Machining a Toroidal Propeller
We designed this Toroidal Propeller in SOLIDWORKS, programmed it in SolidCAM, and machined it on a Grob G150. The material used was 7075 Aluminum Alloy, pre-roughed with 3D iMachining and fully machined in under 4 hours.
We utilized circle segment cutters, which can be defined natively or imported directly into SolidCAM’s toolkit. SolidCAM supports all four main types of circle segment cutters: Barrel, Ball end, Lens, and Conical Barrel mills.
A Toroidal Propeller provides the advantages of noise reduction, enhanced efficiency, and increased safety. Although toroidal propellers are still relatively new, the design holds promise for expanding into more mainstream aerospace, maritime, and industrial uses as the technology matures.
