Hi all, I have an old Citizen b12 swiss lather with fanuc 18-tb controls, and was wanting to do some rigid tapping. The manual has a great section on how to do it, but when I try I get an error that says "improper g-code", My boss says that he doesnt think that rigid tapping has been turned on.
Does anyone know the parameter for this?

the machine probably does not have that code. not all machines come standard with rigid tapping.

I only have for the 18M so I am not sure if it will work.
The M shows 9930 #4 Thread cutting and synchronous feed
9930 #3 Helical
9931 #2 Rigid Tapping M29.
You have to also have the right hardware in place spindle encoder etc, which you will have if you have CSF.
Al.

oo thanks!!

on my machine parameter 9930 #3 and #6 are on,( the third and 6th digit from the left) and nothing on 9931 is on.
should i just try turning on the #2 in 9931?
i've not messed with parameters before so i dont wanna mess anything up.


Like i said, i know it's an option on the machine, i just don't think its turned on. it has CSFM and single point capabilities, so i know it'd be up to the job.
thanks!!

The bit count starts at the right from 0 to 7.
e.g. bit 3 would be xxxxx1xxx
Al.

i should have known that, duh...
anyway, on my machine
9930 # 3 and 6 are on,
I tried turning on #2 in 9931, but it still gave me an improper g-code alarm when i tried to run the program.. >_<

does anyone have one of these old things anymore??
thanks for all the help!!

If you could post that section of your program, it might help us to help you.

Just make sure you've engaged the M29 in a line by itself, then on the next line have your G84 cycle. That should work, but Citizen may have done like Star and made the cycle for tapping be something like G184 (front side) or G284 (backside) for tapping.

hth

I have a little sample block of code from our citizen support tech, so I'm pretty sure the code is right, but here goes:

/M29S800
/T2101(4-40 ROLL TAP)
/Z-.1
/G84Z.170F.025
/G80
/G0Z-.1

the g80 cancels the G84 code.



that's all i have...

thanks again!

OK, so try rearranging it a little bit.

Take the M29 with the S800 and move it to just after the Z-.1

I think it might work.

If it does, call the Citizen tech's boss and tell them you are now more qualified to offer tech support then his subordinate is. :D

Oh and one more thing, pore over the manual for the machine and find the list of G codes, Make certain that Citizen hasn't modified the G84 to a custom code. This is sometimes necessary to incorporate the use of some additional parameters and/or diagnostic checks to prevent crash conditions or other situations with a particular machine build.

BTW - Be sure the spindle is off before doing your M29 Sxxxx

So I finally heard back form my citizen tech, he said that the alarm i am getting means that it hsnt been turned on. :(
Fanuc will gladly come turn it on for $2000.. hahahaha...

why would the spindle have to be stopped before the M29??

why would the spindle have to be stopped before the M29??

Watch a machine with rigid tapping.

Before the cycle starts the spindle will rotate alittle to find the index mark on the spindle encoder.

If the spindle is on allready on, it will stop, find its mark then do the tap cycle.

This has been aboserved on Fanuc 16Mi, 18MB and Haas machines.

In fact it notes in the Haas programming manual that if the rigid tap option is enabled it is used by default (no M code required just a G84) and that your best off not starting the spindle after the M6 because the machine will execute a M5 before starting a G84.

You have the code correct but the alarm IS caused from the option not being turned on. The parameters you were given are not the only things needed.
The "Citizen" parameters will only work IF Fanuc turned it on in their options.
The machine DOES have the ability to do this.

aw.. so its not something that i can just do myself??
that's not too surprising I guess, but I was hoping there was someone who knew who to do it. I'm usually good with computers and such.. but ah well.
thanks again!