Rigid Tapping Troubleshooting
GL960408
FSDOCFAX.DOT
INTRODUCTION
With regular tapping cycles the axis and spindle are adjusted to start, stop and reverse together in order to
tap a hole. A floating tap holder is used to make up for differences in their movements. In Rigid Tapping
the spindle is put into a closed loop servo mode and the motion of both axis and spindle are interpolated
moves. The high level of synchronization this creates between the spindle and axis allows the use of solid
taps. Setting up rigid tapping is more difficult than getting two servo axes to interpolate because you are
synchronizing two very different elements (a servo and a spindle). It is also difficult because when they
are not running in synch you often don’t have a cutting sample to help you see where the problem lies,
only a hole with incorrect threads or a broken tap. This document is intended to assist you in
troubleshooting Rigid Tapping problems.
PROCEDURE
1. Discuss application with customer checking for anything out of the ordinary such as high cutting
speeds, unusual materials, special tools, shallow holes, etc. Did it work before?
2. Check the program to assure that it is correct. See the Programming section below. The axis and
spindle speeds must exactly conform to the lead of the tap used.
3. Check the spindle and axis for mechanical looseness, exchange the tool and tool holder if possible.
4. Backup the control.
5. Check all control parameters against the OEM’s backup copy to make sure that they are set as
shipped. If an identical machine is available which works, compare parameters between the two.
Note and study differences.
6. If the cycle is not working properly or you are getting sequence related alarms, check the ladder for
sequencing and activation of the proper PMC bits. If the Spindle Monitor page is available it shows
the active spindle signals.
7. Run the spindle at constant speed and observe the drive display to check that it runs at the correct
speed, for serial spindles you can fine adjust the speed by altering the Max Motor Speed parameter on
the spindle tuning screen.
8. Move the axis at constant speed and check the servo lag on the servo tuning screen to make sure that
it is correct. Use a jog move to make sure that feedforward will not be applied.
9. Check the Rigid Tapping diagnostic displays on the spindle tuning screen and in the control
diagnostics. See Diagnostic section below for details on the available diagnostics.
10. Using a two channel storage scope or (on 16/18/15B/etc. controls) the waveform diagnostic function
observe the spindle and servos motion during rigid tapping. See Waveforms section for details
11. Check the spindle feedback with your scope.
12. Check and tighten all spindle and axis connections.
13. Having now observed the axis and spindle movements you should check the parameters related to
rigid tapping for proper setting. See the Parameters section for a listing/description of applicable
parameters.
FANUC CNC Parts
Rigid Tapping Troubleshooting
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GE FANUC AUTOMATION
PROGRAMMING
Rigid Tapping is normally commanded with program blocks similar to these:
G95; (Activate IPR (Inches per Revolution))
M29 S1000; (Activate Rigid Tap Mode, Set Spindle Speed)
G84 Z-5.0 F0.1 P1000; (Tap a hole to the depth Z-5.0 at a feedrate of 0.1, Dwell 1 sec.
at the bottom of the hole)
G80 (Cancel Rigid Tapping Mode)
The M-Code may be omitted depending upon the machine tool builders interface. Also the builder may
choose any M-Code to activate Rigid Tap Mode.
Make sure the feedrate matches the tap pitch, in IPM (Inches per Minute) programming the spindle speed
and feedrate must both be set to match the tap pitch.
Pitch = Feedrate/Spindle RPM (In IPM Mode) = Feedrate (In IPR Mode)
If it’s an inch tap, programming should be done in inch. Metric::Metric.
Troubleshooting to be done using the part program:
1. Change the program to run in IPM instead of IPR or Visa-Versa.
2. Insert a dwell to momentarily halt the spindle and servo at the reversal point.
3. Raise or lower the tapping speed.
DIAGNOSTICS
There are several diagnostic parameters that can be checked to get a quantitative feel for how well rigid
tapping is set up. They are as follows:
For 16/18
Diag. Description Comments Units
450 Spindle Motion Error Spindle Position Loop Error Pulse
451 Spindle Motion Pulse Pulses Distributed to Spindle Drive Pulse
452 Rigid Error Error Between Spindle and Servo %
453 Rigid Error (Max) Peak Error Between Spindle and Servo %
454 Spindle Pulse (Sum) Accumulated Pulses Distributed to the Spindle Pulse
455 Sync. Pulse (Sum) Spindle Converted Move Command Difference Pulse
456 Sync. Error Spindle Converted Position Deviation Difference Pulse
457 Sync. Width Peak Synchronization Error During Rigid Tapping Pulse
They can be observed via the diagnostic page. Parameter 5204#0 determines which diagnostic are
displayed.
Par. 5204#0 Diagnostic Displayed
Set to 0 455, 456, 457
Set to 1 452, 453
Set to 0 or 1 450, 451, 454
Rigid Tapping Troubleshooting GE FANUC AUTOMATION
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For 0-C
The following are parameters used for display purposes:
Diagnostic Description Units
T M
627 435 Position error pulse of the spindle pulse
628 436 Interpolation pulse of the spindle pulse
696 437 Error between spindle and servo %
697 438 Peak error between spindle and servo %
799 799 Accumulated pulses distributed to spindle pulse
For 15
Diagnostic Description Units
3000 Position error pulses of the tapping axis pulse
3000 Position error pulses of the spindle pulse
WAVEFORMS
To monitor rigid tapping performance with an oscilloscope connect one channel to the VCMD output of
your servo check board and the other channel to the Speed Meter output of the spindle drive. Do not
simultaneously connect both ground clips to the control and spindle drives 0V pins unless you are
using a scope with isolated commons. Scale the output from the servo check board until the acc-dec
curve is clearly plotted. Do the same with the spindle output then record waveforms of your rigid tapping
cycle while cutting air. The servo and spindle waveforms should be identical in shape and accelerate and
de-accelerate linearly. They should also start, get up to speed and stop together. Normally the spindle has
a slower response than the servo so if the acceleration parameter is set too short then the spindle
waveform will be rounded at the corners.
If the control is equipped with the waveform diagnostics function (15/16/18-B, 20-TA, and late model
16/18-A’s) then it can be used to easily compare the above mentioned curves.
If your controls waveform display is equipped with synchronous error display use it to graphically display
the synchronous error during rigid tapping. This will show you when and by how much the spindle and
servo are getting out of sync. The error normally increases during accel and decel then returns to near
zero when running at constant speed. A large error can be tolerated at the beginning and end of the
tapping cycle because the tap is clear of the hole. This display is sampled every 64 msec. so it is fairly
coarse, take several samples to get a feel for the actual error. (On the 16/18/20 controls this waveform is
not displayed when Par. 5204#0 is set to 1.)
FANUC CNC Parts
Rigid Tapping Troubleshooting
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GE FANUC AUTOMATION
PARAMETERS
The following chart shows the parameters related to rigid tapping for the 0/15/16/18 controls.
0-T 0-M 15 16/18 Description
256 256 5210 M code of rigid tapping command
31#5 19#4 Address selection of gear signal
6501#2 6501#2 3001#2 4001#2 Position coder signal specification
6500#0 6500#0 3000#0 4000#0 Rotation direction of spindle
6500#2 6500#2 3000#2 4000#2 Attached direction of position coder
3#7,6 28#7,6 5610 3706#1.0 Gear ratio between spindle and position coder
6503#4 6503#4 3003#4 4002#4 Pulse number of built-in sensor
6506#7 6506#7 3006#7 4006#7 Rigid tapping using built-in sensor
63#6 63#3 5604#2,1 5200#1 Selection of Arbitrary position coder gear ratio
663-665 427-430 5703 5221-5224 Number of teeth on spindle side when using Arbitrary
5771-5774 gear ratio
431-434 666-668 5704 5231-5234 Number of teeth of position coder side when using
5781-5784 Arbitrary gear ratio
6556-6559 6556-6559 3056-3059 4056-4059 Gear ratio between spindle and motor
406-410 615,669-671 5753 5280,5281-5284 Position gain of tapping axis at rigid tapping
6565-6568 6565-6568 3065-3068 4065-4068 Position gain of spindle at rigid tapping
37#6 37#6 Stepless time constant selection
254 254 5605#1 Acc/Dec type
415-418 613 5605#2 5261-5264 Acc/Dec time constant
5751,5760,
5762,5764
423-426 617 5605#2 5241-5244 Spindle maximum speed at rigid tapping
5757-5759
614 5605#2 Low end speed at exponential type
5752,5761,
5763, 5765
63#4 63#4 5200#4 Override selection at extracting
258 258 5211 Override value at extracting
5201#2 Time constant at extracting
5271-5274
618 618 1827 5300 In-position width of tapping axis
619 619 5755 5301 In-position width of spindle
620 620 1837 5310 Position error limit of tapping axis while moving
621 621 5754 5301 Position error limit of spindle while moving
622 622 5312 Position error limit of tapping axis at stop
623 623 5313 Position error limit of spindle at stop
214-217 255 5604#2, 5756 5321-5324 Backlash of spindle
5791-5794
6544-6545 6544-6545 3044-3045 4044-4045 Velocity loop proportional gain at rigid tapping
6552-6553 6552-6553 3052-3053 4052-4053 Velocity loop integral gain at rigid tapping
6585 6585 3085 4085 Motor voltage at rigid tapping
6901 6901 3281 4137 Motor voltage at rigid tapping (low speed winding)
6599 6599 3099 4099 Delay time for stable motor excitation
Rigid Tapping Troubleshooting GE FANUC AUTOMATION
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Parameter Notes:
1. Check that the parameters related to mechanical and electrical setup are set correctly.
2. Adjust the tuning parameters for optimum performance.
The parameters which control synchronization between the servo and the spindle are those related to gains
and time constants.
On the 16/18 control the setting for time constant is the time to accelerate to the maximum tapping speed
(set by parameter). The catch to this is that when the programmed tapping speed is 1/4 the maximum
tapping speed then the control attempts to accelerate the axis and spindle in 1/4 the time. This makes it
possible to program yourself into an acceleration problem.
The rule for setting maximum tapping speed in the past has been to keep it below base speed. Recently,
however, we have seen a number of setups tapping at well above base speed. This is okay as long as the
required torque does not exceed the motors rated torque at any time. It is definitely not recommended
where it can be avoided.
The position gain of the spindle and servo must be matched.
The Delay time for stable motor excitation should be set to 400 msec. The Motor Voltage at Rigid
Tapping should be set 70 ~ 100. If the motor noise is excessive then lower it to 30 ~ 70.
The spindle motor’s Velocity Loop Proportional Gain should be set to .7 times the value at which it
becomes unstable. (Try setting about 15 ~ 25). The Velocity Loop Integral Gain should then be set 3 ~ 5
times the Proportion Gain.
FANUC CNC Parts
Rigid Tapping Troubleshooting
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GE FANUC AUTOMATION
EXAMPLE:
The following program was executed on a 16-MA to demonstrate rigid tapping.
O0014
G90G95
G0X5.Y5.
M3
M29S1000
G84Z6.R0F.2P1
G80
M30
The control had the following parameters set as indicated:
N4044 A1 P 10
N4045 A1 P 10
N4065 A1 P 3000
N4066 A1 P 3000
N4067 A1 P 3000
N4068 A1 P 3000
N4085 A1 P 100
N4099 A1 P 400
N5200 P 00000001
N5201 P 00000000
N5210 P 0
N5241 P 1000
N5261 P 1000
N5280 P 3000
The following traces were recorded with a digital storage scope. The top trace is the servo VCMD
waveform output from the servo check board. The bottom is the spindle speed output from the speed
meter output.
Rigid Tapping Troubleshooting GE FANUC AUTOMATION
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