Tapping head on CNC

[spluppit]

It would help if you up a pic of the exact head you have. Tapping heads come in different guises. To make sure people are barking up the right tree put up an image so people are double sure what they are dealing with.

It's not common to use the type of head you are describing on a cnc as it appears to be a self reversing head more akin to Manual tapping operation with the head.. these types of unit need the spindle to rotate in one direction only and not reverse..... so how you are programming here is key factor. It will mean you will need spindle rotate clockwise Z- x amount (sometimes a small dwell is needed at the Z - position) then spindle does not change rotation then Z + to a z up position..

Normally on cnc you will either rigid tap which is full synchronous (rotation to Z feed) I'm not a massive fan of ridged as machines can go out of calibration and there is absolutely no leeway if there is any pitch errors, either machine or tap.. The other standard method is a tension and compression tapping head. This relies on the machine reversing direction at the full Z - position.. so clockwise rotation Z- (feed tap) dwell reverse spindle, feed tap (out of the part) Z + to a safe z up height.

I much prefer tension and compression as it gives soft start and exit and gives adjustment for any pitch error with no breakages.

I hope that info is helpful