G0678 CNC Conversion Thread

[Dave_C]

I went down to the shop this morning all hyped up to make a video of the rigid taping routine on my Mill. I started up the machine, put in my PVC stock, set my part zeros using tool 1 as the Z reference and ran the code.

The spot drill made all six holes!

The #7 drill bit made 6 nice holes just like it should!

Then with the 1/4-20 tap in I hit cycle start! It taps the first hole perfectly, moves to the second hole, rapids down, reverses the spindle and then rapids back up and moves to the 3rd hole and so on for the remaining holes but never taping the 5 remaining holes even though the program was made in Intercon.

So I'm attaching the Intercon file to see if anyone can tell my why this happened. I also did a search for my tap tool and tried to re-run the rigid tap part of the program. It goes to the tool change position, I hit cycle start and it goes to the first hole and fails with the same error I had last week.

AND I HAVE CHANGED NOTHING!

Files attached:

Dave C.

String of Holes.cnc

(1.75 KiB) Downloaded 92 times

report_985DAD490575-1006170161_2018-05-21_12-20-23.zip

(180.28 KiB) Downloaded 111 times

[Dave_C]

Here is the short video I made showing that it tapped the first hole and skipped the next five even though it made the rapid down to the clearance height before it moved on to the next hole.

This video is of the attempt to re-run the ridgid tap routine after it had skipped 5 of the six holes. It fails with an error, same error as before, and does nothing!

So how do you fix an issue that does not act the same every time? I thought I had this issue fixed when I discovered the referance issue but apparantly that fixed nothing, it just decided to run for a few cycles, and yes, it has ran a few cycles in the past as well.

I've got a short video above showing it working, but then it won't run and then again it will.

Dave C.

https://youtu.be/lc7KVuElTzY

[Dave_C]

I got my Polycarbonate pieces in yesterday from TAP plastics that I ordered to make my chip/flood guard. I took a couple of pictures, one showing the guard in place and the other showing the guard lifted off.

This is a pretty simple design and the 1/4" poly-c sits in some 1/4" aluminum channels which are fastened to the mill table extension which extends out 4 1/2" from the front of the mill table.

With the two handles it is real simple to just lift the guard out of the tracks, make a tool change or change out a part in the mill vise.

Dave C.

Guard in place

Guard Removed

[martyscncgarage]

I got my Polycarbonate pieces in yesterday from TAP plastics that I ordered to make my chip/flood guard. I took a couple of pictures, one showing the guard in place and the other showing the guard lifted off.

This is a pretty simple design and the 1/4" poly-c sits in some 1/4" aluminum channels which are fastened to the mill table extension which extends out 4 1/2" from the front of the mill table.

With the two handles it is real simple to just lift the guard out of the tracks, make a tool change or change out a part in the mill vise.

Dave C.

0522181311.jpg

0522181312.jpg

Nice Dave. Where di you source the 1/4" aluminum channels from?

[Dave_C]

Nice Dave. Where did you source the 1/4" aluminum channels from?

LOWE'S

More updates today: I've ran numerous test on my rigid taping issue and I can make the routine run reliable if I drop the RPM from 640 to 440!

It will run a single hole or the same string of holes that I programed in Intercon before. (Same 6 holes)

If I change the RPM to 640 I get the 438 spindle error. If I just edit the existing program by going to "edit" and change the RPM to 440, it runs the code as it should.

I thought maybe the Z axis did not travel fast enough since I have it limited to 75 IPM but I changed it to 85 and it made no difference. 75 IPM is faster than what a 1/4-20 thread needs to run the thread so I don't think that is my problem.

Question: Does anyone else have version 4.12 up and doing rigid taping?

Dave C.

[Dave_C]

I hate ruining my build thread with these last three pages of problems but I'll include some more detail:

I posted the code and a report 4 post above this post if Centroid needs that to help solve the issue!

I've made a discovery that I can run a program to rigid tap a single hole and it will run with no faults. I created the program in Intercon just like the one that fails.

I'll say it again, it will run over and over but it is a single hole, no spot drilling and no drilling!

When I load the Intercon program to spot drill, drill and thread 6 holes it runs the spot drill, drills the holes but gives me the 438 error when it tries to rigid tap.

I made a video to prove what I am saying so watch it for yourself! I think you can figure out from my tone of voice in the video I'm pretty feed up with chasing issue that I don't think have anything to do with my build.

I've worked with AD's tech department and they agree, it is not an encoder issue! (We are on our third new one)


It looks like the Ver12 software keeps some sort of data in a cache and it is causing the software to fault out. It has to be something from the spot or drilling cycle run previously.

You watch the video and make up your own mind....

Dave C.

https://youtu.be/5hTISad04KA

[Dave_C]

I've made some attempts this morning to isolate when my error 438 occurs!

This single hole "thread only" code will run fine. It was created in Intercon just like the others.

Rigid Tap Test.cnc

(868 Bytes) Downloaded 116 times

Now if I go and make a new Intercon program to center drill, drill the hole and then tap, it fails!

Rigid Tap Test 3.cnc

(1.39 KiB) Downloaded 101 times

So I tried to edit my previous 6 hole test program and deleted the blocks in intercom so that all that remained was the tool call and the rigid tap code for the six holes. I ran it, it looked good on the first hole and then it did that stupid thing where it rapids to the next hole, moves over at the clearance height, reverses the spindle and then move over to the next hole. It does this 5 times and does not tap the remaining five holes but no errors!

That is this program made in intercom.

String of Holes.cnc

(1.05 KiB) Downloaded 122 times

So the encoder and program works and taps just fine as long as I just do one hole with no center drill or drilling operation!

At first I thougth it might have an issue with all the tool lengths set to -0- in the tool table. So I tried eliminating the tool length calls, It ran once but then failed on the second run.

Then I immediately loaded the single hole rigid tap program and ran it 6-8 times. No errors, perfect thread.

So today it gets a sheet thrown over it and it will become a boat anchor until someone figure out why it will tap a single hole but not an array or why it fails if I add the center drill and drill bit portion to the code in intercon. The spot and drill part run just fine though, it does not fail until it tries to rigid tap.


New report attached as well:

report_985DAD490575-1006170161_2018-05-27_09-32-28.zip

(182.19 KiB) Downloaded 121 times

Dave C.

[rl49]

Hi Dave, Have you tried setting all your tool offsets in the tool library relative to a reference tool? and call the G43 H offsets? It seems that it needs that offset when moving between tools and on a tapping array? Just a thought.

[Dave_C]

rl49,

That was my thought as well and I just came up from the basement after setting the Z reference, I put in some tool lengths (made up ones as I am just cutting air) and tried the program again. Same error!

So I loaded up the single hole program again and it ran just fine. So I thought, what the heck, I'll try a bolt hole circle. Same result! No tool change in this one, just the six holes in a 1" circle. But it failed as well.

If the mill never ran a good rigid tap program I'd kind of know where to look, but the fact that it will run a single hole perfectly has me stumped!


Dave C.

[Dave_C]

The mill project is finally finished:

Here is a video of the machine tapping 5 holes with no issues.

https://youtu.be/772VcHhFSV0

https://youtu.be/772VcHhFSV0

All Done,

Dave C.