Wire EDM

[Hella Bread]

I don't believe so. The cutting takes place submerged in water, so there is effectively no heating of the work piece. That said, microscopically, the metal will get hot immediately adjacent to the cutting wire, but it's so thin that whatever's left will be removed by subsequent grinding.

the HAZ is something like 0.0015”-0.0001” dependent on a few factors but yeah it’s so thin it’s effectively a non issue i would think

 

[Drew Riley]

The machine is based upon Mike Bax's design (baxedm.com). He manufactures and sells the high voltage pulse generator, and provides free CAD figures, though it's up to builders to isolate each part in the drawing, apply dimensions, and fabricate the parts. Took about 3 months to construct. It's two-axis and has roughly a 10x10" work envelope, but it's fine for anything I expect to be doing in a residential 2-car garage.

Wow, that's an impressive looking machine. I haven't previous heard about the BaxEDM. How much do you think you have invested into all together?

 

[kb58]

Well, I'm looking for ways to recoup some of the expense; that should tell you that it's a fair bit! I can't imagine how much more it would have been had I paid to have the parts machined. That said, I've just ordered the parts to add a drilling function and am also looking into a volume purchase of tungsten carbide, for grinding wheel platens, customized, of course. So, the financial hole deepens.

 

[argel55]

they have used EDM to make mosaic Damascus. use two different metal blocks and the cut outs would fit in the other block. You end up with an intricate pattern to make Damascus.

 

[kb58]

I may end up exploring those options, because tungsten carbide is proving expensive enough that unless it requires machining, it may not be worthwhile.

Side story: I wrote and published a book on building a mid-engine sports car (Google "Midlana"), spending a lot of time writing it. My brother quipped one day: "For those hours, you'd have made more working at In-and-Out Burger." Jerk... anyway, I do look at new ventures differently now, asking myself will it be worth my time.