Nerdlinger
Stainless
- Joined
- Aug 10, 2013
- Location
- Chicago, IL
Thank you for reading this! Let me start by saying we have done this op with these tools running at these parameters for decades and have never had this problem before.
Today we broke one tap, then another didn't break but we got a spindle sync error (Brother tap recovery was sexy, by the way), then broke two more.
Material is 1/2" square annealed 4140.
F drill followed up by special 5/16-12 three flute tap all the way through.
S300.
I am using an ER32 tap collet and torquing it down to 100 lb. ft. with a torque wrench.
I checked the collet and holder - everything looks good.
Checked spindle runout - dead nuts on.
Checked the F drill (hole) - dead nuts on.
Even though we have been running at S300 for years the mfg recommended S495. No dice...broke after two pieces.
We used to run this on a Haas with a different fixture that did not support that parts as close to the tapped hole as the new fixture does on the Speedio and we have run this job a couple times on the Speedio to the tune of 3,000 parts with no problems, so I doubt it is fixturing.
When I have time I am going to try running the job the old way in the Haas to see if it has something to do with taps (we ARE using a new batch of taps so I guess it could just be a mistake on their part but does that actually happen? It kind of sucks because it's a special-order tap.)
I doubt the Speedio forgot how to tap but is it maybe too much load for the spindle and therefor loosing its sync with the Z axis? I got that alarm once but the other times the tap just broke...it's kind of hard to follow the load meter because it happens so fast and it spikes when it reverses so I can't tell what's what, but is 5/16-12 in steel maybe too much for it? It is an S700 15kRPM model...but then again we made thousands of parts before with no problems....maybe this batch of material is different but I would think it would have to be VERY different to not be tappable.
Any ideas before I put it back in the Haas?
I'm considering thread milling it to get away from having to order the special taps in the future but have only done that in a tool room setting. Do thread mills last longer than taps in production? It might have to be single point since 12 is a course pitch for a 5/16 hole.
Any help would be appreciated!!
Today we broke one tap, then another didn't break but we got a spindle sync error (Brother tap recovery was sexy, by the way), then broke two more.
Material is 1/2" square annealed 4140.
F drill followed up by special 5/16-12 three flute tap all the way through.
S300.
I am using an ER32 tap collet and torquing it down to 100 lb. ft. with a torque wrench.
I checked the collet and holder - everything looks good.
Checked spindle runout - dead nuts on.
Checked the F drill (hole) - dead nuts on.
Even though we have been running at S300 for years the mfg recommended S495. No dice...broke after two pieces.
We used to run this on a Haas with a different fixture that did not support that parts as close to the tapped hole as the new fixture does on the Speedio and we have run this job a couple times on the Speedio to the tune of 3,000 parts with no problems, so I doubt it is fixturing.
When I have time I am going to try running the job the old way in the Haas to see if it has something to do with taps (we ARE using a new batch of taps so I guess it could just be a mistake on their part but does that actually happen? It kind of sucks because it's a special-order tap.)
I doubt the Speedio forgot how to tap but is it maybe too much load for the spindle and therefor loosing its sync with the Z axis? I got that alarm once but the other times the tap just broke...it's kind of hard to follow the load meter because it happens so fast and it spikes when it reverses so I can't tell what's what, but is 5/16-12 in steel maybe too much for it? It is an S700 15kRPM model...but then again we made thousands of parts before with no problems....maybe this batch of material is different but I would think it would have to be VERY different to not be tappable.
Any ideas before I put it back in the Haas?
I'm considering thread milling it to get away from having to order the special taps in the future but have only done that in a tool room setting. Do thread mills last longer than taps in production? It might have to be single point since 12 is a course pitch for a 5/16 hole.
Any help would be appreciated!!