newbie question about wire EDM

C

cmjohnson

Hot Rolled

Joined

Jan 22, 2009

Location

Central Florida

• Jan 28, 2009

• #1

I'm curious about something about wire EDM.

1: Do any EDM machines use a take-up spool to handle the used EDM wire?
Because so far, all the EDM machines I've seen just dump the wire into a
garbage can, which is hardly space-efficient.

2: Can the wire be reused even one time? If so, how many times can
it be reused before it's no longer strong enough to be reliable?


CJ

 

T

TheMetalDoctor

Titanium

Joined

Oct 26, 2001

Location

San Jose, Ca. USA "That light at the end of the tu

• Jan 28, 2009

• #2

CM

Wire is sacrificial when going through the cut. It would not handle another pass so no machines have a take up spool as far as I know. If you were to take a hi-mag photo of the wire after it has been through a cut you would know that it cannot be used again. The wire after being used once is a different size than you started with, has lost its coating (if a coated wire) and has lost its tensile strength and is only good for scrap.

TMD

 

K

KilrB

Stainless

Joined

Feb 18, 2007

Location

Angleton, Texas

• Jan 28, 2009

• #3

The old Charmilles/Andrew machines do use a take-up spool.

As TMD has pointed out, there are more than a few reasons that the wire cannot be used a second time.

 

precisionmetal

Stainless

Joined

May 16, 2005

Location

CA

• Jan 28, 2009

• #4

cmjohnson,

Here is a microscope photograph of .010" CobraCut B wire before/after it's been through a cut.

 

H

Hollistergc

Hot Rolled

Joined

Aug 29, 2006

Location

Cincinnati, Ohio

• Jan 28, 2009

• #5

Can always count on PM for great photo's!!!!

I'll only mention that the wire retains about 95% of its weight for scrap value. Also Some WEDM's have a chopper that chops the used wire into small pieces... Great for space but adds another maintenance item to the machine and I heard that scrap rates vary and may be less in certain areas for the chopped wire, BUT may be higher in other areas...

 

Dan Fox

Aluminum

Joined

Oct 2, 2006

Location

Lakewood, Ohio

• Jan 29, 2009

• #6

Take-up reels went away with the advent of automatic wire threading; getting the wire to thread through the guides and workpiece was simple compared to getting it to tie itself to the wire on the take-up reel! The solution of sending waste wire to a hopper was not space-saving, but rather a good way to avoid making an already complex system even more so.

Reusing wire is a snap! You just have to send it back to be recycled first...

 

D

Dcrouch

Cast Iron

Joined

Jul 23, 2004

Location

Pocomoke, MD

• Jan 29, 2009

• #7

The old Agie DEM-315 (?) used a take up spool.

 

H

Hollistergc

Hot Rolled

Joined

Aug 29, 2006

Location

Cincinnati, Ohio

• Jan 31, 2009

• #8

Dcrouch said:

The old Agie DEM-315 (?) used a take up spool.

Click to expand...

Never that I knew of... DEM 250's and 315's always a used wire box... Even the earlier DEM 15 and DEM 15/30's used a wire box.

 

S

schill

Plastic

Joined

Jul 13, 2008

Location

california

• Jan 31, 2009

• #9

I run a 1984 Agie 315 dem3 and it has a used wire spool.

 

H

Hollistergc

Hot Rolled

Joined

Aug 29, 2006

Location

Cincinnati, Ohio

• Jan 31, 2009

• #10

Hmmm,

Maybe I recall incorrectly... Left Agie in late '84....

I sat back... closed my eyes, thought back and DO remember that they had take up spools... D Fox is correct, take up spools went away with the introduction of threaders - no way to automatically re-tie the wire once it was broken... Sorry, my memory is not what it used to be...

Greg

 

Last edited: Jan 31, 2009

Dan Fox

Aluminum

Joined

Oct 2, 2006

Location

Lakewood, Ohio

• Feb 2, 2009

• #11

My avatar photo is of a DEM315 (with TechStar mod.) in the process of cutting. I use that machine most every day, and I can say with great confidence that it does indeed utilise a take-up spool.

No worries about the memory, Greg... I can't even begin to recall how much I don't remember about the machines I've run over the years...

 

roonie

Aluminum

Joined

Jun 7, 2006

Location

SPAIN, Valencia

• Feb 2, 2009

• #12

re used wire

Last machines i´ve seen where chinesse made machines, used for basical cuts, not for accuracy just to cut sleeves or similar.

Today is doesn´t make sense, becouse most of the wire edm machines have automatic wire threaders, then every time we have wire breaks or different figures to be cut at one time the machine is going to re-thread the wire, the final result could be incontinuos parts of wire in your "new" spool, so the day you are re-using it you will have wire breaks everywhere, apart from the total discontrol in the accuracy with that wire.

The price of the wire is cheap comparing with the price of the worked hour of the machine, you really don´t save too much money re using the wire if you think in all the problems you could have with it.