[pete2271]

Got a '93 Makino KE55 with a FANUC 20FA controller. Manual lists Helical Interpolation, but every time we attempt to use it, we get an error 21 or 28 for 'illegal plane'. Looks like a lot of similar controllers have to have parameters turned on to enable helical interpolation. Anyone know if the FANUC 20FA supports helical interpolation? Does it need a parameter turned on to support it?

Tried a lot of stuff, but a typical helical looks like:

G17 G02 X1.0 Y1.0 I0.5 J0.5 Z-.1

Tried a bunch of variations on that, with no Z it'll do a circular interpolation just fine, but every time I add the Z param it lead to the 'illegal plane' error.

Any ideas?

The machine will do G1 moves with all 3 axes, so I am thinking of writing a program to generate a helical approximation using a ton of tiny G1 moves, but can't imagine that will work all that great. May be better than nothing. Would love to be able to do helical interpolation properly on this machine.

[generaldisarray]

Here is a 2.25dia circle origin is the center. Starting at Z zero going .50 deep .10 pitch. .500 endmill with wear comp.

%
O1000
(TTTT)
(DATE=DD-MM-YY - 07-09-18 TIME=HH:MM - 13:24)
(T2|1/2 FLAT ENDMILL|H2|D2|TOOL DIA. - .5|WEAR COMP)
G20
G0 G17 G40 G49 G80 G90
(1/2 FLAT ENDMILL|TOOL - 2|DIA. OFF. - 2|LEN. - 2|TOOL DIA. - .5)
T2 M6
G0 G90 G54 X-.5701 Y.0058 S3500 M3
G43 H2 Z.25
M8
Z.1
G1 Z0. F60.
G41 D2 X-.8163 Y.0492 F40.
G3 X-.825 Y.05 I-.0087 J-.0492
X-.875 Y0. I0. J-.05
X0. Y-.875 Z-.025 I.875 J0.
X.875 Y0. Z-.05 I0. J.875
X0. Y.875 Z-.075 I-.875 J0.
X-.875 Y0. Z-.1 I0. J-.875
X0. Y-.875 Z-.125 I.875 J0.
X.875 Y0. Z-.15 I0. J.875
X0. Y.875 Z-.175 I-.875 J0.
X-.875 Y0. Z-.2 I0. J-.875
X0. Y-.875 Z-.225 I.875 J0.
X.875 Y0. Z-.25 I0. J.875
X0. Y.875 Z-.275 I-.875 J0.
X-.875 Y0. Z-.3 I0. J-.875
X0. Y-.875 Z-.325 I.875 J0.
X.875 Y0. Z-.35 I0. J.875
X0. Y.875 Z-.375 I-.875 J0.
X-.875 Y0. Z-.4 I0. J-.875
X0. Y-.875 Z-.425 I.875 J0.
X.875 Y0. Z-.45 I0. J.875
X0. Y.875 Z-.475 I-.875 J0.
X-.875 Y0. Z-.5 I0. J-.875
X0. Y-.875 I.875 J0.
X.875 Y0. I0. J.875
X0. Y.875 I-.875 J0.
X-.875 Y0. I0. J-.875
X-.825 Y-.05 I.05 J0.
X-.8163 Y-.0492 I0. J.05
G1 G40 X-.5701 Y-.0058
G0 Z.25
M5
G91 G28 Z0. M9
G28 X0. Y0.
G90
M30
%

[pete2271]

Thanks general, I will try that code and see what happens. What is interesting to me about that code is that the Z commands are not on the same line as G3. I suppose that makes sense since G3 is modal. Not sure if it would matter to the controller or not, but perhaps it needs to have that first line 'G3 X-.825 Y.05 I-.0087 J-.0492' not have a Z command and then subsequent ones will work? I will give it a shot and see what happens.

[Al_The_Man]

P.M. sent
Al.

[generaldisarray]

No Z at the start because its not Helical entry. Those are lead in arcs. Same at the end.

Whats REALLY interesting is that Makino still sells this KE55!?

[pete2271]

Ok I understand the lead in arcs, makes sense. Will try to run your code. Suspect I will still get the error unfortunately, but will give it a shot.

Makino does still list the KE55:
https://www.makino.com.sg/product/ke55/

Not sure if they still sell it or not. We got an old one off craigslist for about $4k. Heck of a machine for that price, thing is a tank weighs some 6600lbs. Barely fit into our shop. Crushes aluminum. Not as easy to use as mach3 (most of my experience is on a crappy home built cnc router, please don't laugh me off the site...), but I got DNC4U working with it after making a parallel cable. Made a few parts and now we need some big 4" threads.

[pete2271]

Kind of a cool old machine too, got the old conversational style with the pulse generators, so it can be used like a manual knee mill. But we're gonna be mostly doing g-code. Including helical interpolation, hopefully.

[mikeman03]

I know this is old but for posterity it will do helical interpolation, but it’s an option that may be turned off. It was off on ours and we changed the parameters to add it.

I believe Macro B is an option that can be turned on as well I just haven’t figured out how to do that yet, any help there would be greatly appreciated!