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EDM Drill time

keurb

Plastic
Joined
Dec 10, 2014
Location
Rockford, MI
I've only ever ran one EDM drill ever and I'm curious as to how efficient it is.

So my question is how long (on average) should this take with the correct settings?

1.5 mm hole through 2" of hardened 420 SS (50-54 RC)

Takes me on average about 30 minutes
 
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That seems like that is much to slow. Lots of questions here. What machine and power capability, electrode material, the condition of the machine, condition of the water system, doe's it have good flush pressure, good spindle speed. I do holes like that in around 5 minutes or so.

Bill
 
Something is wrong. That shouldn't take more than a few minutes.

What is your flushing pressure? Brass electrode?

PM
 
30 minutes? Wow!!!

Sure, I have a 75Amp generator, but 2" of steel is sub 5 minutes, Stainless maybe 3 at most.
 
Sorry for the delay.

Brass no core electrode
Charmilles HD-8 25 amp in decent condition with brand new pump
good flush pressure and spindle rotation speed (I think) not sure if that's adjustable

With the 1.5mm electrode I use these settings
On time 60
Off time 30
Current 15
Capacitor 0
Gap 3
Speed 1.8
Pressure 45-50 kg/cm2
 
Parameter change?

Brian Pfluger,
I tried those settings but it was slower and barely even burning.
Sounds like parmeters are not correct for material and maybe electrode? I ran HD8 drill and it was a very solid little machine.
Do you have manuals and there should be settings listed for material/ electrode selection. We are using some new oil in our hole popper and it makes crisp clean holes in Carbide and drills much faster . Maybe slightly slower in steel. But better results and seems like less recast also. Which helps with wire breaks on the Edm lead in cuts.
 
JTB3,
Yeah the settings that I posted are straight from the manual for brass to steel so I'm not really sure where to go from here.
 
I agree, that shouldn't be more than a few minutes. Have you tried just messing with numbers and see what it does? I would try upping the current and maybe the gap a bit. If nothing works, I'd say you have a physical problem with the machine.

Looks like those are the machines Chmer built for Charmilles, we have 3 of them, they are solid and should definitely be burning faster than that.
Maybe the brushes in the head that supply power to the electrode are worn, or a bad board.
 
wdevine,
I have tried messing with the numbers a little bit with not much luck. Do you have any suggestions on what numbers I should try?
I'm not seeing any information in the user's manual on the brushes. I'm wondering if I should contact Charmilles as much as I don't want to.
 
Got a hold of someone at Charmilles and his response when I told him what machine I'm calling about "Oh, we haven't sold or supported that machine in a long time. I don't know anything about it or anyone here that does."
Does anyone know someone in the great lakes region that services Charmilles machines?
 
Definitely sounds like a mechanical or electrical issue. Give EDM Network a call. They are based out of Chicago and are the distributor for Chmer, and I'm pretty sure that is a Chmer built machine. I think they also have an ex-Charmilles guy working there too. 630-466-5588
 








 
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