Re: Software for wire EDM control?

It seems to me there are several problems as far as the software goes
for the home builder.

1. Machine control, being able to hold the spark gap and deal with
arcs and shorts correctly.
2. Being able to do 1. while still following the tool path specified
in the g-code.
3. Possible problems with 4 axis work but most might settle for 2
axis.

The real problem is 1. as this is machine dependant and unlike a
sinker you can't just retract the electrode willy nilly so it it
linked to 2. To my mind this needs an integrated software solution
where the motion and machine operation are carried out by the same
software and even if this software were available it might not match
the machine?

I think you can simplify the machine control at the expense of speed
by just waiting for the current to drop before advancing a very small
step rather than monitoring the gap fully, so perhaps that circuit
could basically operate a pause command and control the feed rate
that way? i.e. the x,y wants to move at some slow speed, the
sparking current then causes the motion program to be paused, the
material is eroded and then the program unpaused.

For this reason I am looking into sinker EDM for which I can write
the software from scratch. If I were to go to a wire I would
definately get 2D working and probably look at integrating machine
control into TurboCNC.

Graham