Routine Maintenance of a Wire EDM Machine

So in my shop I have a feeling I'm soon going to become very responsible for the upkeep of several Fanuc Wire EDMs. I know to move the electrodes, replace the bearings in the heads, and replace the guides occasionally. And, of course, keep the tank clean. I'm also going to become privy to when we replace the resin tanks. I feel like there is a lot I am missing, though.

My question is this: What is your maintenance routine? What do you do? Times to do them will vary from shop to shop due to production volume, but I want to at least know your checklists so I know what to look for in my own shop and start keeping a tight maintenance schedule.

Thanks all!

Ishira,

Hopefully some other can jump in and share their suggestions and checklists for your specific Fanuc machines, but below is a link to a Makino Webinar that discusses the general needs and items that require maintenance on a Wire EDM.

The true operational impact of wire edm maintenance. | Makino


- Brian

If you have several Fanuc machines, i would recommend getting in touch with your Fanuc wire distributor and having a service tech show you in detail what to do. Either at their facility or yours in person, written instructions or Skype calls can only do so much. It's really important you get all the facts, your machines will be much more efficient and trouble free with proper maintenance, and it's much more critical than a mill or lathe. Checking Filters, guides, contacts, sensors, keeping things clean, and re aligning is a 4 hour job in our shop, done on a regular schedule depending on machine usage (hours) . We run Mits and Fanuc and have very little down time and run at manufacturers stated speeds and accuracies because of it.

100% with RJT here. A strong maintenance plan is the only way to maintain speed and accuracies on a WEDM. The smallest build up of crap or fleck of brass can cause untold issues. Keeping machines in good shape also makes it easier to tell if something is wrong. When speeds are a little down.

On our Sodick, Every day I check the water level, filter pressure, resistance (or conductivity) wire bucket and wipe the tank bottom over and the sliding section of the bottom head.

Thank you guys for your input! Our Fanuc service tech comes around about once a year, next time he's here I will shadow him and learn some of the more nuanced maintenance rituals for the specific machines I have. I also appreciate yall telling me some things to keep in mind/look for in the meantime!

Here's a great tip...if you don't know what you are doing, don't mess with it. I've seen guys trying to fix things make things much worst.

Ishira said:

Thank you guys for your input! Our Fanuc service tech comes around about once a year, next time he's here I will shadow him and learn some of the more nuanced maintenance rituals for the specific machines I have. I also appreciate yall telling me some things to keep in mind/look for in the meantime!

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If it's Pat, he's a good guy. He'll help you out.

gtrjunkie said:

If it's Pat, he's a good guy. He'll help you out.

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It is Pat! I've had the pleasure to meet him once so far, he is indeed a good guy. He came by when I first started my EDM training, so I was a bit too busy with other things to shadow him. But this time, I'm ready.

I don't know about a fanuc but on a mits machine general maintenance is as follows:

Resin bottle
Filters
Upper and lower power feeders
Cleaning the tank
Water level
Diamond guides, they sometimes get plugged or cut into.
Wire chopper/processer
Threading water pressure
Wire alignment
Lube oil tank

Advanced maintenance can include the following:
Rollers in the too tensioning system (then can get grooves over time with can really screw things up)
Rollers in lower head, and bearings
The lower head has a transfer radius that over time gets worn and needs to have the entire head replaced.
Wire processor spring tension
Wire processor Rollers
Wire cut actuator pressure
Tube up/down pressure
Float switch and capacitive switches in rear of head (water level issues, clean these)

Pretty much anything after that and I would defer to a tech as things need to really start coming apart then.

plastikdreams said:

I don't know about a fanuc but on a mits machine general maintenance is as follows:

Resin bottle
Filters
Upper and lower power feeders
Cleaning the tank
Water level
Diamond guides, they sometimes get plugged or cut into.
Wire chopper/processer
Threading water pressure
Wire alignment
Lube oil tank

Advanced maintenance can include the following:
Rollers in the too tensioning system (then can get grooves over time with can really screw things up)
Rollers in lower head, and bearings
The lower head has a transfer radius that over time gets worn and needs to have the entire head replaced.
Wire processor spring tension
Wire processor Rollers
Wire cut actuator pressure
Tube up/down pressure
Float switch and capacitive switches in rear of head (water level issues, clean these)

Pretty much anything after that and I would defer to a tech as things need to really start coming apart then.

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That is incredibly helpful, thank you!

I know this may not fully apply to fanuc machines but I ran an AGIECUT Progress a during my apprenciteship and had a very steep learning curve with it.

so weekly maintenance:
clean the tank (erodex Magic cleaner)
check the wire cutter blades and adjust if req'd
check electrode wear in the heads and rotate as req'd
clean work tank filters
check the resin bottle (ours was only a 10ltr one because my boss cheaped out)
clean the threading nozzles (the AGIE ones are a two part ceramic)
clean the wire guides
then full XYZUV alignment
grease axis and run lube dispersal cycle

monthly:
scrape the bottom of the main water tank and chip off any build up and dispose of
check and replace wire running tubes
sharpen wire cutter blades
Console Back up
clean chiller filters and fans
clean chiller water filters

yearly:
dump all the water and refill (used to take a day or two with a bottle replacement on the resin to completely deionise)
run a regas cycle on the chiller with an automotive AC machine

theres probably loads i've forgotten i'll get my little balck book out and check if you need anymore infomation