Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] EDM

In a message dated 12/14/2002 12:28:17 PM Central Standard Time,
xmas4lites@... writes:

> There has been so little content on EDM on this and other lists that I think
> any useful information on the subject is helpful.

I mostly kinda agree with this letter. But directly relating to CAM, say I
was gonna EDM-cut some, oh, 3/8" or 1/2" 6061 plate, using (brass?) EDM wire
(what, 0.015" or 0.02" dia?), how FAST (inches/per minute or mm/second, or
however whoever knows) would the material move "across the wire"? How fast
should the wire "dive" into the electrolyte? Why is BRASS wire used rather
than, oh, copper-plated steel, or copper, etc.? In properly-built EDM rigs,
does the "used" wire go straight down below the work-piece, through the
container-bottom, to the take-up reel, or can it go around nylon (?) pullies
and then UP, say, "over in a distant corner of the container", or would this
exposure-length in the electrolyte be "too much" for the worn wire???
Discuss.

Can someone who HAS done EDM give us dummies a grasp of the "mechanics" of
it?

Thanks! Jan Rowland


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