Wire EDM Introduction

Factorem
3 min readNov 22, 2021

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Here is an article written by our engineering team that will provide you with background information about Wire Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM) that will help your design. EDM is a high precision cutting technology that is good especially with thick material and allows us to achieve high precision and sharp cuts.

What is Wire EDM?

Wire EDM is an electric heating manufacturing process that uses thin single-stranded metal wire and deionized water (used as an insulator of electricity), where the wire uses the heat of an electric spark to cut the metal. It’s commonly used for thick materials where the CNC end effectors can’t reach the workpiece, or the user needs very high tolerances.

How does it work

Usually, thin wires made of copper, tungsten, bronze are used to generate an electric discharge between the wire and the workpiece. When approaching a conductive material, the current jumps over. This creates sparks that land on the conductive material and erode them. Due to the unique properties of the process, wire EDM makes it easy to machine complex and precision parts made of hard conductive materials.

Wire cutting is a very accurate process. However, this is a slow process, which slows exponentially as the thickness workpiece increases. The machine has a…

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Factorem
Factorem

Written by Factorem

On-demand, one-stop portal to custom manufacturing in Southeast Asia. I www.factorem.co

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