Seibu Wire EDM?

I am looking to purchase a new wire EDM machine and I have heard really good things about Seibu through word of mouth and the specifications look good. In particular, I am interested in the machine because of its accuracy and core stitch feature. I was just wondering if anybody had any experience with the brand and could let me know if it is worth getting. I found a lot of information about the line here KGK International Corp. and saw a demo here IMTS218 Master Seibu Demo Video - YouTube, but I would love to hear from someone with first hand knowledge.

Aerotech21 said:

I am looking to purchase a new wire EDM machine and I have heard really good things about Seibu through word of mouth and the specifications look good. In particular, I am interested in the machine because of its accuracy and core stitch feature. I was just wondering if anybody had any experience with the brand and could let me know if it is worth getting. I found a lot of information about the line here KGK International Corp. and saw a demo here IMTS218 Master Seibu Demo Video - YouTube, but I would love to hear from someone with first hand knowledge.

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Happy to hear that you're adding a new Wire machine. Obviously I am biased toward sodick, but to answer your question more broadly here are the pros and cons that you are facing:

Pro: Seibu makes a machine that is pretty solid mechanically
con: Their presence in North America is almost nonexistant compared to the big 4 (+GF+ , Sodick, Mits, and Makino), meaning that availability of spare parts and service is limited if you are ever in that situation.

As for core stitch, all major manufacturers of WEDM offer this feature. All you have to do is ask.

All in all, the Seibu would be an ok investment if it were cheaper, but in practice it is about $30-50k more than any equivalent machine, even from very reputable brands. Without really unique value propositions to back up the Seibu, I'd choose one of the Big 4 brands that you can at least trust will have service and parts availability to cover your worst case scenario. But that is my opinion.

Let us know what you end up getting!

you mentioned 4 but what about Fanuc? I think only Fanuc and Seibu have core stitch.

I would not buy a machine just because it has that feature. Slug holding can and should be done on the programming side imo. Brassing holds a slug pretty good but I would never trust it for a heavy slug, which basically lands you back at holding in programming.

I agree with Jim7511. Slugs can easily be held on to with a tab. Like Jim said, more securely. As Sodickguy said, the big "4" will all hold tight tolerances and give fine finishes for a lot less. Seibu's may last 20+ plus years but after 10 years the technology and the generator is basically out dated and slow.

jyd12f said:

you mentioned 4 but what about Fanuc? I think only Fanuc and Seibu have core stitch.
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That is incorrect. I know that Sodick also offers this feature, and I believe +GF+ does as well. This isn't new, it was invented in like 1999. Nobody uses the feature very much because as someone else mentioned, brass does not hold heavy slugs very well. Limited usefulness in this application.