Revision as of 18:27, 14 April 2018

Basics

Stands for Electric Discharge Machining.
It is simply a spark between an elecrtode/wire (Depending on which machine variant is used) and a workpiece that are seperated by a dielectric fluid (Usually high purity water (Double Distilled or Deionized) or oil)
It does super precise cutting and small hole drilling in electrically-conductive materials.

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]

The following was cut using a high precision Wire-Cut EDM Device. The Cut is so precise that the shape can seem to dissapear into the cube it was cut from when it is reinserted:

<a href="//imgur.com/DAs75ze">THE FINAL FORM</a>

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]

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-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.
+=Basics=
+*Stands for Electric Discharge Machining.
+*It is simply a spark between an elecrtode/wire (Depending on which machine variant is used) and a workpiece that are seperated by a dielectric fluid (Usually high purity water (Double Distilled or Deionized) or oil)
+*It does super precise cutting and small hole drilling in electrically-conductive materials.
 =About=