Almost every manufactured piece has a touch of metal on it. In the same vein, some consist mainly of metals.
However, every manufacturer constantly aims for the most convenient and energy-saving procedure to cut these metals quickly.
We've done justice to this need by bringing a very effective service for cutting out metals with many benefits you will want to implement in your business.
This Service, known as the Wire EDM service, has gained and is still gaining a lot of recognition over the decades.
Do not worry if you know little to nothing about it; we've got you covered.
Read through this article to find all the information you're looking for and will need to guide you through the service.
What Is Wire EDM?
Wire EDM (EDM stands for Electrical Discharge Machining) is a metal fabrication process where distinctive and specific shapes of metal are cut out through electrical sparks produced by metal wires.
They're two types of EDM amidst different others. They are the wire EDM and sinker EDM.
We focused on the wire EDM for this article.
How Does The Wire EDM Process Work?
A thin metal wire also referred to as the electrode, is made to produce discharges (sparks) through the electrode and workpiece (metal). The metal is cut when sparks occur between the two present electrodes.
Ideally, the metal to be cut is placed in a dielectric fluid in between the two electrodes, and then it is fed by the thin metal wire charged with electric current.
The narrower and closer the electrodes are to each other, the higher the strength of the dielectric field and the intensity of the electric field in general.
Thus increasing the effectiveness of the operation as each spark separates the components from the metal.
A later operation called flushing is carried out when the desired shape has been cut out. Flushing mainly uses a dielectric or non-conductive fluid to flush out materials left lingering on the body.
What Types Of Materials Can Wire EDM Cut?
The Wire EDM process is diverse in times of materials used. From rugged, hard, and soft materials, Wire EDM is compatible with them.
For rigid materials, examples are nickel, nitinol, and exotic alloys.
The hard materials include cobalt chrome, titanium, tungsten carbide (MP35N and L605), stainless steel, Inconel 718, and Hastelloy C-276 and
Other soft materials include brass and aluminum.
The Advantages Of Wire EDM Cutting
The are so many advantages that make wire EDM an edge over other conventional processes. We discuss these important benefits below.
Improve Production Efficiency
The easier a process is, the faster it tends to be completed.
Wire EDM can save you some critical time and energy because parts can be made with one processing; the whole procedure can be set up and completed within a short period; the created details are free of distortion and burrs and are highly accurate.
All these channels into making your manufacturing work more efficient and more straightforward than usual.
All you may need is an experienced and efficient machining engineer.
No Impact Cutting
In hard materials, a lot of force, effort, and impact are required to carve out a shape. With these, the material is distorted due to stress and might wear out quickly. This makes conventional cutting terrible, especially for delicate parts.
Wire EDM tackles this problem adequately, as no contact is needed on any material, hard or soft. The material is only required to be electrically conductive.
Wide Processing Range
There can be multiple cycles producing hundreds of parts continuously.
This process sees parts being cut out in a short lead time. Hence they have easily repeated over and over again in a short while.
And since it is very convenient to set up and control, tens of other machines can be presently working at the same time.
With these benefits, manufacturers can produce a wide range of parts quickly.
Low Requirements on Product Shape
Wire EDM requires little to no other thing to carve out different shapes of products or after carving out.
The EDM machines require little additional fixturing compared to other tooling machines.
Obtain High Tolerances
Wire EDM is more reliable in obtaining high tolerance for parts than plasma, laser, or flame cut. This is because it doesn't apply force to the material, making it carve with high accuracy with the specific dimension needed.
With this extra finishing improving accuracy and dimension after machining is not necessary.
Applications Of Wire Cut EDM
Today, Wire EDM applications can not go unnoticed in so many industries. Such as the Aerospace industries, automotive industry, medical industries, Injection Molding industries, etc
● Manufacture of Thick Parts: Ranging from thick to hard materials, wire EDM is more beneficial for the type of part. Hence manufacturers fully make use of it mainly because no impact occurs and surface finishing is smooth. In case of impacts, it will distort a thick material because high impact force is needed to cut it out or deform intricate parts
● Cutting of Complex Shapes and Narrow Slots: Industries are also used when they want to cut complex shapes with intricate dimensions. This is because the cutting mechanism being an electrically charged wire, can cut through the most complex materials easily. Holes and narrow slots are also covered.
● Shaping of Delicate Materials: All delicate materials for Industries like the medical space that do not need any form of impact or force because they can shred or deform are cut using Wire EDM.
● Shaping of Parts that Require Extreme Tolerance: Due to the accuracy behind this process, Industries and operations that require extreme tolerance parts shaped uses Wire EDM to achieve that.
Conclusion
In as much as wire EDM is a beneficial service, you can only fully use its benefits if you use the best types of equipment handled with experience.
At Ares Rapid, we offer one of the best Wire EDM services today. Since practicing these services for decades, we have accumulated tens of engineers with a quality experience.
Contact us today to carry out your wire EDM service with our next-generation tools.
FAQ
What are the advantages of wire EDM over conventional EDM?
Wire EDM is preferably to cut very thick parts of hard materials. Unlike conventional EDM, it does not distort or deform the material, where another tool will be needed to smooth it.
What’s the difference between wire EDM and laser cutting?
Although both processes are good for precision cutting, laser cutting is suitable for thinner material cutting, while wire EDM is suitable for thick and stiff material cutting.
Why has wire EDM become so popular in the industry?
Many times manufacturers will need to cut shapes in-between tight spaces and where there's rigid tolerance. Also, they may need untouched or smooth surfaces (e.g., jewelry industries).
Wire EDM has taken care of these needs effectively
Is wire EDM a CNC machine?
CNC technology is responsible for the control of the path that the wire for cutting the parts moves for accuracy and precision.
