What's new
What's new

Help sinking 2.5mm hex with sodick moldmaker

RITCHY

Aluminum
Joined
Dec 18, 2012
Location
Morgan Hill Ca USA
Material is stainless, I assume it's best to use a graphite electrode, but I have minimal experience sinking. What setting should work and how much undersized should I make the electrode? 2.5mm hex .079 deep with a pilot hole.
 
I do these regularly into custom adjustment screws. I use .005" ob / side with a graphite electrode.

If your machine doesn't have fuzzy, increase your gap. It will seriously help out and eliminate the possibility of arc'ing and pitting the bottom.

A trick is to cut the trode .500" or taller then use a stone to redress the electrode after roughing. I will only cut a few electrodes to burn 10's of them.
 
Not sure what fuzzy is but I know the machine will orbit in several directions, a hex orbit will require a macro? Hi Marcus I think the hex is +/- .001 with .002 filet radius and .005 on the bottom.
 
Hi Ritchy:
The very small corner radii called for, mean you can't just orbit the electrode and meet spec.
(The corner radii will be the size of the orbit plus the overburn).

This means you have two choices left to try to meet print specs.
One is to go down many times and try to pick out the corners using increasingly large trodes with increasingly fine burns.
The other way is to vector a smaller trode into the corners.

The last post I suggested this strategy on, I got a bit of a pissy response, but it's really a very good strategy, enabling very accurate size control and excellent corner sharpness.
Here's the thread:
http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/edm-machining/deep-pocket-erosion-problems-293049/

The burn is not a hex orbit; it goes radially outward into each corner in succession, burning sideways in X and Y rather than down in Z.
If you need a sharp corner between the walls and floor, you can also drop a bit in Z as you move outward in X and Y.
Since the electrode is made a good bit smaller than the cavity, it's also easy to flush.

It's not clear from your description whether you have a hole in your workpiece that will allow you to flush through the hole, or if it's just a rough drilled blind pocket to clear out most of the material before you begin your burn.
I'm assuming the latter: if that's the case you can hit your specs most quickly by making the trode small enough to drop into the hole without touching the sidewalls and then burning out sideways as I've described.
This will keep your corner wear down because the burn is distributed more evenly over the sides of the trode rather than being concentrated on the leading corners as it would be if you made the trode close to full size and burned down in Z only.
More contact surface earlier means you can put more power into the burn without wiping out the corners of the trode, so it's quite a bit faster and gives you a better result too.
Cheers

Marcus
Implant Mechanix – Design & Innovation - home
Vancouver Wire EDM -- Wire EDM Machining
Home
 
Material is stainless, I assume it's best to use a graphite electrode, but I have minimal experience sinking. What setting should work and how much undersized should I make the electrode? 2.5mm hex .079 deep with a pilot hole.


What is the application of this hex? Is it for a wrench or ??
 
Yes a 2.5mm hex wrench
Marcus the pilot hole is blind and thanks for sharing


That's what I thought. Keep it simple. Graphite electrode, cut to -.004"/ Side. Circular or 3D orbit is fine. Don't bother with a pilot hole, but if there is one then 1 trode will prob work. I burn usually approx. .001" to .002" larger overall then the wrench. Anything too much bigger feels sloppy.

Have a BRAND-NEW wrench as a test gauge. I generally check each one. This is definitely a "Fit and Function" job.
 
Thanks for all the advise! I chose to make a rougher -.008 and finisher -.002. I will try vectoring next time. One thing is for sure cutting a graphite electrode is an art form all by itself.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_2255.jpg
    IMG_2255.jpg
    89.4 KB · Views: 128
What material is that?

Why not broach them?

Used to do that all the time @ one place.

Drill hole to minor and deep enough to pack the chip in.

Make yer own broach, set-up in the ole VM, apply elbow grease ... done!
 








 
Back
Top