I have searched a lot and tried figuring out this on my own without any luck. I have a VTC equipped with a Fanuc OM-C and I can do tool changes just fine if I orient spindle, go to G30Z0, and write TXXM6. I made a O9000 (and O9001) program with this in it and enabled 40.5 that should call O9000 when a T command is called. If I try to call it it just hangs for a couple of seconds before it throws a sequence error. If I try with T01M6 it gives me a sequence error Z axis not at tool change position and this makes me think it never calls the 9001 program since I'm locating my Z there. It does not look like it runs the program. The same goes if i disable 40.5 and go to 240 and hit 6 (to enable M6 calling O9001). If I make a little program with M98 P9000 it swaps the tool fine. Is there anything I'm overlooking here? I don't have macro A/B enabled in my 900 parameters and it wont let me enable them either for some reason.
I got the tool change macro working yesterday. It involved swapping the controller from a Mate to a proper OM-C and activating macro b. It’s swapping tools like a boss now in auto mode but if I call T01M06 (that again runs O9020 from the M06) it just fails. Is there a reason why I can’t do this in MDI? I didn’t test but if all sub program calls are like this I will have a hard time using macro b for setting tool/work offsets also.
Could it it be related to MDI-A/B and is it possible to change this? I tried changing a 900 parameter to MDI-B but it just reset back..
Looks like macro cannot be called in MDI mode on your machine.
I do not know the reason (I have never tried this), but if it is working in AUTO mode, why do you worry?
Alternatively, make a one-line tool-change program and run in AUTO mode.
It’s just a pita to use programs at the machine for now since I have the DNC switch wired inside the cabinet and I programmed DNc to active when auto and the new switch is activated at the same time. For now I just send the program from the computer if I have to do a change.
I did enable MDI-B the other day and it stayed on. Only problem is that I could not hit insert/input to input the code. Almost seemed like I had the wrong keyboard or something. I changed it back for now until I learn more about what MDI-B is.