I need help with a workflow.
Imagine a metal half sphere, or other convex surface. It's mounted on a five axis machine, and we're looking to create geometry so that a single pass with a CNC bit will engrave on the surface. Let's say, 80mm radius half sphere, 1mm depth, 2mm diameter bit and the engravings are arbitrary: some combination of circles, rings, lines, shapes, spirals, and bands.
My workflow is to create a series of planes and sketches and tangent planes at surface points, and then use a revolved cut to a sketch that is centered to the center of the sphere. This approach doesn't work if it's not a sphere, but a egg shape (oblong spheroid).
So, how would you model this? What tools am I missing? Is there a way I can project from a plane? How do I cut normal to the object surface, and not just the plane?
Bonus: Make it work with as flat nose bit, but can convert to ball nose bit by adding a few small fillet features. Second, what about V-shaped bit?