a significant amount for someone working a full-time job, with nothing yet to show, no portfolio, no reference installs, and no safety net.
At that point, all I had was instinct and technical confidence.
In hindsight: this decision led to what later became XIAC’s most successful upgrade platform. The TB5 upgrade evolved into the highest-volume retrofit undertaken by the company, with more than 100 installations worldwide.
Old vs new batch counter
1972 vs 2009. Original Nixie-tube batch counter compared to a PLC-based replacement using a Mitsubishi FX3UC and GOT1000 HMI. Used in King TB4 and TB5.
Sensor evolution
Old vs new sensor. The new PIC-based design adds clear diagnostics: green = OK, yellow = PLC communication, red = fault.
Light source upgrade
Same enclosure, different era. The LED module replaces the filament bulb while preserving the original optical geometry.
One machine, two generations
The fairest comparison possible. One channel upgraded, the other left original. Same machine, same mechanics, same day.
Proof, not promises
An early promotional video documents the upgraded TB5 parts.
What came next
A later-generation XIAC controller. The TB-5 upgrade proved that controller hardware could be simpler, more economical, and easier to manufacture — directly influencing the 2015 TC-8 and TC-12 redesign.
The success of the King TB-5 upgrade directly led to a complete re-design of the King TC-8 and TC-12 controller upgrades in 2015.
Lessons learned from the TB-5 showed that a modern controller architecture could be streamlined without sacrificing reliability or serviceability.
This redesign became the foundation for the next generation of XIAC replacement controllers and marked a clear transition toward scalable, production-ready retrofit designs.