Need Help!- MAPPS I assistance on Mori SL25

[fordav11]

Hi all,
I'm not sure if this is the right area for this, but I figured anyone using Mori's would have some experience with Fanuc conversational also :-)

I'm new here but not new to CNC machining or computers. I work as a CNC Machinist/CNC Programmer since 1986 on mostly Mori Seiki CNC lathes and have most of my experience with the older FAPT conversational system (20+ years on ZL25 and ZL35 with 15TTF controls). We recently got a Mori SL25 with MSG-500 control (circa ~2000) and it has the later MAPPS I conversational system.

I've played with this for several weeks and I'm reasonably proficient at programming using the MAPPS system.

One thing that bothers me is I can't seem to see how to define another roughing operation where the part is the shape left from a previous operation other than re-drawing the part with that shape, which is sometimes not so simple to define due to partial cuts from a previous tool.

For example I've run a roughing tool (CNMG insert) across the part and now I want to use a DNMG to continue roughing the pockets that the CNMG couldn't do.

On FAPT it was very simple, I just selected another roughing operation and picked a DNMG tool and the part that was drawn came up looking just like it was left from the CNMG operation. It was then possible to use pick-points to tell the tool where to start and end and just rough the remaining material from the pockets.

Unfortunately the manuals are very basic and of no help. We also have a Mori NT4300 with MAPPS III and even those newer manuals don't explain anything like this and the guy running it had limited programming knowledge and was no help either.

Is there something like a 'rough residual material' operation in the MAPPS I system and if so how do I do it?

Thanks in advance for the assistance

Greets from sunny Perth, Western Australia.

Regards,
John B.

[bobwood]

I belive the MAPPs will remember what matrial is left and just program the DNMG to finish/rough what is needed. Make sure you select rough on the method (rough/finish/common)

[fordav11]

yes it draws the part with the remaining material but when adding another tool it roughs the *entire* part all over again. I tried this today on MAPPS I and MAPPS III controls so I can confirm.
When selecting FINISH and using auto-tool it selects R-F for all tools. When using ROUGH it selects ROUGH for all tools except the finish tool. That's as long as the tool file is set up correctly having roughing and finish tools. If the tool is set as common it puts R-F and that tool will rough and finish even if its already roughed. That's fine for the finish tool, but all other tools do complete roughing from the stock bar. It's possible to skip a finish operation on the next screen (DO/SKIP) which helps eliminate the extra pass but the full rough operation just wastes time.
Its possible to add another tool by simply putting the cursor below the auto-selected tool and pressing 'tool search'. It adds a tool as 'rough' but there's no way to tell it to rough a specific area so it does everything that has been drawn. It seems the only way to tell a tool to machine a specific area is to add another process and draw only that section (like Mazatrol)
I guess the way out of it is just to manually delete all of the extra cuts and leave the code for the un-cut material. Still not ideal. Computers and software are supposed to be getting smarter not going backwards. I guess that's why MAPPS is now up to IV and they still don't have it right
FAPT allows much more control over cutting specific sections using specific tools without having to re-draw the part 3 times for 3 tools

[bobwood]

Have you tried coping the rough operation and editing the copied op to just do the area you want?

[fordav11]

yes I can copy it and delete the already machined part. I was kind of hoping Fanuc would have been smart enough to improve on FAPT or at least provide equal functionality. Looks like their smart engineer was sick that day and the other guys copied the Mazatrol method :-/
I did a job today by adding several tools to the same process then edited the code deleting all of the duplicated roughing except the code I needed. It worked ok but took more time than I wanted to allocate to this task.

[bobwood]

Try copying in CAPPS. Edit the the copied op in capps.

[fordav11]

yes, if it wasn't clear, I can copy the MAPPS operation(s) and edit them. I did that too and it works but it's sometimes a pain in the ass because some of the numbers are calculated (tangents on arc to arc or line to arc and sometimes many of them) so re-creating the un-machined section requires going through the first machining process (in MAPPS) and writing down all of the relevant start point, end point, centre in X, centre in Z for each one where the machine did some calcs, then manually entering those numbers in again with modified X sizes. Like I said above, I just thought there might be an easier way than re-drawing it again for each tool. Looks like not.