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Lower guide wire travel

noobicon

Plastic
Joined
May 14, 2019
Hello, I am building a mini Wire EDM at a small scale and I haven't had the chance (yet) to study a real wire edm machine. All my knowledge is based on documents, youtube videos and so on. What I would like to know is when the AUTO threading is enabled on a machine, the wire travels through a water jet aimed at the lower guide (correct me if I am wrong) and after that I would like to know how the wire travel up to the cutter. Is the wire inserted through a small diameter tube and after it travels a certain distance , roller driven by small motors are taking the wire to the cutter?
 
Oh for fucks sake really...

Your top rollers feed the wire through the too and bottom heads, there are rollers in the lower head to guide the wire into the tube to the back of the machine where there are another set of rollers. All of these aid in the wire tension while feeding it.
 
plastikdreams

do not give people a hard time for an honest question.

On the Sodick AG600Ls that I run the wire gets shot from the upper head by the threading jet into the lower head.
A guide roller turns it, with another waterjet, to go thru the lower arm tube to the back of the machine
At the back of the machine a set of rollers pull the wire thru, those rollers drive the speed of the wire.
The rollers on the front of the upper head apply the back tension on the wire.
The only jets of water during actual cutter operations are the upper and lower flushing heads.

Hope that helps clarify operation of, at least a Sodick, wire edm.
 
I have also heard of some new wire edm machines that use a continuous loop of Tungsten wire. While it would be more expensive, you would not have to deal with wire scrap. Also tunsten wire would be less prone to breaking because of its very high tensile strength. Disadvantage of tunsten wire is price and cutting speed is lower.
 
Hello, I am building a mini Wire EDM at a small scale and I haven't had the chance (yet) to study a real wire edm machine. All my knowledge is based on documents, youtube videos and so on. What I would like to know is when the AUTO threading is enabled on a machine, the wire travels through a water jet aimed at the lower guide (correct me if I am wrong) and after that I would like to know how the wire travel up to the cutter. Is the wire inserted through a small diameter tube and after it travels a certain distance , roller driven by small motors are taking the wire to the cutter?

;)
WHY!!?? :rolleyes5::skep:

How the heck are you going to achieve WEDM accuracy (.0005"-.0002" easy) in a home built machine?
 
;)
WHY!!?? :rolleyes5::skep:

How the heck are you going to achieve WEDM accuracy (.0005"-.0002" easy) in a home built machine?

Do NOT under estimate what a keen amateur can achieve in his workshop if suitably motivated. Miracles have been achieved by some.
 
plastikdreams

do not give people a hard time for an honest question.

On the Sodick AG600Ls that I run the wire gets shot from the upper head by the threading jet into the lower head.
A guide roller turns it, with another waterjet, to go thru the lower arm tube to the back of the machine
At the back of the machine a set of rollers pull the wire thru, those rollers drive the speed of the wire.
The rollers on the front of the upper head apply the back tension on the wire.
The only jets of water during actual cutter operations are the upper and lower flushing heads.

Hope that helps clarify operation of, at least a Sodick, wire edm.

I did and I will...It's an asinine request and proposal. We get a lot of it around here, it's been done before though.

Tungsten wire eh :nutter: closed loop wedm uses a molybdenum wire in a continuous spool. Sounds interesting but there's not much info on it really.
 
I too, am disappointed to see an EDM newbie asking for advice and being treated unfairly. By that, I mean I believe it was a a simple and honest question asked by an obvious newbie (Hint: his screen name is "noobicon"). After being met with profanities and insults from an experienced member with 1,600+ posts, on his very first post, why would anyone bother to come back? Really? What is this forum for?

No one knows it all... even if you think you do. I'm just asking for a softer tone and reception, please.

Getting back to the technical (which I am much better at, but not sorry for my rare opinion, above); As for the "reciprocating" WEDM references... I've reposted my earlier reply from different PM thread regarding Chinese machines of this type:

These are marginally accurate machines (±.001") that cannot approach the performance, accuracies or surface finishes of the ones you mentioned. Unlike most designs that uses a brass-family wire only once, this machine uses a reciprocating, moly wire many times. After passing through the workpiece, the wire is rewound onto a second spool until it is fully transferred. It is then reversed and used again until it becomes too worn to be accurate.

I have seen several versions of these machines (Including versions from AGIE and Charmilles) in Latin America and in Asia. Almost all were running single-pass, production parts that were to be tumbled or undergo some other finish improvements. None had an auto-threader and none were submerged.

Every machine of this type I’ve seen appeared to run quite dirty with heavy sludge deposits on the workpiece and throughout the work area. This is mainly due to the lack of submerged cutting and the absolutely-tiny dielectric system (see pic), so very “greasy” chips accumulate everywhere. During this process, the wire too is contaminated, but it is rewound and used over and over, contaminating both spooling devices. Wire tension is manually controlled by a hanging counterweight on the pulley system (see pic).

Finally, I don’t know how long a spool of pure moly wire will last in this machine, but I do know the cost of a spool of pure moly wire. Unless you are a hobbiest or gunsmith who will finish and hand-fit your parts at your leisure, I don't see this machine being competitive.

paperclip.png
Attached Thumbnails

New: I hope these thumbnails copied ok. If not, I have these and more photos of this design if anyone is interested.

Please listen to
andrewmawson and do not scoff at any "hobbiest", as that is how Thomas Edison (with 1000+ patents), Steve Jobs and many others began.

Bud Guitrau
 
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