Wire EDM refit control

[Karl_T]

I picked up an old wire EDM and have it running in the shop. Runs great, but 20 year old controls really stink. It came with a complete spare machine for parts. I'm contemplating refitting the spare machine...

Has anyone done, or seen, a retrofit of a wire EDM? Even another vendor's product?

In particular, control of the sparking and spark gap looks very interesting. I have no idea how this is done.

Karl

[Colin]

Hi Karl

You don't say what brand of machine. We have old EDM machines Agie & Japax. There are people in America specialising in these machines, who are very helpful. We have gained some knowledge over some 12 years with these machines, if we can help at all let me know.

Colin

[Karl_T]

Its a Charmilles Andrew vintage 1984.

There's a control loop on a wire EDM that adjusts the feedrate through the material based on burn conditions. It must be looking at voltage and/or current. I think the set point will be different based on the settings chosen for that particular run. Also, the power is being pulsed to the wire.

I need to understand how this is done before attempting a refit

Karl

[Colin]

Not easy Karl, the secrets behind spark generation are closely guarded. We have 4 Agie and 1 Japax wire cut machines. We fix things on them, but it has always been power supplies, or movement boards to date. There is a company called Techstar, in Illinois, who understand at least the Agie system. They actually make kits to attach to Agie machines, to make them cut faster.

The Agie system backs off if the cutting is not as fast as the movement, the Japax has a wire vibration system, stops and vibrates, rather than backing off. I don't know if that is why the Agie cuts, 0.32 gap and the Japax 0.42 gap, using 0.25 wire, but it could be.

Regards, Colin

[kulk_sd]

Originally Posted by Colin Hi Karl You don't say what brand of machine. We have old EDM machines Agie & Japax. There are people in America specialising in these machines, who are very helpful. We have gained some knowledge over some 12 years with these machines, if we can help at all let me know. Colin

dear sir,
do you have maintenance manuals or schematics of the machine AGIE with you. Please let us know.

[Al_The_Man]

The spark control on a sinker is relatively easy to design, the wire type is quite a bit more involved.
Al.