considering purchasing a smallish wire edm.

I machined some prototype parts that could easily be made on a wire edm. The competative rate to mill them traditionally is around $600, I may have an order for 15 of them in the future.

I figure I could buy a 3,000 used wire edm, put it in my basement and have some cash left over to figure it all out and have an edm of my very own when I'm through.

I'm looking along these lines:
http://www.machinetools.com/mt/machines/detail.tmpl?ListingID=10651914499695312

In Short, Am I Nuts?

thanks.

if the machine works it would be a good buy, but that seems like a very low price i would cheek it out carfully. also will you need tooling for it? what about a chiller? do your have the proper power requirements in your basement for this machine? what about the local zoning requirments in your area?

Yes that seems like it would be a great machine for your purpose. Have you ever run a wire? The consumables can be quite high.

The wire CHARMILLES that I ran used diamond wire guides. I think about 2000.00 per set there were lots of wear parts along the wire path and carbide rollers and contacts. The water conditioner required quite a bit of maintainance. There are alot of little things that can cost alot.

If you buy it cheap and expect to pay for consumable parts and supplies you should be fine. It would be great to have someone from a service company look it over to determine how much it needs before bringing it home. If you can find some one that really knows about this model to look it over you may save yourself some headaches.

I think it is a real buyers market. No need to buy the first one you see. I like the brand and have gone to their Chicago school for training. One of the things they stressed that they supported all machines they sold even the old stuff.

thanks for the reply,
No I've not had any training. I've SEEN a wire edm running ONCE

I'm a professional solid modeler, a once upon a time sys admin, and a full time hobbiest.

I had posted that pic as a general size / type reference really. I don't want to go that far (illinois to missippi) for an uneducated look at an unknown. Threre seem to be alot of machines in the chicago area for sale by two used dealer networks. that would probably be more practical.

I figured if I could get away with something decent for around $7000 total that that would be worth while.

I had looked up older posts on the subject and seen recomendations for agie 100 series machines.

I only have 240v single phase power. I'd like to move it through an entry door.

what Zoning requirements? it runs brass wire in de-ionized water, how dangerous is that? I really have no idea.

I figure nobody would ever suspect it's down there unless they saw it.

I have a vertical mill and a lathe allready.

You may need to worry about electro magnetic interference during spark erosion, particularly on the older machines. Radio and broadcast TV in your neighborhood will be affected and the FCC may get involved. A Faraday Cage around the area with the EDM will negate that problem. Filters MUST be
disposed of using an outfit like Safety Kleen or some other environmental salvage outfit. You MAY NOT put them in the trash.
EDM water MUST be handled that same way if you change it. No down the drain due to
possible heavy metal content.
I have run wires since '87 and would love to have a garage one to supplement my 2 mills,
Sherline CNC, 2 lathes, surface grinder, bandsaw, Belt sander, pedastal grinders and buffers and rotary engravers, but I don't.
You're not nuts. That's why you asked here 1st. Now you have food for thought.