4 ms·
A ball-end mill wouldn't be the best tool for this, they're meant more for 3d contouring. They've probably just used a normal endmill and interpolated each hole
by defterGoose 7y ago
A ball-end mill wouldn't be the best tool for this, they're meant more for 3d contouring. They've probably just used a normal endmill and interpolated each hole or used an appropriately sized drill. And at the volumes they're manufacturing, waterjet or laser-cutting (not as good for aluminum) are likely the method of choice.
- jacobolus 7y agoA waterjet / laser cutter makes no sense as a way to cut a hemispherical hole. It seems highly likely there is a ball end mill involved in getting the final smooth shape (maybe after roughing out the holes with a cylindrical tool). The main question is whether the ball is the same size as the hole, or a bit smaller (which would require it to move around in little spiral paths instead of just going in and out once).
- defterGoose 7y agoA waterjet/laser makes plenty of sense if you're interpolating anyway. And ball Mills aren't designed for plunge cutting, so using two different tools would be a suboptimal solution. Since the holes have no features in the z dimension, there's just no reason to use one in this particular case. Edit: ok, looks like it is hemispherical, so you're right. I had thought initially that it was two layers of offset circular holes.
- londons_explore 7y agoInspecting a finished product should answer this question?