ROUNDer free download, ROUNDer download on software download

ROUNDER is a simple, command line based tool that will assist you in rounding over workpieces in the milling machine analogous to the method of BALLCUT for the lathe. Let's say you have a 3" x 2" x 1/4" piece of metal and I want to round off one of the 2" edges with a 1" radius. I can't do the job on the lathe for obvious reasons. There can't be any holes in the finished product so you can't conveniently pivot the workpiece against a cutter to form the radius. One approach is to rough out the radius on the milling machine using a ball-ended mill. Assume: R = radius of desired profile (1" in the example) d = diameter of ball mill r = radius of ball mill = d/2 theta = an angle (see below) Now assume the work is mounted in the vise with the 2" edge sticking up and aligned with the x axis. Assume the end of the ball mill is just touching the (center of) the 2" edge. Let theta be measured from the vertical about the center of the radius to be cut. Thus theta = 0 corresponds to the starting position just described. Now, it's easy to show that for some other value of theta, the ball mill will just be tangent to the desired radius if its position (i.e. the position of the center of the ball) is given by: x = (R+r) * sin(theta) z = (R+r) * (1 - cos(theta)) where z is measured positive downward from the starting position and x is measured +\- along the x axis from the starting position. So, if we step theta by small amounts and make cuts with the tool positioned at the x,z positions corresponding to each value of theta, we'll cut succesive "scallops" into the workpiece, each of which is tangent to the required radius profile at that angle. If the increments in theta are small enough, the resulting scallops will often be small enough to ignore. If they're not, ten minutes with a fine file will produce an acceptable finish. ROUNDER allows you to specify R, d, and the theta increment and produces a file which contains a table of the values of: (R+r) * sin(theta) (R+r) * cos(theta) (R+r) * (1 - sin(theta)) (R+r) * (1 - cos(theta)) The second and third values above may seem superfluous but not everyone may want to set up the cut as in my example. As you try different approaches, you'll find that being able to generate the other values is an asset. If you don't need them, just cross out their columns on the printed copy of the data file that you carry to the shop.

ROUNDer Related Software