Category : Fanuc
These are the different CNC programming examples we have both turning and milling.
Category : Fanuc Fanuc Turn New Stuff
I recently got to train someone on one of these, a Webster & Bennett with Fanuc 10t Control.
It’s what I crudely call a big bastard. But bastard it is not, it can definitely machine some big shit
Like this monster.
Don’t ask me what it is or I would have to kill you. Joking aside I think it’s a water valve. Beware these jacuzzis use a lot of water,
The machine is a Webster & Bennett vertical borer and I think the Fanuc 10t control was possibly a retro fit.
When these start whizzing around even a few RPM it can scare the living shit out of even the most seasoned engineer. And me, well I,m more seasoned than a piece of Nando’s chicken.
Anyway joking aside your best buddy now is definitely G50 get this wrong and it’s fuckin world war three.
Imagine the scenario, you program G96 S180 M3. Spin at 180m/min. Not too fast but…. what if the tool is sat in the middle of the part.
Machine says “come on lads happy days foot to the floor flat out joy riding” and it fucks off like two teenage boys in a stolen Lamborghini.
So without a G50, or the wrong speed, this beast will accelerate to it’s maximum rpm.
Oh and did I Mention it’s harder to stop than a P & O Criuise Ship with 4000 obese pensioners on board?
Category : Fanuc
If you have ever used local subroutines on Heidenhain or Yasnac. Then you will know how convenient it is to save all your programs in one go. No need to remember to save all those shitty little external sub programs.
If you are now saying “what the fuck is he on about”. Here is an explanation.
A local subroutine or subprogram is where you stuff all your subprograms at the end of your main program.
So on a Fanuc control if you were making this part below.
Thing is the code is just repeated three times. I have nice round numbers in here like X40. and Y20. so it’s easy to notice mistakes. But if it was X40.392 for example you wouldn’t spot a slight mistake.
The M98 P500 calls the external Fanuc Subprogram. Read this if you don’t know about sub programmes.
Saves you having to repeatedly write shit loads of code.
So that’s why we use a Fanuc Subprogram. But……
You have to look after these bloody things and they seem to be able to just get lost on their own.
You find them at the back of the fridge sometimes along with a piece of mouldy old cheese. At least you can make a meal of the cheese.
So this is how it looks with a Local Subroutine.
All you need to do is replace P with Q. So mind your P’s and Q’s as they say.
The Q corresponds to any N number. So you could have loads of these stacked up at the end of your programme and you only need to save it once. All this shit will go with it and you don’t need to worry about it ever again.
Of course Mr Haas sorted this out years ago with M97, this calls a local sub. M98 calls an external program. It’s on all Haas machines and you definitely do need to fuck with any parameters.
There are PARAMETERSÂ involved. Arrrrrrrrrrrh……..the dreaded PARAMETERS
To call a subroutine on your Fanuc control. You first need to make sure that Bit 0 of parameter 06005 is set to 1
This should make it work. If it doesn’t then maybe you should call the Samaritans.
It’s only on the newer controls by the way.
Sub programs on a Siemens control.
If you have been affected by any of the issues in this post or need CNC Counselling then contact me.
If you want to learn to program CNC Milling Machines
Background edit, I only really get to hear about background edit when people get stuck in it. It’s a bit like being accidentally locked in a toilet you feel a bit of a twat and very embarrassed in equal measures.
This button is your closest friend
Now I made it real big because one day it will save your life.
You know when you play Monopoly and you get one of those cards that says “GET OUT OF JAIL FREE”
If you get sent to jail you just present this card and your sentence is immediately quashed it’s a bit like having Donald Trump as a mate.
It doesn’t work for shop lifting by the way I tried it as a child when I nicked a tin of Spam from the Coop. Fortunately in those days the police were never involved as they knew your parents would beat you to within an inch of your life at the slightest hint of petty larceny.
Anyway press this button all your woes will cease.
And if that doesn’t work this one is the nuclear option.
The first one is for the program you’re actually background editing. Don’t forget you can have more than one program that you are background editing, more on this later.
Anyway this button stops them all, a clean sheet as it were.
The reason people get into such a mess with this is because you can actually get into background editing by accident it’s easy.
If you are in a folder and you press INPUT then whatever program your cursor is on immediately comes up for background editing.
If you do this a few times then you can have several programs on the screen to edit.
You can switch between these programs and edit any one. You can copy and paste between them which makes writing programs from templates really easy.
Use the FORWARD and BACKWARD softkeys to switch between programs
To escape this lot you need the help of this key
This will end it all.
Yes background edit is really useful, maybe amazing is stretching it a bit, but it does have many uses. Editing a few programs together is the bit I like.
If you want to edit whilst you are running a program then that’s also useful.
Don’t hit the fuckin reset button!!!!
Obviously this will stop everything so why would you do it?
Well maybe you are one of those very naughty boys who uses it to get to the head of the program when editing.
When in background edit it’s easy to press reset except this time you just stopped everything because your program is running.
Use rewind, some controls have a rewind button
use this to get to the head of the program.
On other controls it’s LINE SEARCH 
then press TOP or BOTTOM 
This will take you directly to the head of your program or the end of your program.
Nothing is stopped and no one is harmed.
It’s an absolute pain in the bollocks mainly because it is so easy to accidentally get into background edit and not even realise.
You keep pressing the MDI button and the screen just wont change. If you have Guide i then you will get a warning when you switch over and you can’t do anything until you end it.
To be honest I don’t hate it at all. You just need to be aware that you need to come out of it to do various other things.
If you want to use a program for reference. In other words you want to look at what’s in it but you need to be careful not to alter it.
Press BG EDIT 
then type in your program number
Press REF EXEC 
Your program will appear in green meaning it is “read only” so you can’t accidentally alter it.
You can also call your running program in background edit. This will also appear in green and be read only.
Category : Fanuc Useful Stuff
To take a Screen Shot Fanuc, you will need to have either a data card installed or a USB
In MDI I/O channel needs to be set (4) data card or (17) memory stick
Press and hold the shift key for about 10 seconds. You will see the clock stop. That’s how you know it worked. Time will stand still at this point and all the people around you will appear static.
Try not to panic, the world didn’t end. Your control just needs to ponder a while and think about what you just did.
Once it’s done your clock wil start again (phew).
Then press CARD
Screen will show what is on the data card
The BMP files are your screen shots. You can then view them on your laptop or PC.
Now I know you are saying “what is the fuckin is the use of that”
Well It’s just so that I can show off my knowledge.
If this does not work then you may need to alter parameter 3301 bit zero and bit 7 need to be 1
Should look like this to make it work.
A good use is when you are changing parameters. There’s nothing worse than changing a parameter and trashing a £100,000 machine. Help is at hand, luckily you did a screen shot before you changed the parameter and you can view it and change it back.
With this parameter it wont work because you need to switch it on!!!
Good luck with the massive dent in the guarding and the bent tool. No screen shot will fix that.
Screen capture Fanuc, thanks for reading.
