Re: motor sizing vertical slide EDM

Would it be stupid to say the word counterbalance?

It gets me wondering about EDM machine construction in general, you
end up with a lot of mass to keep things stiff and steady but then you
have to move that mass preferably with a fast response even if over
VERY short distances. Wouldn't it be cool if you could mount the tool
on some sort of piezoelectric stack or similar and let that do the
fine high response adjustment and then let a fairly lowly servo system
do the slower "drift" of the tool. Or something like a stiff flexure
capable of only very small motions in z actuated by a small fast servo.

Then again if your tool is the size of a small horse that's not going
to work anyway.

Graham