Tooling

We are thinking about getting a edm to cut our carbide form tools.Can someone that wires their carbide tooling tell me what to expect(finish,toollife,ect.)
Thanks

I can't speak for tool life because I am not into using production carbide tools, but I know the Agie machines will cut Carbide to .05 Ra finish and .1 Ra is common. I don't think you can grind anywhere near that good.

TMD

You should be able to get excellent tool life.
Just make sure you are using the right cutting conditions for carbide or you'll have a chipping problem.

Rob D

Give Sodick a call

Kearney Machinery in Nashville is only about 1/2 hour from where you are in Hendersonville, I'm sure one of our salesman and applications engineers from that office would be more than happy to show you what our Mitsubishi machines can do in carbide.

The phone number there is (615) 332-7400 and I'm pretty sure the salesman there is Peter Browne.

Hnixon,

If you are really serious about this don't forget to have ALL the EDM dealers do a test cut for you and COMPARE them. Agie excells in carbide.

TMD

I make a lot of form tools for turning and milling on our Mits wire EDM machines, they work great. The Mits will perform just fine in carbide. The machinist needs to do his part with speeds and feeds, just like any other machineing situation.

Bill

Are there still the issues concerning Cobalt depletion, using WEDM to cut carbide ? A friend was selling Mits machines in the 90's, & had told me that it was a problem with some machines...

If he was talking about some of the early 90's machines available without an Anti Electrolysis power supply then yes, colbalt binder depletion could have been a problem as it would be for any EDM without such technology. I'm pretty sure that it was still an option during a portion of the early-mid 90's.

All of the new Mitsubishi machines have a pretty advanced AE power supply that virtually eliminates the typical problems of microcracking and recast associated with EDM in carbide. Many die shops aren't even finish grinding carbide anymore, it goes straight from the EDM and into production with excellent results. With newer technology WEDM you should have nothing to worry about when it comes to cutting form tools

I have cut carbide tooling on a Charmilles 440. In addition to their tech settings, support suggested lowering the dielectric value to 5 (from a normal 15). This was to lessen the cobalt depletion and the chance of micro fractures.