Hi,
I am setting up a small prototyping shop on a budget and I was wondering about buying a wire EDM but my main problem right now is floor space. I heard a lot of good things about Brother HS-50A and it’s pretty much the only machine I found that is both cheap on the used market, well regarded and has a relatively small footprint.
The biggest difference I found is surface roughness. Newer machines specify sub 1micronRa (like for example I checked one of the older Fanuc’s alpha models with 0.5 umRa) and Brother specifies 3umRa. With a used machine and a noob operator (ie. me) I’m guessing it will be worse than the spec. I don’t really have anything to reference this kind of differences, so I’m going to ask more experienced machinists - what are examples of jobs where surface finish difference like this would matter? What are the jobs I won’t be able to do with Brother HS-50A vs some newer machines?
And to give a concrete example - I wanted to machine some specialized multifix QCTP holders for lathes. I know they are cut on EDM, so it seems like a good fit. I don’t think they need micron level accuracy, but when you put them in and out of the tool post everyone expects a smooth action. If you have experience with both older and newer machines, do you think it could be a problem in practice? Ie. do you think cutting a multifix holder on a machine like Brother HS-50A would make any difference in its usage?
I am setting up a small prototyping shop on a budget and I was wondering about buying a wire EDM but my main problem right now is floor space. I heard a lot of good things about Brother HS-50A and it’s pretty much the only machine I found that is both cheap on the used market, well regarded and has a relatively small footprint.
The biggest difference I found is surface roughness. Newer machines specify sub 1micronRa (like for example I checked one of the older Fanuc’s alpha models with 0.5 umRa) and Brother specifies 3umRa. With a used machine and a noob operator (ie. me) I’m guessing it will be worse than the spec. I don’t really have anything to reference this kind of differences, so I’m going to ask more experienced machinists - what are examples of jobs where surface finish difference like this would matter? What are the jobs I won’t be able to do with Brother HS-50A vs some newer machines?
And to give a concrete example - I wanted to machine some specialized multifix QCTP holders for lathes. I know they are cut on EDM, so it seems like a good fit. I don’t think they need micron level accuracy, but when you put them in and out of the tool post everyone expects a smooth action. If you have experience with both older and newer machines, do you think it could be a problem in practice? Ie. do you think cutting a multifix holder on a machine like Brother HS-50A would make any difference in its usage?