building a Pulse EDM Machine

[canadianhorsepower]

Hi all,
I'm am currently starting a build of a EDM machine
by Benjamin Fleming.

http://www.homebuiltedmmachines.com/

that's the link. just wondering if it's ok for me to post the progress and if peoples are interested in it
thanks

 

[SilverSanJuan]

I'm certainly interested. Seems like a good topic for the Tools area.

 

[kadora]

Hello
I have built simple EDF machine for one of my previous project.
It worked quite nice . I used carbon electrode and sparked material
under distilled water.
I did hexagonal holes to the very hard 2 mm thick steel.
From that time machine waits on the shelf for a new project.

 

[kvom]

A while back I read up on EDM. Seems making the electrodes can be a very messy business.

 

[Buchanan]

You can use copper or even silver for electrodes. Any material with good electrical conductivity as well as a high melting point will work as an electrode. Th wear rate varies from material to material and electrode type. i have used old tungsten carbide inserts to spark erode recesses into tool holders. The first one gets quit worn because it removes the bulk of the metal but the second only has to clean up the pocket and you get a perfectly fitting tip. There are free machining copper alloys specialy for edm electrodes that machine better than free cutting mild steel.

 

[nautilus29]

Copper tungsten has good wear rates and machining isn't too bad. Can't wait to watch the project in progress.

 

[Herbiev]

I'll be following with great interest too

 

[kadora]

As i can remember /20 years ago/ my problem was that copper electrode was
often sticked to the sparked material probably because I used water as
EDM medium.
canadianhorsepower prepare for many many experiments with the electrode material , amount of discharge energy and discharge time tuning and so on.
Every kind of electrode needs special tuning.
Just for illustration picture of my simple home made EDM control box.

 

[kvom]

The site I was reading only talked about graphite electrodes, hence my comment about being messy.

 

[Buchanan]

Agreed. Kvom, I have machine a fair mount of graphite and will confirm that it is real messy.

 

[canadianhorsepower]

OK I have multiple photos and explaining why and why not.
more photos about theories and what not to do I will an open thread
cheers

 

[canadianhorsepower]

for those interested the building of this EDM is on this post

http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/showthread.php?t=27000