Single Point Threading with a Mill Boring Head

[Hugh Man]

This may be a stupid thing to ask but I can't find much at all about this online. Has anybody tried threading using a mill boring head?

I have a thread form similar to a square thread that I'm trying to cut and the part needs to be done complete on a 5axis mill. Thread milling isn't going to cut it since the flank don't come out nice and perpendicular to the center axis and instead the resultant geometry kind of radiuses out. I've seen some posts on practical machinist that suggest a 5axis cut along the thread path with the thread mill but I don't think this will cover sufficient depth without shanking.

But with a single point tool, a boring head basically mimics a cut on a lathe, the only major difference vs how a boring head seems to normally be used would be feeding in at the pitch. The boring head can be adjusted to cut more off center to take rough vs finish passes.

Have you heard of this being done before? Or do you have any tips for thread milling shallow flank angles/ undercut thread geometry? Thank you.

 

[enginesrus]

Give it a try and let us know how well it works, you would need to feed in and stop and back off the tool to extract it, then adjust and cut more etc. , you need the servos to sync like they do on a lathe for threading. It maybe a parameter change in the control that is needed.