Re: Software for wire EDM control?

Pulser supplies:

This is a basic description from patents freely available on the web
and from info kindly supplied by Zafar.

The basic idea is to have a normal DC supply capable of producing the
required voltage around 60-80v and enough current for the cutting
rates/volume removal required. The supply is connected to the
electrode in the case of Zafar's machine, by a bank of transisters in
parallel and each of these has a current limiting resister/circuit in
series with it. The number of transisters used dictates the maximum
current.

The transistors (or Mosfets these days) are pulsed on for a time
Ton. The power in the spark is proportional to the current
multiplied by Ton. Short sparks deliver less power as do smaller
currents. Low power is used for finishing, higher for roughing. One
interesting fact is that the electrode damage is mainly independant
of machining current and pulse length. The more pulses used to
complete the job the worse the electrode wear will be.

Toff the time between pulses, is really just to allow for swarf
removal. If the small amounts of metal that are blasted from the
work piece are not removed from the gap then arcing occurs and this
causes sparks to the same point of the stock and localized heating.

So that is a basic pulsing system, nothing more than a DC supply some
mosfets some resisters and a pulse generator that can produce timed
pulses.

I suspect that machines now use better current limiting methods but I
haven't looked into it yet

Then there is all the feedback stuff....

Graham