Thank you, this works well for the immediate issues. I am happy to learn about signed distance functions.
FYI, I am trying to make a plugin that will chunk out pieces of the object (sphere) to be used on a CNC mill; the mill is limited in size for the size of material it can work with. Therefore, if this breaks up the surface of the object within these cubes, then it will bool the surface from each one that is intersecting. Those will be milled and then physically recombined. Kind of a long exercise to learn python in c4d.
If you have other suggestions (I'm sure there are better solutions) -- they would be much appreciated.