Home Built Edm Machine

[handlewanker]

Hi Al, I'm presently committed to changing my stick welder to do tig welding, using the usual add ons of diodes for DC and an inductor along with a High Frequency gizmo.
Wouldn't it be awesome to add EDM to the average DIY stick welder. If the voltage was brought up to about 100volts the power would blow your mind...yeahhh!
Starting with the average 100 amp stick welder all it would take is a step up transformer to get the volts. Anybody got any ideas on this?
Somehow I don't think this is the way, as having downed the voltage and upped the amps for welding, it would take another transformer to achieve what a mains transformer would do straight off and simpler.
Ian.

[vulcom1]

I have built Henry Washburn's EDM from Strictly IC magazine. The setup uses a stepper and 48 volts 5 amps for the probe. Everything is adjustable including the timing for the stepper and probe. I use it for getting those pesky little broken taps and stainless parts out of alum. normally in the 4/40 size. I don't have the plans or schematic as when I was in touch with Henry they where copyrighted and would not violate his work.
The problem with mine is on the larger items where more power would help out. For fluid I use de-ionised water with a coffee filter for straining. Never have seen anything in the filter so the crap probably lays in the bottom which I clean after use. It also is very slow cutting but I have lots of time especially when I look at remaking some of my turbine parts. I also use a windshield washer pump but am going to find something that will run continuous as it heats up. You need something with a bit of pressure to blow the metal out of the hole or it will start to arc all over the inside.
I will include a picture of mine from an old drill press that went up in smoke in a fire. I may be able to help in some ways.
John

[Al_The_Man]

Hi Al, I'm presently committed to changing my stick welder to do tig welding, using the usual add ons of diodes for DC and an inductor along with a High Frequency gizmo.
Wouldn't it be awesome to add EDM to the average DIY stick welder. If the voltage was brought up to about 100volts the power would blow your mind...yeahhh!
Starting with the average 100 amp stick welder all it would take is a step up transformer to get the volts.

Ian, One setback to keep in mind is that a stick welder is constant-current Variable-Voltage, because it is relatively higher open circuit voltage (~75v ).
The voltage start to collapse or decrease whenever a current starts to flow, This is usually done with a loosly or variably coupled (shunted) primary to secondary on the transformer.
I am not sure what the requirements are for TIG, but it is not much use for MIG as MIG requires ~35vdc and constant voltage.
Al.

[Bent]

The plans looks god

Thanks Ian

Bent

[Kipper]

"There are 10 types of people in this world, those who understand binary and those that don't."
dear sir!
what do u want to say by this?

01001001011101000010011101110011001000000110101001 11010101110011011101000010000000100010011000100110 10010110111001100001011100100111100100100010001000 00010100110110000101101110011010100110100101110110 00100001001000000101010001101000011001010010000001 11010101101110011001000110010101110010011011000111 10010110100101101110011001110010000001101100011000 01011011100110011101110101011000010110011101100101 00100000011101010111001101100101011001000010000001 10001001111001001000000110001101101111011011010111 00000111010101110100011001010111001001110011001000 00011000010110111001100100001000000110111001101111 01110100011010000110100101101110011001110010000001 11001101110000011001010110001101101001011000010110 11000010000001101111011101000110100001100101011100 10001000000111010001101000011000010110111000100000 00110001001100000010000001101101011001010110000101 10111001110011001000000011001000100000011010010110 11100010000001110100011010000110010100100000011000 10011010010110111001100001011100100111100100100000 01101100011000010110111001100111011101010110000101 10011101100101001000000011101001110011011010000111 0010011101010110011100111010

For an online translation go to this site Oh and sorry for stretching the thread!

[epineh]

"There are 10 types of people in this world, those who understand binary and those that don't."
dear sir!
what do u want to say by this?

LOL

10 in binary = two

Sorry, I'm a nerd from way back...

Russell.

[sanjiv]

LOL

10 in binary = two

Sorry, I'm a nerd from way back...

Russell.

u will make me mad!

[epineh]

So any one got any intention of building a DIY EDM ?

I would like to but I dont have the room for any more projects until mid next year

Russell.

[handlewanker]

Hi vulcom, that's a pretty crafty way of getting your electrode positioned with the x-y slides.
I wouldn't mind having a go at beefing up the specs of the plans I've got to get a bigger unit.
Once you know the circuit layout and requirements then you can start redesigning.
I think I would like to set up an X-Y table and drive them with two stepper motors so that actual "machining" can be done as opposed to plunging a hole out.
I'm not sure if this is the way to go as a wire cutter will cut out shapes very accurately.
Now if we had a simple design or amendments to the existing plans to do wire-cutting, that would be something.
Anybody know of the voltages and amps used generally and the wire specs to do a decent job?
At the moment I've got Tig on the brain, and that's one project that's top of my wish list, but I'd like to mull over the outline of a wire cutter to see if it can be made without too much exotic componentry, and also gather bits and pieces to have a go at along the way.
One thing for sure, it will be CNC to drive the tables, but as this technology already exists for foam cutters, I think it would probably suit wire cutters as well. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Ian (getting too many irons in the fire)

[Kipper]

So any one got any intention of building a DIY EDM ?

I would like to but I dont have the room for any more projects until mid next year

Russell.

It would make my oil burner nozzle easier to build....Hand sawing slots is hard work

[MachineFix]

Thanks Ian
Another simple machine :-
http://pico-systems.com/edm.html

Bob

[handlewanker]

Hi machinefix, thanks for that, I reckon that is the most straight forward explanation I seen yet. The circuit diagram is great too. I don't have CNC but the core idea is all it takes to get the grey matter working.
Ian.

[sanjiv]

Thanks Ian
Another simple machine :-
http://pico-systems.com/edm.html

Bob

this site is not visible

[sanjiv]

I have built Henry Washburn's EDM from Strictly IC magazine. The setup uses a stepper and 48 volts 5 amps for the probe. Everything is adjustable including the timing for the stepper and probe. I use it for getting those pesky little broken taps and stainless parts out of alum. normally in the 4/40 size. I don't have the plans or schematic as when I was in touch with Henry they where copyrighted and would not violate his work.
The problem with mine is on the larger items where more power would help out. For fluid I use de-ionised water with a coffee filter for straining. Never have seen anything in the filter so the crap probably lays in the bottom which I clean after use. It also is very slow cutting but I have lots of time especially when I look at remaking some of my turbine parts. I also use a windshield washer pump but am going to find something that will run continuous as it heats up. You need something with a bit of pressure to blow the metal out of the hole or it will start to arc all over the inside.
I will include a picture of mine from an old drill press that went up in smoke in a fire. I may be able to help in some ways.
John

u had made it or not? commit

[sanjiv]

let us close this post! no body had made this machine from these three legend's plans. let us find others

[sanjiv]

It appears that the design is using the E.D. Machining method for use as Tap-Disintegrator, commercial types of Tap-Disintegrators usually use simple low-voltage (3~6vac), high-current method.
This design should work for machining however.
Also the Robert Langois design is worth looking at as it uses a bit later logic control methods, and I am sure that there are many improvements out there on his design.
Al.

what improvements? have u

[sanjiv]

01001001011101000010011101110011001000000110101001 11010101110011011101000010000000100010011000100110 10010110111001100001011100100111100100100010001000 00010100110110000101101110011010100110100101110110 00100001001000000101010001101000011001010010000001 11010101101110011001000110010101110010011011000111 10010110100101101110011001110010000001101100011000 01011011100110011101110101011000010110011101100101 00100000011101010111001101100101011001000010000001 10001001111001001000000110001101101111011011010111 00000111010101110100011001010111001001110011001000 00011000010110111001100100001000000110111001101111 01110100011010000110100101101110011001110010000001 11001101110000011001010110001101101001011000010110 11000010000001101111011101000110100001100101011100 10001000000111010001101000011000010110111000100000 00110001001100000010000001101101011001010110000101 10111001110011001000000011001000100000011010010110 11100010000001110100011010000110010100100000011000 10011010010110111001100001011100100111100100100000 01101100011000010110111001100111011101010110000101 10011101100101001000000011101001110011011010000111 0010011101010110011100111010

For an online translation go to this site Oh and sorry for stretching the thread!

i understood from this is that u are a big ZEROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[Mcgyver]

Ian, thanks for posting the plans, have been looking at the Robert Langois design, nice to have another view on it.

[handlewanker]

Hi Sanjiv, don't get too frustrated with waiting for someone to make one of these machines, we're all too busy right now on other projects, but in the meantime we're collecting data and designs so that when the desire to actually make one occurs, then all the info' is there.
Nothing is stopping you from having a go.
Remember what Confucius said, "the longest journey starts with asking a few directions from well meaning friends and then goes on to getting some equipment at the local $2 shop and finally when the day arrives and your all fired up and rearing to go, Mum says "go and cut the grass, and then wash the car".
Ian.

[handlewanker]

Hi all, I see that deionised water is mentioned for use with EDM set-ups.
I get distilled water from my freezer when I defrost it and end up with two bucket fulls of "snow".
Usually I let the snow melt and bottle it in 'Coke bottles for use in topping up car batteries.
I get the idea that distilled water is preferable to tap water, due to it not conducting or shorting current by electrolysis and so boiling the water away.
This would be the opposite of the method used for producing hydrogen and oxygen in the HYDROX type gas torch where an electrolyte is added to the water to cause a current flow and so breaking the water down into it's constituents parts, E.G. hydrogen and oxygen.
Ian.