MEW 347 Guide Block

[Peter Cook 6Participant @petercook6]

While reading the MEW347 article on machining a set of guide blocks, I was intrigued/puzzled by the way in which the large diameter curve was actually cut in that orientation.

The clamping in picture 9 is on the mill sub table, which appears to be on a vertical mill (picture 7), but I am struggling to visualise the method used to cut that curve. Is it a CNC mill, which seems unlikley as the would obviate the need for the 3D jigs to cut the angled faces, which are the focus of the article? Or is there some other method for cutting that curve?

I would probably have placed the material on edge on the rotary table and cut it that way.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Well as nobody else has replied.

Unless it was a 5-axis CNC there are some features in that part you could not machine with a 3-axis CNC unless the work was held at specific angles. Things like the counterbored holes would need then to be vertical if a mill were to be able to get full access without tilting the head.

I suspect it is a CNC machine but the large concave cut in fig9 could be done using the ARC function of a DRO and a ball nosed cutter. This function gives you a series of co-ordinates so you can move the cuttre around the curve taking a cut (front to back) at each position.

[Peter Cook 6Participant @petercook6]

Thanks Jason, that makes sense.

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