Engraving around a cylinder

[musall37]

We have a TM-1 (3 axis mill) in our school and would like to engrave around a cylinder. We have become very familiar with the 2-d engraving and would now like to take it to 3-d. Any advice?

[Boots]

You will need an indexer that is a true 4th. axis with the machine. In other words the machine must know what angle your part is on at all times. It can't be an indexer that will just index a certain amount on each command but the machine will have to move while the indexer is rotating and remain in the cut. This cannot be done with just a 3 axis mill. Your tool needs to be perpendicular to the work at all times. This can be done on a 5 axis machine with out an indexer but you won't be able to go all the way around the part because you will have to hold onto it some how. So tell your Teacher they need to get a bigger Machine and put it into the buget. You will also need the software upgrade to go with it.

[Delw]

if your not going more half way around a cylinder it can be done with a 3 axis machine
you need to wrap your geometry around a cylinder in your cad procram.

you can use auto cad also and just made some edits to the numbers( pain in the butt but doable)
Also doesnt the newer haas mills have this feature already in it?

for the tooling with geometry like that use a 270º ball endmill smaller the better.

Delw

[Boots]

Wouldn't your depth be hard to control as you work around the part the machine will be required to make X,Y, and Z moves simultaniously. The Y and Z both will be machining the depth of the engraving. What is a 270 degree ball end mill. Never heard of such a thing. Are you talking about the inclination angle ?
If I were trying that I might use a small Ball Nose Mill with a Pencil Neck so the shank will not rub when cutting the back and front sides. But getting the depth correct would be more problamatic then one might think untill you try to do it that is.

[Donkey Hotey]

Originally Posted by Boots What is a 270 degree ball end mill. Never heard of such a thing.

Originally Posted by Boots If I were trying that I might use a small Ball Nose Mill with a Pencil Neck so the shank will not rub when cutting the back and front sides.

[awerby]

Originally Posted by musall37 We have a TM-1 (3 axis mill) in our school and would like to engrave around a cylinder. We have become very familiar with the 2-d engraving and would now like to take it to 3-d. Any advice?

[With a 3-axis mill, you can engrave along the long axis of your cylinder, one line of text at a time. You will need to prepare a model of your cylindrical stock and save it as STL. Then you can use a 2d operation in DeskProto to project the text curves (saved as DXF) onto the top of the cylinder and generate the G-code. You just need to hold onto the cylinder while this is happening; you don't need to turn it. If you wanted to add another line, you'd have to release it, turn it by hand, then resecure it before starting to engrave it. You can try this for free, using a demo version of DeskProto available from DeskProto.com. We offer generous educational discounts for DeskProto, if you decide to buy it for the school.

To engrave around the axis instead of along it, or to engrave multiple lines of text lengthwise in the same operation you'd need a 4th axis rotary table, or indexer, and a tailstock to support the other end of your cylinder. For this, another CAM program would work better; I'd suggest VisualMill with the 4th axis module. We sell that too, as well as the RhinoCAM plug-in for Rhinoceros, but they don't offer a demo capable of posting code, although you can use the demo to see how this works. There's special academic pricing available for those products as well.]

All the Best;

Andrew Werby
www.computersculpture.com

[Delw]

Originally Posted by Boots Wouldn't your depth be hard to control as you work around the part the machine will be required to make X,Y, and Z moves simultaniously. The Y and Z both will be machining the depth of the engraving. What is a 270 degree ball end mill. Never heard of such a thing. Are you talking about the inclination angle ? If I were trying that I might use a small Ball Nose Mill with a Pencil Neck so the shank will not rub when cutting the back and front sides. But getting the depth correct would be more problamatic then one might think untill you try to do it that is.

You had me going nuts for a minute thinking they werent called 270º ball endmills LOL

http://www.harveytool.com/products/p...ting+End+Mills

Crap wont let me upload the pic, but yes the inclination angle also known as undercuting endmill.

as far as depth its no harder than doing a slot or groove/lines etc etc, as your cad program will put the text on the exact diameter. now providing you indiacated that part in exactly and are dead center on the part.

Meshing used to me a commonly used way to do this as well, ie project your text to the mesh of your part. there is also programs that have wrapping that will let you manipulate it so you DONT have to use a 4th axis.
Again this is only for less than 180 degrees of a cylinder
hope that all made sence

heres a better example
take a micrometer and only engrave half of it. you can wrap the numbers at any angle around it not going more than half of the cylinder (with out a 4th axis)

Delw

[HelicopterJohn]

I could be wrong but on my 2007 TM-1P I had the option to order the wiring for a 4th axis. Don't know if that option is available for the TM-1 and what model year that may have started. I think the cost was about $2500.00.

Then you would need an 5C indexer or rotary table. They are pretty expensive. I believe the 5C indexer is in the $8000.00 range.

Then you would need the software for (true 4th axis work) which can also be pretty expensive.

You may want to check with your local HAAS HFO and see it this configuaration for your machine is available providing the funding for such a purchase.

John

[JaredR1]

what is the OD of the cylinder and are u trying to go all the way around it? my father worked for western pnumatics he told me they ofter engraved the part#ncompany name in full with the logo all the way around the shafts the produced. i will have to ask him i dont remember if the used a lathe with live tooling or 4th axis.