Wire EDM – an amazing capability for the home shop

[Lee CooperParticipant @leecooper46013]

[Lee CooperParticipant @leecooper46013]

This wire EDM machine design is open so you can build it yourself. The guy does sell one part, the HV supply, so I hope this is not breaking the rules, because this post is kind of pointless without the video.

The precision is incredible!

[Tony Pratt 1Participant @tonypratt1]

I worked on 2 Fanuc wire eroders cost £100k each for many years, absolutely brilliant for 'home projects'.

Tony

[noel shelleyParticipant @noelshelley55608]

A guy down under made the cylinder block for a traction engine using EDM, very clever. Even a basic CR type is capable doing some neat tricks. I made one. Noel.

[Lee CooperParticipant @leecooper46013]

Posted by Tony Pratt 1 on 21/05/2021 08:58:35:

I worked on 2 Fanuc wire eroders cost £100k each for many years, absolutely brilliant for 'home projects'.

Tony

Absolutely Tony. Incredible what's available for home use these days. The way it's all taking off reminds me of the home computer revolution of the 80s.

|Posted by noel shelley on 21/05/2021 09:02:23:

|A guy down under made the cylinder block for a traction engine using EDM, very clever. Even a basic CR type is |capable doing some neat tricks. I made one. Noel.

Nice! Any piccies of your rig to share, Noel?

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Very impressive, Lee … Thanks for the link

MichaelG.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

As a microscopist … This was the part that really inspired me :

.

MichaelG.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 21/05/2021 10:48:14

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

wow

just, wow

[Lee CooperParticipant @leecooper46013]

Hell. that is impressive, Michael! I love to see the enthusiasm amongst like minded individuals interested in engineering.

This one might also interest you guys. This chap built a precision lathe good to 1 micron IIRC. He has a whole series on Youtube on precision engineering which I thoroughly recommend. One of the interesting things he mentions is that not only does the rate of wear on sliding surfaces reduce as their surface finish improves (not a newsflash), but it actually goes to ZERO – because they cease to touch and float on a film of air. The principle of the air bearing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFrVdoOhu1Q

I wonder if wire EDM can approach the required tolerances? I suspect it can.

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

A small group at the SMEE built one and i think demonstrated it at a coupleof shows maybe in 2019. It was a colaborative effort with one guy based in Devon so he brought it to the Exeter DMES and gave us a talk. Fairly complex with several icroprocessors to control it apart from obviously needing to design the part in CAD but it worked very well.

Edited By Bazyle on 21/05/2021 12:46:01

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

EDM is insane!

I wonder how a 3D printed version would work?

Could be good enough to use with a cheap digital microscope.

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

If someone recognises the SMEE guy in my photo please drop a credit on here.

[Jeff DaymanParticipant @jeffdayman43397]

Peter Rawlinson developed a wire EDM machine in the 1990's and wrote it up for MEW with complete drawings.

I plan to build a wire EDM in a few years time, to go along with my homebuilt sink EDM machine. The BAXEDM machine looks excellent, its' flushing and cutting is very like the excellent Japax machine I programmed and used in the day job in the late 1980's early 1990's.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 21/05/2021 12:40:53:

EDM is insane!

I wonder how a 3D printed version would work?

Could be good enough to use with a cheap digital microscope.

.

It would certainly be interesting to see what you could print, Neil

The CAD file is downloadable [in a wide range of formats] here: **LINK**

https://myhub.autodesk360.com/ue2ce1080/g/shares/SH56a43QTfd62c1cd9686bddfd1c2e8835e4

MichaelG.

[Norman BillinghamParticipant @normanbillingham91454]

The man in the blue SMEE coat is Brian Neale who was one of the team who designed and built the SMEE wire eroder.

Edited By Norman Billingham on 21/05/2021 13:30:24

Edited By Norman Billingham on 21/05/2021 13:30:45

[DMBParticipant @dmb]

A wire eroder is not the only collaborative project. Three SMEE members got together to design and build a bench top cnc mill. 23 articles about the build on the members only section. Sorry if anyone feels this post is ot but just mentioned it as the SMEE wire eroder has already been noted.

Edited By DMB on 21/05/2021 14:10:15

[NealebParticipant @nealeb]

In fact, the man in the blue coat is me…. Norman has already mentioned me a couple of posts back! I'm a bit behind in reading this forum, unfortunately.

I actually joined the group who built the machine at about the time that the bulk of the work had been finished and just needed some fine tuning. It still does need a bit of fine tuning, but it was built as a demonstrator/proof of concept rather than "production" machine (even by amateur standards) and so lacks a lot of the refinements that would make it usable for actually making things as opposed to demonstrating the principles. It has been a great success. though, as a demo machine at quite a few exhibitions as well as some presentations to clubs. The machine is currently residing in my own workshop (in Devon, indeed) but has not seen use for a while now given the lack of exhibitions to which to take it!

Happy to answer any questions.

[EmgeeParticipant @emgee]

There is also an EDM Build series in Strictly IC mags from a few years ago, I believe back copies are available at the SIC web site, you can see the relevant issues that the project was in.

Emgee

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