WEDM Neodymium square blanks into shapes

[kevinb]

I have been searching for help wire EDM'ing neodymium rare earth magnet blanks into different shapes as requested by my customer. Talked with wire suppliers who didn't have a clue what the stuff was. Gave a piece to my tech support guy last time he PM'ed my machine, said he would give it a try on one of the showroom machines but I have a feeling he never did cause he told me to use conditions for steel and should cut OK. I have been going through a learning curve with cutting this stuff, more like beating my head against the wall. One piece cuts fairly well with few wire breaks, the next piece drives me nuts with wire breaks. This stuff cuts really slow, so my customer doesn't understand why it costs so much even though I have explained it many times.

Does any fellow Wire EDM'ers out there have any information about this material. Any information no matter what would be greatly appriciated.

Thank You Kevin

[Royster]

we have cut this material before a couple times (usually without much incident)

You may need to tweak epacks to suit. IIRC: I adjusted

IP down a few notches
OFF up a few notches
SB up
SA down
VG up 10-15 Notches.

Sorry for the blatant Mitsy techno but you did say "any info no matter what"

HTH

[kevinb]

I have wire EDM'd this stuff before,tweeked every cut condition I could think of. Yes it does cut very slow due to the way it's made. I would think I could cut it alittle faster than .030-.040 per minute with thicknesses of 1 to 2 inches. Anything above this cuts at .010-.020 per min.
I quoted a job today for 20 pcs ASAP and 20 more in a couple weeks. First I had to slice a bonded together block that is 2.5" thick by 6.5" linear cut then take the slice lay it over and cut a profile that's 14" of linear cut by 1.2" thick.
Submited my quote and was quickly told I was too expensive, so I re-quoted at a lower cost per hour but still wasn't enough. However I did score 10 pcs with quick turnaround at the origonal price I quoted, but that was a verbal and haven't recieved a PO yet.
I really would like to work with this customer allot more because it is all new magnetic technoligy, but I can't give the work away.

Thanks for your support

Kevin

[mcphill]

Is it magnetized when you cut? Be careful on the magnetism front, as cold working, or striking a magnetic material can change it's magnetism. If it is not magnetized when you get it, and the end user is magnetizing after you supply the cut shapes, it should not be too much of a concern.

[kevinb]

No it is not magnitized, They magnetize it after it's wired to shape. Then it's so strong you don't want to get your hand between 2 big ones.
Any one else have any advice?
China makes a small wire EDM that re-uses molydinum wire from one spool to a second then reverses to use the wire again. Machines are very limited in thickness and only do 2D. Did some looking into that wire but Damn that stuff costs way too much!

Thank You Kevin