EDM

Electric Discharge Machining. It is simply a spark between a wire and a workpiece. It does super precise cutting and small hole drilling in electrically-conductive materials.

About

• Good explanation + Demo in this video at 13:26
• Uses 0.25 mm brass wire for cutting, Mcmaster has 0.5 mm wire - $30/lb - [1]
• Voltage is 50-300V. Current for 1" cut below is 35A.
• 1 pound of wire used per hour to cut a 1/2" hole in a 3" piece of hard metal. - [2]. that is $5 in wire cost. About $1 per inch of metal.
• 10x slower than waterjet - [3]
• Waterjet appears to be much better for the speed and cost. But EDM advantage is 10x more precise - [4]

BOM

• EDM wire - $40 for 6 lb - [5]

YouTube

• DIY, cuts 1" stainless at 2 mm/min - [6]. Howto - [7]

Resources

• There are many EDM DIY builds out there.
• There's a book on DIY EDM machines - [8]. Youtube - [9]. Books and circuit boards are available - [10]

See Also

• Open Source Die-Sink EDM Machine
• Open Source 3 Axis Wire-Cut EDM Machine
• Open Source Robotic Arm Wire Cut EDM Machine

Useful Links

• Wikipeia Page On Electrical Discharge Machining