Inexpensive EDM "Tap blasters" - Anyone have one, any experiences ??

Engineshop · Feb 5, 2021

Hey guys,
I was not sure if this was the correct forum but here goes. I have been looking at reasonably priced EDM tap removers such as this one:

US Stock Portable EDM Broken Tap Extractor Machine EDM-8C Metal Disintegrator | eBay

My main use for it will be removing steel ball oil galley plugs in automotive cylinder heads. Also for removing broken bolts and studs from heads. The oil galley plugs are typically about 3/8" diameter and are extremely hard. Very similar to ball bearings. I have attached a picture of the type of plug I am dealing with.

Thanks for any advice,
Bill

jyd12f · Feb 9, 2021

we supply 3 different models of these and are USA based for support.
contact [email protected]
website - Number one stocking supplier for wire and sinker edm consumables

jyd12f · Feb 9, 2021

TR100 Broken Tap Remover

tdmidget · Feb 10, 2021

Engineshop said:
Hey guys,
I was not sure if this was the correct forum but here goes. I have been looking at reasonably priced EDM tap removers such as this one:

US Stock Portable EDM Broken Tap Extractor Machine EDM-8C Metal Disintegrator | eBay

My main use for it will be removing steel ball oil galley plugs in automotive cylinder heads. Also for removing broken bolts and studs from heads. The oil galley plugs are typically about 3/8" diameter and are extremely hard. Very similar to ball bearings. I have attached a picture of the type of plug I am dealing with.

Thanks for any advice,
Bill

If I'm seein what I'm seein then the balls are retained by swaging the edges of the hole to hold it in. The EDM tap and drill removers work by burning a hole that encompasses the web of the tap or drill allowing the remaining material to be fractured and removed. It appears that this will leave you with a ball with a hole in it still retained by that swaged rim.

pb1 · Feb 11, 2021

I was going to reply with the same points tdmidget pointed out. Perhaps if the hole you burn through is large enough you'll be able to break the ball up and pull the pieces out.

Engineshop · Feb 11, 2021

tdmidget said:
If I'm seein what I'm seein then the balls are retained by swaging the edges of the hole to hold it in.

Actually they are not swedged. They just press the balls in and supposedly it deforms the aluminum enough that they stay there. I have taken a couple out a while back by grinding them with a diamond bit in a Dremel tool but it took forever. On those I just tapped the hole for a 1/8" npt plug to seal them back up.

What I was hoping the edm tool would do is pretty much burn the entire ball out. There is easily enough material left to tap the hole. I am fairly sure it would work ok.

My main reason for the post was to see how the less expensive machines actually work as compared to an Electro Arc machine which is pretty much out of my price range.

Engineshop · Feb 11, 2021

jyd12f said:
we supply 3 different models of these and are USA based for support.
contact [email protected]
website - Number one stocking supplier for wire and sinker edm consumables

Based on my pictures, which one of your machines would you recommend ?

Ray Behner · Feb 11, 2021

I own a Cammann Mfg. disintegrator which will be warp speed faster than the one you're picturing. Of course mine weighs 750 pounds. The transformer is as big as that entire Chinese job. I paid $400 for it....working. There's one (same as mine) on ebay for too much money and looks somewhat butchered. Electro-arcs are damn nice as well. There's one of them on ebay as well. Might be worth a look.

Electro-Arc Model 1SQT Metal Disintegrator Bolt & Tap Remover 440v | eBay

I only know of those Chinese jobs and have heard they are almost powerless. Would like to see a real video of it operating.

Engineshop · Feb 11, 2021

Ray Behner said:
I own a Cammann Mfg. disintegrator which will be warp speed faster than the one you're picturing. Of course mine weighs 750 pounds. The transformer is as big as that entire Chinese job. I paid $400 for it....working. There's one (same as mine) on ebay for too much money and looks somewhat butchered. Electro-arcs are damn nice as well. There's one of them on ebay as well. Might be worth a look.

Electro-Arc Model 1SQT Metal Disintegrator Bolt & Tap Remover 440v | eBay

I only know of those Chinese jobs and have heard they are almost powerless. Would like to see a real video of it operating.

And that is exactly why I made this post. I have been looking at the Electro Arcs too. Most of the decent ones on Ebay are all 440 volt for some reason. There are a couple on there right now but are either missing parts or broken, at least the ones in a decent price range I can afford.

thermite · Feb 11, 2021

Engineshop said:
And that is exactly why I made this post. I have been looking at the Electro Arcs too. Most of the decent ones on Ebay are all 440 volt for some reason. There are a couple on there right now but are either missing parts or broken, at least the ones in a decent price range I can afford.

MONEY is the limiter? When, ever, was it NOT?

How much TIME do you have? And how OFTEN do you have the need?

Before ANY of this electric s**t even existed, Old OLD OLD Skewl mentors would have us go retreive a tiny bottle of... ta da... Nitric Acid .. with an eyedropper stopper.. and the ignorant wax to protect whatever it was we did NOT want et through. Storage space was smaller than a half-gallon of milk.

Wasn't fast. WAS effective. Very.

Cheap, too. Very.

Even "not FAST" could be same-day. Not a whole week.

Basque, Persians, Egyptians, Phoenicians, Scythians, Keltoi (Romans included..) .. ancient Hindu, Tamil, Koreans, Japanese.. Chinese (is there any OTHER kind?) used this s**t long before they knew WHY it worked ... or even what it really WAS! Egypt sent scouts out by water to gather special gravels from the alluvium of some of Africa's great rivers. Didn't know what natural "industrial" Diamond WAS. Only that it worked.

Guess yah could class the lot of 'em as "Practical" machinashits.. even if a mite "previous" as to getting ahead of their times?

Run with .... whatever yah can get your ever-impoverished hands on!

So I still have.. more than just the one type of acid. DO have a care as to what gets in what what ELSE, wilyah?

I did say OLD Skewl?

Cheapskate, Iyam!

steve-l · Feb 12, 2021

I have an old German one that I bought used from a friend for 100 Euro. It works very well. It is a box that is about 12" x 16" x 20" and weighs around 35 lbs. It is 220 volts. This box connects to 4" diameter device that mounts in a drill press chuck or equivalent The box has a connection for a garden water hose. The box provides both water and power to this head. On the end of the head is a collet that accepts a copper tube. This thing makes a mess, so I use a junk drill press That I leave outside in my driveway under a cover, but it works very well.

pb1 · Feb 12, 2021

Engineshop said:
Actually they are not swedged. They just press the balls in and supposedly it deforms the aluminum enough that they stay there. I have taken a couple out a while back by grinding them with a diamond bit in a Dremel tool but it took forever. On those I just tapped the hole for a 1/8" npt plug to seal them back up.

What I was hoping the edm tool would do is pretty much burn the entire ball out. There is easily enough material left to tap the hole. I am fairly sure it would work ok.

My main reason for the post was to see how the less expensive machines actually work as compared to an Electro Arc machine which is pretty much out of my price range.

At the 5 o'clock position on both of those holes it looks like the OEM use a punch to move the material enough to retain them.

AJ H · Feb 12, 2021

There's a 220v Electro Arc at HGR for $540. You run the risk that it doesn't work, but it's cheap enough to take a chance and in the end at least you have a quality product worthy and capable of being fixed not some wang-chung thing

DDoug · Feb 12, 2021

Engineshop said:
And that is exactly why I made this post. I have been looking at the Electro Arcs too. Most of the decent ones on Ebay are all 440 volt for some reason. There are a couple on there right now but are either missing parts or broken, at least the ones in a decent price range I can afford.

buy-a-xformer....simple single phase unit, not very expensive.

DDoug · Feb 12, 2021

jyd12f said:
we supply 3 different models of these and are USA based for support.
contact [email protected]
website - Number one stocking supplier for wire and sinker edm consumables

if your going to spam, please include the prices.....

jyd12f · Feb 12, 2021

digger doug said:
if your going to spam, please include the prices.....

answering a question is not spamming, you can click on the website or email for more information. we have supplied over 200 of these to shops and they work for broken tap removal.

jyd12f · Feb 12, 2021

Are the parts small enough to ship via UPS?

ship one to me and i will test cut it.

[email protected]

Engineshop · Feb 12, 2021

pb1 said:
At the 5 o'clock position on both of those holes it looks like the OEM use a punch to move the material enough to retain them.

I am not sure what those marks are but out of the 8 balls in two cylinder heads they are the only ones.

dalmatiangirl61 · Feb 12, 2021

jyd12f said:
answering a question is not spamming, you can click on the website or email for more information. we have supplied over 200 of these to shops and they work for broken tap removal.

So, how long does it take to burn out a 1/4" tap 1/2" deep?

bryan_machine · Feb 12, 2021

Digger - what is "a-xformer"?

Inexpensive EDM "Tap blasters" - Anyone have one, any experiences ??

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