Adding a Tapered Ball Nose Bit

Hi Forum, I’m trying to add some tapered Ball Nose bits to my inventory. Do I add them as a straight cut, Upcut, Downcut or a V-Bit (being they are tapered) There doesn’t seem to be a category for Ball Nose?

Well easel doesn’t support tapered ball bits or any ball bits natively. You could enter it as any of those endmill options youve listed but easel will not account for the taper angle of the sides.

Actually those options you listed for the endmills are really just there to help the user differentiate from various saved settings and the selection of the flute style doesnt actually effect the toolpath generation.

If I were to enter it i would enter as any of those endmills using the tip width and then limit the depth to only carve as deep as the tip radius. Going any deeper and the bit angle will over carve the top, going any shallower and the carve area will be undersized.

Thanx Seth, I sort of get what you mean entering it as an endmill using the tip width, but isn’t the tip width the same as the radius? The bit for example is R0.75mm x 3.175mm x 15mm (in inches is R0.029in)
I have entered it as a straight cut, just giving the tip size as 0.29, but I also entered it as a V-Bit with a 6.4° angle, which should allow for the taper, shouldn’t it?
I suppose all I can do is experiment?

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the radius of a circle is only halfway across. The width to use (When entered as an Endmill) is the Diameter, not the radius.

This is a sort of crude sketch, BUT the Diameter is the total width of the tip, the Radius is only half of that width.

VBits in Easel are entered with the MAXIMUM Width of the cutter and assumed to come to a perfect V at the tip. That “Width” setting in Vbits is not Tip width but rather MAX Width of the cutter. . .
for this Bit for example, My favorite VBit the Amana RC-45711, it would be entered as a 11/16" Width and a 90deg.

Using it as a Vbit will generate imperfect toolpaths because of the V TIP missing from that bit to make it a True V Bit. Which will result in OVER removal of material when a Tapered Ball Bit is entered as a VBit.

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