RE: Generating a Sphere

Another way of generating a sphere is to tip the head of the mill and use a
fly cutter. Mount the work on a rotary table. The lowest point of the
flycutter's path should be right on the axis of rotation of the rotary
table.

This is the standard way of generating spherical surfaces in optical work,
it is capable of very high precision, probably with a better finish than you
can get with a ball end mill.

Alternatively you could tilt the base of the rotary table if you didn't want
to tilt the head of your mill.

regards-
Elliot B.


From: "Michael Milligan" <zen11777@...>
Subject: RE: Generating a Sphere

Bob

This can be done by manual coding on
some CNC machines but have you thought about
using CAD/CAM. With Dolphin CAD/CAM this is
quite a simple task. Email me off list and
I will provide a full explanation.

Regards

Michael
Dolphin CAD CAM Ltd

-----Original Message-----
From: Bob Bachman [mailto:bobach@...]
Sent: 10 October 2003 04:26
To: CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Generating a Sphere

I need to generate a 2" diameter 1/2 sphere in a block of aluminum
to create a mold. I have a Milltronics Partner 3 axis cnc mill. How
do I go about programing this. I assume I need to use a ball end
mill (3/4"?) and make a series of decreasing concentric circular
passes until I reach of a depth of 1".

Bob

[

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