Page 7 - Fall 2024 EDM Today

EDM Today Magazine EDM Today Magazine EDM Today Magazine
TECHTIPS

I discovered that when approaching an edge one micron at a time, the transition from no contact to contact was not
a simple on-off as I had anticipated. Instead, without moving the machine the contact indication would fl icker on and
off as the moving wire passed the contact edge. Unfortunately, due to the one micron machine resolution common at
that time, I abandoned my research as I discovered that I needed a much fi ner movement resolution.
Fast forwarding to the present, when ten millionths machine resolution is now commonplace, I decided to resume
my experiments. Figure 6 depicts the overall ex-
EDM Today Magazine EDM Today Magazine EDM Today Magazine
periment setup.
I utilized a new Makino U6i Wire
EDM as a test bed for wire feed
and tension control, along with
a Federal electronic indicator for
confi rmation of machine move-
ment and my ScopeCheck edge
fi nder for contact detection.

The details of the Federal elec-
tronic indicator setup to confi rm
EDM Today Magazine EDM Today Magazine EDM Today Magazine
machine motion are shown in
Figure 7. The calibrated indicator
was set to .00001”/per division
as shown in Figure 8.
In order to provide precise con-
tact detection conditions, a knife
edge detection surface was
employed as shown in Figure 9.

Figure 6
EDM Today Magazine EDM Today Magazine EDM Today Magazine

EDM Today Magazine EDM Today Magazine EDM Today Magazine
Figure 7

Figure 9
EDM Today Magazine EDM Today Magazine EDM Today, Fall 2024 Issue
EDM Today Magazine
Figure 8

90