EDM spark control system

Jon and others -

Is a "high-performance" EDM spark control system something that
could be developed easily with the talent we have on this list?
We have a lot of people developing CNC black boxes and stepper and
servo drivers, would this be much more complex?

Questions that would need answers:

1. What are the characteristics of a commercial hi-performance
spark system?
2. What types of parameters are there typically to control?
3. What parameters would need to be set and controlled by the CNC
control?
4. What parameters would need to be controlled by an auxiliary
controller, if needed?
5. What kinds of interactions are needed by between PC, spark, and
machine movements? (sim. to #3&4)
6. What kind of power requirements would there be?
7. What electrical/control system modifications would be necessary
to convert between sinker-EDM and wire-EDM use?

It sure would be neat to have someone on the list offer a
commercial-grade EDM spark system for the hobbyist. Does this
already exist?

Carlos Guillermo
VERVE Engineering & Design

-----Original Message-----
From: elson [mailto:elson]On Behalf Of Jon Elson
Sent: Thursday, July 26, 2001 11:30 PM
To: CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: Question fro Jon Elson

Jon Elson wrote:


<snip>
Anyway, my (and many others') RC EDM circuits are slow and a bit
temperamental.
For the best results, an electronic switch that cuts off current
some time
interval after the discharge starts, and then restores the power
after a
set 'deionizing' time will give much faster cutting. You can
probably get
10,000 discharges a second with a pulser, and rarely more than 100
with
the RC. But, it is simple, and it does work.