Wire EDM Machines

How to choose a wire EDM machine

A wire of 0.1 to 0.3 mm passes right through the blank and cuts the contour to a program. There are no cutting forces, so a thin part does not deflect, and the hardness of the material is irrelevant — this is how dies, punches, templates and tooling are cut after hardening.

The main numbers are the X/Y travels, because they set the size of the contour, and the Z travel, because it sets the height of the part. In the catalog X/Y travels run from 360×250 mm on the CHMER RQ3625L to 1200×800 mm on the CHMER AW12L, Z travel from 200 to 500 mm, and workpiece weight from 300 to 5000 kg.

The U/V travels are a separate matter — they belong to the upper wire guide, which shifts relative to the lower one. That is what produces a taper: the larger the U/V travel, the steeper the wall angle you can cut. In the catalog they run from 60×60 to 160×160 mm.

A wire cuts only through: it cannot make a blind cavity — that is what sinker machines are for. And to start a cut inside the part rather than from its edge you need a start hole, made by EDM drilling. The full line-up is in the EDM section.