how would I machine this?

[Alex_W]

Hey I am new here and I am looking to be a machinist for a career. I am young as in like 17 so i am still in school and im taking an apprenticeship for a machinist. Hopefully I get accepted but anyways here is what I want to know. I found this project somebody made on the internet and was thinking of how I could make this. Since I have a milling machine at my school I was hoping I could try and make it but I don't know how I would go about doing this. My guess is that they drilled holes on each face of the cube and made 4 more smaller ones doing the same thing and welded them together but that is me. Anyways the site is this http://lloydleung.com/gallery/Past%2...4_Cube_1.5^3/#

[ZipSnipe]

I believe they bore out each side...

[widgitmaster]

That is a cute CNC demo, of how a cube is step milled from all four sides leaving the smaller cubes attached at the corners!
Yes, that can be done on a Bridgeport mill too, just use a rotary table and crank your arms off!

Eric

[Geof]

You can machine it on a lathe using a four jaw chuck. Take the solid cube and bore a stepped hole into one face; rechuck it on another face and bore the same stepped hole, etc, etc until you have done the hole on all faces. It is necessary to be careful because as you remove material you cannot grip it very tight or it will distort.

[One of Many]

That is called a turners cube. It can be done in a 4 jaw chuck on a lathe. It can also be done in a mill with a boring head or interpolated in steps. That is how I did mine many years ago.

These dimensions can be critical in relation to the 3" cube. It is better to be .050 over 3" than .005 under. The smaller cubes get very thin at the corners.

DC

[sanddrag]

Instead of a boring bar, couldn't you just plunge into it with a center cutting endmill?

[lwill]

A shop we deal with made these as Xmass orniments for their clients. Not sure what machine they used, but the first layer is accually under cut slightly. You might concider using plastic or wood and using forestner bits of the right size.

[Mcgyver]

At first glance I thought the same as One of, but on study I wouldn't call them turner's cubes in the sense that the cubes are not detached - its a straight bore vs the undercut - in a turner's cube, the cubes are all detached; cubes inside of cubes. I made one years ago, will try to snap a pic tonight. mine is 1" sq, of brass and is three cubes done manually in the lathe. the turner's cube requires undercutting vs the pics that looks more like a boring job. you need to grind up a bore bar as an internal grooving tool to get the under cut - its actually the facing cut of this bar that forms the face of each cube. you make plugs to hold the thing together while you cut subsequent cubes. IMO brass is good as it machines easily - low cutting forces and good finish

[fkaCarel]

This was the way I made it. It's clamped at the edges.

[marcel beaudry]

or you could do one like this made out of wood it is 5/8 high

[dvsmac]

I made one of those cubes MANY years ago in a 4 jaw chuck and an old engine lathe......made it from cast iron and when it was finished 1 god tap broke all the cubes free it amazed a lot of folks back then (35 yrs ago now)

[tobyaxis]

A friend of mine made those on a regular lathe in 6 setups. They took a while to make.
I made these about 4 years ago out of brass360.It's a Symetrical Circle. 6 pieces that hold each other together. These were a lot of fun. 7/16 brass rod in a 6 Axis Swiss Screw Machine all tolerances were held +-.0002. One main program linked 6 sub-programs. The Swiss Spit 1 complete puzzle every 5 minutes. I made around 100 puzzles on a Saturday

BTW; One Key holds them all together.

Their are tons of projects like these.