When does it make sense to use an EDM machine?

As an entrepreneur in the metal fabrication industry, you are always looking for ways to add value for your target market.

While traditional machining tools have served you well in the past, your customers have recently been submitting specialty orders your present equipment just can’t handle.

After an evening of intensive research, you have learned about electrical discharge machining, or EDM, which might be the solution you have been seeking.

If you are contemplating the acquisition of a machine edm drill, this article will discuss how this tool can help you take your business to the next level.

1) Machining a piece with thin walls

In recent years, EDM technologies have enabled the rapid creation of delicate metal implements. Surgical tools, satellite parts, and microwave horns all require thin bodies to function as intended.

Traditional machining tools are unsuitable for this specific job, as these pieces need to be cut to fragile tolerances – lathes, mills, and drills apply too much force to be reliably used.

EDM machines are a better choice, as the electric current created does not impart the physical force, vibration, or deformation which makes conventional options unworkable.

2) Creating or repairing non-round molds

Conventional machine tools can be used to create molds with few problems – so long as the mold has rounded edges.

When a client requires a mold that has square edges or other tricky shapes, wire and sinker EDM machines can achieve better results. Why? EDM electrodes don’t have to rotate, making it far easier for it to melt away excess metal to create the exact shape the client wants.

3) Creating tiny parts

Advancing technology has been enabled by the continual miniaturization of materials. Traditional machining carried our civilization to where it is now, but advances in successor technologies like EDM have made it possible to reliably produce tiny parts with a high level of quality.

The non-existent mechanical force and vibration that electrical discharge produces allows it to craft pieces with tolerances as small as a ¼ of an inch or less.

As a result, we are now able to mass produce delicate medical and dental tools, watch parts, and other tiny implements with a level of quality that was unthinkable just a few decades ago.

4) When a specific material can’t handle conventional machining

We have become dependent upon electronics in our modern age. These devices are run by circuit boards comprised of tiny parts which are composed of delicate metal. As you might imagine, they can’t be machined using processes developed generations ago.

EDM machines can handle this difficult task with ease, as the lack of force and contact means that only excess material is removed, with no unintended damage done to the end product.

In short, if you want to start crafting graphite electrodes for circuit boards or lead frame dies, acquiring a wire or sinker EDM is a must.