Tapered Ball Nose in Aspire Tool Database

[COBOB]

I hope I can get someone to explain this to me. I cannot find anything on the subject in Aspire Help, or on the Forum. When I installed Aspire there were tools in the database that were listed as Ball Nose. When you add a New tool, one of the choices is Tapered Ball Nose.

Obviously there is a great difference between a Straight Ball Nose and a Tapered Ball Nose. When you enter a Tapered Ball Nose it asks for things that are not in the entry for a regular Ball Nose, such as Side Angle, Tip Radius and Clearance Pass Stepover.

I doubt Vectric, being as detail oriented as they are, would have added this if it was not doing something different.

How does Aspire handle the Tapered Bits in regards to the toolpaths. It has to be doing something different.

I thank you for any information you can share. Hopefully I will hear from the Vectric guys on this matter.

[Gary Campbell]

Robert...
There are a number of posts on the Vectric forum, along with some links that show how to do this on both the Aspire and VCarve sections.

[COBOB]

Thanks Gary, I tried every search term I could think of and nothing showed up. I guess I will keep digging.

[jimboy]

Robert,
tapered Ball nose cutters are similar to slot drills, but the end of the cutters are hemispherical. They are ideal for machining 3-dimensional contoured shapes in machining centres, for example in moulds and dies. They are sometimes called ball mills in shop-floor slang, despite the fact that that term also has another meaning. They are also used to add a radius between perpendicular faces to reduce stress concentrations. In Aspire the angle and radius must be taken into account in order to produce the desired cutting result. Example: how close to the vector, Aspire will move the upper radius into various vectors. Therefore aspire must know the radius and angle of the ball nose.

[Gary Campbell]

Robert...
I agree... the search engine over there is a crappy as the one here. I will give it a shot.

You may have to get the info on your bit from the mfgr, but here is how I have mine setup. It is a Centurion. Get back to me if you have any specific questions.

Speeds & feeds need to be for your machine. Pay attention to diameter vs. radius

[gc3]

Application Data (tool description for CAM software)

Shank Diameter = 0.250"
Half angle = 6.2° (0.0313" tip), 5.4° (0.0625" tip), 3.6° (0.1250" tip), 0° (0.2500" tip),
Tip radius = nominal ±0.001"
Stepdown = Depth per Pass - use 2 x tip dia. for roughing and 0.1 x tip dia. for final cleanup
Depth of Cut (DOC) = 1.074"
Stepover (for final cleanup pass) = 0.1 x tip dia.
Stepover (for roughing pass) = 0.4 x tip dia.
Spindle RPM (SPEED) = 5 KRPM to 60 KRPM
Feedrate (IPM) = Depends on the material being cut. Do the Sweetspot Test before setting this parameter (go to: http://www.precisebits.com/tutorials/calibrating_feeds_n_speeds.htm (http://www.precisebits.com/tutorials/calibrating_feeds_n_speeds.htm)).
Plunge rate = 10 IPM to 25 IPM (again depending on material being cut)

[COBOB]

Wow, thanks guys. Everything I was looking for. Great information.

I did find out that the search engine from the main Vectric web page works a lot better than the one from the forum.

Thank you all.

[cowboy1296]

I have made a few 3d cuts using my precise tapered ball nose bits but only listed them as ball nose in the tool data base. the cuts came out fine. just this week I upgraded to Aspire (my credit card is still screaming at me) and now am trying to do the right thing.
@GENE I assume that "half angle is the same thing as side angle"?
@gary a computer question. how do you copy your open window in this case the tool data base for posting on here?

[COBOB]

Hey Rick, I am not sure how Gary does it but check this out. Real nice software and Free.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/greenshot/

[jerry_stanek]

I use print screen and the paste into paint crop and save

[cowboy1296]

I just downloaded greenshots, figured it out and now i am up and running. Thanks for the information.

[Gary Campbell]

Rick...
I use the build in "Screen Clipper" in Win7.

[cowboy1296]

Thanks for the reply, but i am still using windows xp. not sure if it is in my system. the greenshots works just fine for me.

[adrianm]

Another way is to press Alt-PrtScr and then paste the image into any program that can handle images and save it.

[fozzyber]

I really like Cropper. and it is FREE and easy to use.
http://cropper.codeplex.com/