tapping on a mini mill without rigid tapping???

Hi I just got a 2002 used mini mill (haas) it was supposed to have rigid tapping and it does not. The previous owner had a new board put in and now i bought it and it does not have rigid tapping.I had to get the code to turn on the floppy drive but they said that this machine does not have rigid tapping turned on.I called the guy I got it off of he is sending me the Invoice for machine purchase but that does not say what options were just a price for all options he got is as a demo machine.

Anyway is there any way I can tap with this without spending another $1000 mabey a floating head setup (if I find one real cheap ebay) and what would the program look like machine wont let me us G84
Thanks Mike

I have a Tapmatic head I have never used. It's the NCR50 and goes for $933.00 at KBC Tools. I'd part with it for $400 It can run up to 1/2" and 2500 rpm and the reversing ratio is 1:1, unlike a lot of tapping heads. Mine has a 1" straght shank. These heads are known to run into the hundreds of thousands of holes before even being serviced.

www.kbctools.com, page 138, p/n #1-415-36625

Did you get the original manual? It will, should, might (?) have print outs of all the Parameters in the back near the Index and often the codes for options are written on these.

It seems reprehensible that a company would sell a machine and then make you pay for a software option that has been around for over 15 years.

Ingersoll makes a spring loaded er 32 collet holder and adapters

If the machine was sold with rigid tapping, or if it was bought after the original sale, Haas will be able to give you the activation code if you give them the machine's serial number.

Hi thanks for all the info I will just suck it up and buy the rigid tapping of try to find one of these tapping heads real cheap (probably get the rigid tapping)
Thanks again Mike

Rigid Tapping is the way to go.

I tap lots of small 3mm X .5 holes in 6061T6 Aluminum and the rigid tapping option makes it a breeze. I also use form taps and after a thousand or more holes haven't broken a tap.

The budget pain of turning on the option may hurt a little bit but getting good tapped holes on a regular basis is really nice.

Just some thoughts from a newbie.

John

I agree rigid tapping is the way to go I was just trying to be cheap.
Thanks Mike

Did you absolutely rule out that the rigid tapping was not already paid for? If it had a software reload, they may have just forgotten to re-enable it. As was posted before, a call to Haas should clear that up.

And secondarily, just spring for the rigid tapping if you don't already have it. On a mill, it's just too important and versatile. I didn't get it on my lathe because I was stretching to afford it, but I'll probably still crack one of these days and pay for it.

The logic for me is: on a TL-1, you can only have one tapped hole per part, but on a mill, you can have unlimited tapped holes. It would be a no-brainer choice on a mill. Even on the lathe, I haven't come up with a reasonable solution, though the tap-matic might be a good work around (though not really cheaper).

Yea haas told me it was never paid for I will be getting it when I need it or have a few extra bucks Thanks Mike

I don't know if HAAS offered that option on your particular Year/Model but on the newer machines they offer a 200 hour trial period for rigid tapping and other options.

It the previous owner never used the trial period it may still be available. Another tip is to turn it off (the option) when not using the rigid tap and you can save the 200 hours and only use it when you need it.

My rigid tapping parameter had 3 options:

0= Disabled (turned off)
1= Option paid for and turned on
T= Utilizing the 200 hour trial period

This might help you while you save up to purchase the option.

If you need the procedure to turn it on I am sure someone here can help you with that.

Just a thought.

John

Maritool has a floating tap holder for $175 or less, depending on the model. I bought one a while back but haven't used it yet so I can't tell you how well it works.

John Crawford

I do a lot of tapping using a floating tap holder like the one Maritool sells.

Here's the tapping macro I use. It slightly underfeeds the spindle so that the holder extends a little to make sure it stays in the "floating" range. You may need to tweak the underfeed setting for your machine.

(Filename: TapHole.tap)
(Taps the hole at the current X, Y location to the specified depth)
(Thread Pitch in Turns per Inch must be set)
(Z must be set at zero on top of workpiece)

G20 (Units: Inches)
G40 G90

(Set Editable Parameters)
#1=0.6 (Set Depth)
#2=32.0 (Set Thread Pitch in Turns per Inch)
#3=180 (Set RPM)
#4=0.125 (Set Rapid Height)

(Internal Parameters)
#103=0.91 (Underfeed, 0.91 -> 9 %)
#104=[#103 * 1.0/#2] (feed rate adjusted for under feed)

G0 Z#4 (Move down to rapid height)

(Make any required X,Y move)
(G0 X2 Y3)

M98 P1025 L1 (Call Tap subroutine)

M30

O1025 (Subroutine to Tap)
G95 F#104 (Set to ipr mode and set feed rate)
M3 S#3 M8 (Start Spindle and coolant)
G1 Z[#103 * #1/-1] (Tap down to compensated depth)
M5 (Stop Spindle)
M4 (Start Spindle in Reverse)
G1 Z#4 (Raise spindle at feed rate to rapid height)
M5 M9 (Turn off spindle and coolant)
G94 (Go back to ipm mode)
M99 (Subroutine Return)