Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] EDM electrolyte

From: "Carl Mikkelsen, Oasis" <Carl.Mikkelsen@...>

> I've thought about building an EDM (it was what got me started building a
> Stewart Platform), but I'm hung up on the problems of purifying the
> electrolyte, and disposing of the waste materials. The books I've read
> have suggested using ion exchange rosin beds, with its set of disposal
> problems.
>
> What are others doing?

Are you talking a sinker or a wire machine? All the sinkers I've used
have a tank with baffles where the heavy stuff settals and then a filter.
The filters aren't a big deal, just a large paper filter that will not breal
down in oils. For oil I've nearly always used edm oil from an edm supply
house. On the wire machines I've used, the fluid was water and it was
filtered through a rosin sock filter setup. Basicly they had a 'dirty side
tank' and a 'clean side tank'. The dirty side water is pumped through a
paper or ceramic filter into the clean side tank. The clean side tank has an
ohm sensor checking the water and when ever the values get to low the clean
side water gets pumped through the rosin sock filters and dumped back into
the clean side till the ohms go back up to the proper level.