MACHINING & MACHINERY
INCREASED IMPORTANCE
HK TECHNOLOGIES
A NEW ERA FOR WIRE EDM
Wire Electro Discharge Machining
(EDM) is growing in prominence across
UK manufacturing and it’s becoming
increasingly more important for machine
shops to have access to this technology.
Scott Elsmere, EDM Technologies Team
Leader and Applications Engineer at HK
Technologies talks us through the new
era of Wire EDM and some of the latest
developments from Mitsubishi. better surface quality faster. The new V350
generator in Mitsubishi EDM machines
has a significantly higher effective clock
rate and the voltage is built up faster and
with greater precision thanks to reduced
capacitance loss. As a result faster voltage
build-up, spark duration and working
voltage producing noticeably higher
surface quality and lower power costs.
Wire EDM traditionally captured a
unique market; users of EDM produce
plastic injection moulds, carry out tool
and die work, or wire-cut precision
features on aerospace and medical
components. However, over recent
years EDM machining is reaching new
markets, building a reputation as a cost
effective method to cut hard materials
to an extremely accurate degree and
even sometimes used as an alternative
to milling. The real beauty of EDM is
that it enables you to produce the most
sophisticated parts with superlative
surface finishes. The latest intuitive controls with highly
Intelligent graphical interfaces allow even
the most inexperienced operator to make
expert-level precision adjustments to the
machine without necessarily needing
to know the operating technology. The
D-Cube is the control that helps crunch the
numbers and maximise profits and comes
as standard on new machines.
With the rise of Industry 4.0 technologies,
there has been an increasing presence of
STAYING IN CONTROL
Metal Additive Manufacturing on shop
floors up and down the country and thus,
a noticeable increase on the demand for
wire cutting for AM metal parts.
EXTREME ACCURACY AND
PRECISION
What sets Mitsubishi EDM apart is the
accuracy and precision of the machines. It
is known that an EDM machine that reacts
with greater speed and precision achieves
CONNECTING
YOUR SHOP FLOOR
All consumables and power are monitored;
including number of part used wire
bobbins, which are presented with their
anticipated remaining life on screen. These
records, together with component wear
tracking help with cost analysis and the
costing of pending machining jobs.
1
PROTOTYPING
TO AUTOMATED
LIGHTS OUT
MANUFACTURING
CALL 01788 577 288
TO LEARN HOW TO MAKE PROFIT
3D PRINTING
APPLICATIONS IN
MANUFACTURING
WWW.HKH3D.COM
2
DESIGN
Initial Prototyping
Functional Prototyping
Testing