Friday, May 31, 2013

Mill: Machining an Arc on a Manual Mill

I don't have a rotary table for the mill (yet) but wanted the ability to make an arc if I needed. The easiest, thought tedious, way is breaking down it into tiny segments with a discrete X and Y movement. If it's broken down small enough, then you can approximate a smooth arc very closely.

To find what the movements were, I created a spreadsheet which computed the ratio of X and Y to the length of the arc at every half of a degree. Therefore, if you know the circumference of the circle that arc you want is a segment of, then you can calculate how far you need to move X and Y for that half degree.

To use the chart I calculate the circumference of the circle (2r*pi) the arc is a segment of and divide it by 720 to get the length of each half degree of circumference. I then imagine a circle on the table, with angle 0* parallel with the Y axis, and find what angle relative to 0* I want to start the arc at. I'll first multiply the X ratio by the length of the half degree and move my X that amount. Then I multiply the Y ratio by the length of the half degree and move my Y that amount. I then step to the next half degree and repeat the process until I've reached the angle I want to finish my arc at.

As you probably noticed the chart doesn't tell you which direction to move, just the amount needed to move.

The spreadsheet I use:
Circle.xlsx


Angle Ratio X Ratio Y
0
0.5 87 0
1 76.39 0.01
1.5 45.83 0.02
2 32.73 0.03
2.5 25.45 0.04
3 20.82 0.05
3.5 17.61 0.06
4 15.26 0.07
4.5 13.46 0.07
5 12.03 0.08
5.5 10.88 0.09
6 9.93 0.1
6.5 9.13 0.11
7 8.45 0.12
7.5 7.86 0.13
8 7.35 0.14
8.5 6.9 0.14
9 6.5 0.15
9.5 6.14 0.16
10 5.82 0.17
10.5 5.53 0.18
11 5.27 0.19
11.5 5.03 0.2
12 4.81 0.21
12.5 4.61 0.22
13 4.42 0.23
13.5 4.25 0.24
14 4.09 0.24
14.5 3.94 0.25
15 3.8 0.26
15.5 3.67 0.27
16 3.55 0.28
16.5 3.43 0.29
17 3.32 0.3
17.5 3.22 0.31
18 3.12 0.32
18.5 3.03 0.33
19 2.95 0.34
19.5 2.86 0.35
20 2.79 0.36
20.5 2.71 0.37
21 2.64 0.38
21.5 2.57 0.39
22 2.51 0.4
22.5 2.44 0.41
23 2.38 0.42
23.5 2.33 0.43
24 2.27 0.44
24.5 2.22 0.45
25 2.17 0.46
25.5 2.12 0.47
26 2.07 0.48
26.5 2.03 0.49
27 1.98 0.5
27.5 1.94 0.52
28 1.9 0.53
28.5 1.86 0.54
29 1.82 0.55
29.5 1.79 0.56
30 1.75 0.57
30.5 1.71 0.58
31 1.68 0.59
31.5 1.65 0.61
32 1.62 0.62
32.5 1.58 0.63
33 1.55 0.64
33.5 1.53 0.66
34 1.5 0.67
34.5 1.47 0.68
35 1.44 0.69
35.5 1.41 0.71
36 1.39 0.72
36.5 1.36 0.73
37 1.34 0.75
37.5 1.32 0.76
38 1.29 0.77
38.5 1.27 0.79
39 1.25 0.8
39.5 1.22 0.82
40 1.2 0.83
40.5 1.18 0.85
41 1.16 0.86
41.5 1.14 0.88
42 1.12 0.89
42.5 1.1 0.91
43 1.08 0.92
43.5 1.06 0.94
44 1.04 0.96
44.5 1.03 0.97
45 1.01 0.99
45.5 0.99 1.01
46 0.97 1.03
46.5 0.96 1.04
47 0.94 1.06
47.5 0.92 1.08
48 0.91 1.1
48.5 0.89 1.12
49 0.88 1.14
49.5 0.86 1.16
50 0.85 1.18
50.5 0.83 1.2
51 0.82 1.22
51.5 0.8 1.25
52 0.79 1.27
52.5 0.77 1.29
53 0.76 1.32
53.5 0.75 1.34
54 0.73 1.36
54.5 0.72 1.39
55 0.71 1.41
55.5 0.69 1.44
56 0.68 1.47
56.5 0.67 1.5
57 0.66 1.53
57.5 0.64 1.55
58 0.63 1.58
58.5 0.62 1.62
59 0.61 1.65
59.5 0.59 1.68
60 0.58 1.71
60.5 0.57 1.75
61 0.56 1.79
61.5 0.55 1.82
62 0.54 1.86
62.5 0.53 1.9
63 0.52 1.94
63.5 0.5 1.98
64 0.49 2.03
64.5 0.48 2.07
65 0.47 2.12
65.5 0.46 2.17
66 0.45 2.22
66.5 0.44 2.27
67 0.43 2.33
67.5 0.42 2.38
68 0.41 2.44
68.5 0.4 2.51
69 0.39 2.57
69.5 0.38 2.64
70 0.37 2.71
70.5 0.36 2.79
71 0.35 2.86
71.5 0.34 2.95
72 0.33 3.03
72.5 0.32 3.12
73 0.31 3.22
73.5 0.3 3.32
74 0.29 3.43
74.5 0.28 3.55
75 0.27 3.67
75.5 0.26 3.8
76 0.25 3.94
76.5 0.24 4.09
77 0.24 4.25
77.5 0.23 4.42
78 0.22 4.61
78.5 0.21 4.81
79 0.2 5.03
79.5 0.19 5.27
80 0.18 5.53
80.5 0.17 5.82
81 0.16 6.14
81.5 0.15 6.5
82 0.14 6.9
82.5 0.14 7.35
83 0.13 7.86
83.5 0.12 8.45
84 0.11 9.13
84.5 0.1 9.93
85 0.09 10.88
85.5 0.08 12.03
86 0.07 13.46
86.5 0.07 15.26
87 0.06 17.61
87.5 0.05 20.82
88 0.04 25.45
88.5 0.03 32.73
89 0.02 45.83
89.5 0.01 76.39
90 0 1

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