[Ed from NY]

Did not want to hijack the webinar thread... but....

You are actually dead on the money about where the pineapple grenades are going. Now I gotta figure out the best way to get it done, 4th Axis using the unwrap, or 3D toolpath with some indexing.

Have you figured it out already? Any tips on the decision making process?

What mill are you using? Is the 4th axis reasonably solid?

[SBC Cycle]

Did not want to hijack the webinar thread... but....



Have you figured it out already? Any tips on the decision making process?

What mill are you using? Is the 4th axis reasonably solid?

Hey, thanks for the interest Ed. I'm not settled yet but I'm leaning towards using the 4th axis as a simple indexer. It's very solid, my machine is a Fadal 4020 and the 4th is also made by Fadal. The weak link is my 4th tailstock that I stole off of a Harbor Freight mini lathe that a friend was scrapping (best place for it in my opinion but that's another topic) but I think it will do the job.

When it comes to doing something "one-off" that I'll probably never do again, sometimes the quickest way is the longer way... but it's easier to do so it's actually quicker.

Did that make any sense???

So in other words, I might tackle it using techniques that I'm familiar with so I can get it done but it will take a lot of machine time. I think I'm going to rotate it 4 times and use slice planar on each side until it takes shape. I can start with just round stock and let the toolpath cut everything but I might be a long time trying to polish it out. Other alternative is to turn the profile in the lathe and only use the 3D toolpath inside the little valleys. I need to check the simulation on it to verify two things:

1: Can I get an acceptable finish if I run the whole thing in the mill?

2: How long is it going to take?

If we are talking hours of difference in machine time, I think I will go ahead and set it up on the lathe to turn the profile. It will probably look a lot nicer too.

That's where I'm at right now. In the Webinar thread I voted 4th axis because I'm still trying to wrap my head around the unwrapping thing. I'm also not sure if a simple V cutter will give me the shape I want. It might not work like I though it would.

[Ed from NY]

Other alternative is to turn the profile in the lathe and only use the 3D toolpath inside the little valleys

That is what I was thinking as well. Turn it then bring it to the mill for the rotate, lock, mill, rotate, lock, mill, etc. The valleys are a perfect point to hide any imprecision of the A axis.

I think the mill lines in the finish would need to be polished regardless. Not sure how to do that. Would it come out all right if you tumbled it? Never did that

Anyway, let me know how it goes. It is an interesting part

[Edit]

Nice machine BTW.