On Sun, 24 Jan 2010 17:09:17 -0700, wrote:

On Sun, 24 Jan 2010 17:02:36 -0600, Tim Wescott
wrote:

On Sun, 24 Jan 2010 13:36:42 -0800, mac wrote:

My Garmin NUVI 500 for my bicycle uses a ball mount. The one that I
purchase from a third party is hollowed plastic and broke from
vibration. I adapted the broken piece to my light bar and it broke again
at the ball.
I toyed with several methods. One buy a ball turning tool, two find a
ball and mount it to a post. The ball was .670 inches and I didn't find
any one that size.
I decided to make a form tool for a section and move around the ball
shape. The critical section is smooth as the female move up to the major
diameter and that the major diameter size is maintained. The down side
also needs to be smooth for a short distance. I Machined a rectangle
piece of aluminum leaving the head 3/4 inches, in three direction. The
post section is 3/4 X 1/2 inches. Pictures are here.
http://www.billcotton.com/nuvi500.htm

Making a bunch of taper cuts to rough out the sphere, then filing it
'round' on the lathe may work well, too.

That's exactly how I did it. It's not a precision thing, doesn't even
have to be very round. Mine is still a bit oversize and tight. I'll
whittle it down a bit more if I find that it needs it.

Wayne

If you have a mill, a tiltable indexing head or rotary table and care
to provide a valid email addy, I'll send you an article I wrote, in
PDF format, about making balls and spherical cavities with a
flycutter. I didn't invent this technique and I acknowledge and
credit the previous article mentioned by another poster. I merely
tried to discover and teach how to do it since previous documentation
was vague. I derived the various formulae I presented, and verified
them both theoretically and in the shop.

I have reported examples of my work with this technique to RCM by
reference to my website. I've since removed in favor of more current
activities but will rehost if anyone is interested.