Wire EDM Info Needed

Hi guys, I'm a brand new Newbie here looking for your input/suggestions. I am looking to buy a used wire machine or possibly job out wire EDM work. My parts are 1.5 dia. roundbar anywhere from 7.5 to 9.5 long but needing a hole pattern through the length. I assume they need a pilot hole for the wire. The tolerance needed is only about +/- .001 on size but need as little taper as possible, preferably under .001. The material is 4140 or 17-4. My question is are there wire machines that have this Z capacity with a fairly small table? What should I look for in models and price? Thanks in advance for your help

The Charmilles 300 Series (non-submerged) I think have that much z travel. A new 310 is around $180k. That's the only brand I know. At that price you may want to farm this stuff out.

What diameter are the holes? The biggest problem you might come up against is drilling the pilot hole and keeping it straight. The thinner, the more difficult.

If it's a large enough diamter that it won't require a secondary WEDM operation to finish and straigten the holes, you might be able to just use an EDM drill (aka, hole popper) to do the entire job.

What's the application for this? Sounds like an interesting part!

Mits.

If you know of a holepopper to make a hole 7.5" deep with less than .001 taper and .001 diameter tolerance, I'll buy 2. Otherwise WEDM is necessary.
From what I've seen, more Z always comes with larger X and Y, so don't think there is anything in the way of small table, large Z.

None that I know of Seymour, but sometimes when people see the price they change their specification to match the cost

The part has one hole, .700 dia with 2 lengthwise keyways, 180 degrees apart .440 wide out to a 1.0 major diameter. If any of you are shooters look at any bolt action high power rifle action. The big guys broach this hole, but tooling cost is pretty high with no guarantee they won't break the broach. I know for a fact that some small custom makers wire EDM this hole. I have a quote around 100 each but that seems high considering the final cost of the finished part and the remaining machining required. The tolerances might not have to be this tight. Thanks for your help.

Should have known from your name it was a gun part, thus needing high accuracy. I'm a little slow as I have been sick for a few days, I apologize for that.

$100 doesn't sound bad for that job at all, a 7.5" tall workpeice will cut VERY slow. In fact, it sounds rather cheap.

Have you considered talking to a gunsmith or gear manufacturer that might have the correct broaching equipment? Might cheapen things up a bit.

I am looking for the same think that Gundoc 1 is after. I want a small travel x,y edm with about 16 inches of Z travel. I know a guy in Portland Oregon. Grant has just bought a new Charmilles with that big Z travel and he said it was 180,000 dollars. I want to do similar things as Gundoc but longer and bigger.

How long would it take to cut out an interior profile with wire edm that was similar to a rifle action only 16 inches long. How much power does a wire machine use on 230 3 phase? I want an electronic band saw for cutting interior profiles.

I wonder if I could get a machine made in Tawain with to do this project.

JCBINC.

The short answer is;

It can't be done, at least not on the small travel inexpensive used machine you would be looking for. They won't have the requisite height.

If I take the .700 daimeter with two keyways example, from above, at 16 inches, you are burning approximately 40 square inches. Older machines burn as slow as 5 square inches per hour, in shorter parts, with ideal flush. In your application, that burn could take 10-12 hours to rough, and several more to trim.

On the newest high speed machines, designed for tall parts, you might rough that in an hour and a half, and another hour to trim. That is if you're willing to spend a couple of hundred thousand.

In general, people with no EDM experience who buy used machines, with no training or support, struggle mightly to make them work, much less reach proficency. The forum is full of posts from such people looking for parts, manuals, technology settings and other critical items, to try and get their machines running.

If you're still determined to persue it, post again, and I'll give you some directions to head in.

Cheers!

Roy Solomon

I would gun drill the bore then EDM or broach the keyways, gun drilling will hold tolerance easily and provide a better finish. Might be able to use standard broaches (7/16 wide) after gun drilling?
RK

JCBINC, you might talk to EDM Network.
When we were shopping around for a new machine they told me they could have one of their Chmer line custom built to our specs.
I have no idea how much the machine you're looking for would cost.

Thanks all. I am going to talk to my favorite dealer in Oregon, Miller Machine Tool Sales. I always say that if I had any extra money he got it and then his wife got it. I had no idea about the burn time. Considering what power and time plus wire would cost using an wire edm as a band saw is probably not the best idea. I will visit Miller and look what he has to sell. I would want a new or fairly new used machine. I still am interested in trying to make this idea work.

John