I've been restoring a bed mill from 1981, and on advise from this forum I kept the Fanuc 6MB control (vs a retrofit). I took everything apart, cleaned it, replaced all of the bearings and everything is back together.
I was tracking down a weird toolchange issue with the original machine builder (Very helpful guys over there in Shizuoka, Japan), but since the machine is so old they did not keep more than the bare minimum of documentation. I have the Machine manual, the Fanuc maintenance and operator's manual, but no wiring manual.
So here are the details that lead to my question (at the end): (and I'm probably totally wrong in what I'm trying to do, so feel free to taunt me)
The machine is a Shiuoka B-3V bed mill with a 20 tool carousel and a pneumatically driven single swing-arm changer.
This unit does not use a PLC for tool change as far as I can see, nor does it have the PC A or B boards (which I am told are the fanuc onboard PLC).
The toolchanger operates when commanded, but not intuitively.
T01 will rotate the carousel one position CW
T11 will rotate the carousel one position CCW
T02 will rotate the carousel two positions CW
T12 will rotate the carousel two positions CCW
and so on except
T10 will rotate the carousel 10 positions CCW.
T00 does not rotate the carousel.
Combining the codes with an M06, e.g.
Txx M06 will take the tool from the spindle and insert it into the current tool pod, rotate the carousel in the pattern described above, then take the tool from the new pod, and put it into the spindle.
The machine builder is certain that T codes should behave as expected (T06 calling tool 6)
My hope is that I can build a tool change macro that still calls T codes... (I know nothing about this, but here's my thoughts)
According to the maintenance manual, the 6MB has a parameter (p306 bit 1), called TMCR, for defining a custom macro called by T code.
So my question is:Code:TMCR 1: Custom macro is called by T code. (O9000) 0: No custome macro is called by T code.
If T codes work as stated above, can I define a custom macro that calls the original T code?
And more of a DIY question, what documentation do machine builders have? For example if I was building a new machine and wanted to use Fanuc controls, do they have manuals that go deeper into the control than the maintenance manual?