Building a CNC Wire-EDM

[jimglass]

Here are some home built EDM's
http://www.cnczone.com/vb...=152388&page=2

Jim

[plasmaboog]

Who have running a edm wire machine on linux CNC, I have running my home build machine on Mach 3 but the problem is when I have to cut more as 100 hours that the windows block and I lose all my data of my as.
But the new home build machine I will have also a U and V as.

www.microspark.ec

[plasmaboog]

www.microspark.eu

[jimglass]

Below is a home built wire EDM I made several years ago. It is not CNC controlled. It is controlled with a progrmmable controller and is limited to buring straight lines and square holes. Distances traveled by the wire are determined by counters in the PLC. The counters recieve inputs from encoders. The machine is very simple and complex at the same time.

The PLC also monitors the spark voltage. If the spark voltage drops low enough and for long enough time the PLC stops the wire advancement untill the spark voltage rises again then resumes advancement.

Now that my shop work has slowed because of the economy I would like to return to the wire EDM project. MACH3 software has a feature to stop and resume a CNC program from an input pin. I'll keep the PLC to monitor the spark voltage. If the spark voltage drops the PLC will send a signal to MACH3 to stop and resume the CNC program. I have been using MACH3 for about 2 months now. Before that I used TurboCNC to run my CNC stuff. TurboCNC does not have a remote means of stopping and starting a probram.

The wire EDM project is what motivated me to get into CNC. Once I got into building my own CNC milling machines I never got back to the wire EDM. Maybe I will now.

Below is an overview of my wire EDM



Burning a square hole in .062 Aluminum.


A .250 Square hole through a HSS cut-off tool.


24VDC gearmotors (homemade) and encoder.


Red Lion counters to keep track of distance traveled. These are not the same as a DRO. They are just count up counters with reset.


Power supply to the right. PLC with forward/reverse relays.


Over view of the machine with cabinet.


I use regular EDM dielectric oil for flushing instead of de-ionized water.

I have plenty of applications to wire EDM jobs in steel under 1/4".

Jim

[kulk_sd]

Originally Posted by jimglass Below is a home built wire EDM I made several years ago. It is not CNC controlled. It is controlled with a progrmmable controller and is limited to buring straight lines and square holes. Distances traveled by the wire are determined by counters in the PLC. The counters recieve inputs from encoders. The machine is very simple and complex at the same time. The PLC also monitors the spark voltage. If the spark voltage drops low enough and for long enough time the PLC stops the wire advancement untill the spark voltage rises again then resumes advancement. Now that my shop work has slowed because of the economy I would like to return to the wire EDM project. MACH3 software has a feature to stop and resume a CNC program from an input pin. I'll keep the PLC to monitor the spark voltage. If the spark voltage drops the PLC will send a signal to MACH3 to stop and resume the CNC program. I have been using MACH3 for about 2 months now. Before that I used TurboCNC to run my CNC stuff. TurboCNC does not have a remote means of stopping and starting a probram. The wire EDM project is what motivated me to get into CNC. Once I got into building my own CNC milling machines I never got back to the wire EDM. Maybe I will now. Below is an overview of my wire EDM Burning a square hole in .062 Aluminum. A .250 Square hole through a HSS cut-off tool. 24VDC gearmotors (homemade) and encoder. Red Lion counters to keep track of distance traveled. These are not the same as a DRO. They are just count up counters with reset. Power supply to the right. PLC with forward/reverse relays. Over view of the machine with cabinet. I use regular EDM dielectric oil for flushing instead of de-ionized water. I have plenty of applications to wire EDM jobs in steel under 1/4". Jim

Does anybody know about the Helmut's wire EDM. We need to communicate with him. The pictures are at Have Blue Dot Org.

[plasmaboog]

I think that Helmut is from the German speaking region and to read English email can be a problem, but I gone try to get in contact whit him.
But look to my website Welkom bij Mini Spark Eroder there stay photo on from my EDM wire machine are look to the mach 3 website there stay 2 movies on plasmaboog about the cutting whit my machine.
So I gone start now the the 4 generation EDM wire machine and this is a 4 as also whit U and V as this is very intresting to angle the wire.
But there is also in Sweden and Brasil a person that are building end wire machines

[small shop usa]

if anybody is interested, why not buy a older working wire edm and improve upon it or at least use the tables/cast iron, (seems like I remember a Russian company some years ago that had retrofit controls to put on old iron) I would think that would be a worth while project, if you did a good job, more old machines could be brought back to life, I have a japax LS350S that still works! it is really in nice condition with all new power relays, seems like it would be a perfect donor to a do it yourself project OR just use it like it is. call me 585-762-4705

[Namnp2007]

Originally Posted by mdynac gentlemen, after reading thru this thread i see that no one is aware that Linux EMC2 software has a working wire edm function built into it. i retrofitted a Charmilles/Andrew EF330 with this software. i removed the dec pdp8\a from the machine and installed a plain vanilla pc loaded with emc2. i also added some new servo drives, a Motenc Lite servo board, and my own custom i/o. i had suggested to the EMC coders that they should give EMC2 the ability to vary the feedrate while executing g-code, and the feedrate had to vary in reference to an analog input voltage... well the EMC2 team cam thru big, as the new edm function works flawlessly..... test cuts on the old Andrew edm were successful. well that is it in a nutshell, we did this about 2 years ago, and i was suprized that i have been the only person reporting that wire edm for the home type guy is here...... feel free to ask any questions....

Dear mdynac
Could you sent me the EMC2 codes for Wire EDM CNC machine, witch you have had, or any way else? My e-mail is: namnp2007@gmail.com.
Thanks you so much.

[plasmaboog]

In Edm wire is it very inportant that you control the feedrate it depend from machine till machine some are it doing whit voltage the other whit a pulse, but the inportant is the generator, till now I never see a good generator on any sites it is always whit resistors are lamp I never have see write anything about a good generator the only thing I see is development that is made from 1964 that was written in the model engineer.
but in profesional machines is the generator that control the feedrate and the gap is the parameter for the feedrate.

[Namnp2007]

Originally Posted by plasmaboog In Edm wire is it very inportant that you control the feedrate it depend from machine till machine some are it doing whit voltage the other whit a pulse, but the inportant is the generator, till now I never see a good generator on any sites it is always whit resistors are lamp I never have see write anything about a good generator the only thing I see is development that is made from 1964 that was written in the model engineer. but in profesional machines is the generator that control the feedrate and the gap is the parameter for the feedrate.

Dear plasmaboog
Thanks for your reply. Do you have some code( for EMC2, for example) or any software for wire EDM CNC machine. If yes, pls. contact me at namnp2007(at)gmail.com.
I can solved problem about gap, feedrate and some thing like this, but now I need the interface( and EMC2 is the great idea, but I can not make it chance to X,Y, U, V axis only.
Does any one can help me?
Thanks.