Tapping? How??

[zaebis]

Anyone tried to automate tapping with NK 135 or 200?

[gleas]

Zaebis,

To do rigid tapping on these machines would not work because the motor rpm and the z- feed rate have to be tied together precisely not to mention precise forward and reverse control. This would require a completely different spindle motor.

Non rigid tapping could be done but even then, you would need to know what your rpm's are. A tapping head with a lot of float might work but, personally, I wouldn't risk damaging an expensive tapping head.

I suggest buying a $75.00 hand tapper. They work great.

-Greg

[marcel beaudry]

Hello

Also you need torque at slow speed the nm135 does not have any torque i do not know why it is supposed to have 1.5 hp .

Marcel

[gleas]

More like mushy torque. If you grab the spindle at the lowest rpm, it will slow down but then recover it's speed. In any event, not a plus.

-Greg

[jalessi]

Have you seen this?

YouTube - Tapping Attachment
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNTSkN69r4M&feature=related

[jalessi]

This may surprise you.

YouTube - 12x20 Tooling Plate

YouTube - 12x20 Tooling Plate

[ihavenofish]

Originally Posted by gleas More like mushy torque. If you grab the spindle at the lowest rpm, it will slow down but then recover it's speed. In any event, not a plus. -Greg

i think thats a motor controller / tach fault. if you hold the spindle, it will keep increasing current til it reaches peak torque. but its doing so very very slowly because its not getting feedback in a timely manner. it should be a more instant response - especially for tapping. youd need a tach that has more than a few counts per turn - probably a few hundred for super low speed stuff.

you arent meant to be using the peak torque (over 100% load) for things like that though.

in any case, you would set up a tachometer for mach to read the true speed of the spindle, and it can be made to vary the feed rate to match. this is how turning operations like threading work as well... which you can also do in the mill spindle.

i havent gotton that far yet though, so i dont know where all the settings are.

[gleas]

I am always impressed and motivated by Hossmachine's videos. They are a reminder that if you really want to go to the trouble, you can make these little machines do wonders relatively speaking.

On the tapping issue, I think you have to consider how often you are going to need the function and what you're willing to spend in time and or money to do it on the machine.

I had one mill in my shop that did high speed rigid tapping. It was a huge time saver and fun to watch but there was another machine that was even more impressive to me. We bought an articulating arm tapping unit (about $1000.00) using a pneumatic tapping motor. We clamped it to a heavy duty table and it often out preformed the mill. With little or no setup, you could tap hundreds of holes in no time at all.

-Greg

[wwendorf]

check out www.accutapper.com

I bought one and love it!

Wade

[MichaelHenry]

Procunier or Tap-matic tapping heads should work with a bit of planning for the code.

Mike