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 Monday, February 23, 2009
EDM for aerospace

I have provided a lot of information on the use of EDM in aerospace manufacturing through this blog, trade events, webinars on Makino.com, and a recently published article in Makino's aerospace focused magazine, Radical Departures.  These have produced a fair amount of interest from several aerospace primes and top tier suppliers, as well as MROs in the aerospace sector.  I've completed the testing program to gather data for general, non-specific applications, and have sent out over 2 dozen copies of the complete test results to the companies that have asked for them. 

If you have an interest in looking at EDM as a viable process in parts manufacturing for the aerospace industry, from engine parts to landing gear components, contact me to discuss how Makino can help.  We are ready and willing to provide test cuts on specific materials and geometries that your company can perform metallurgical tests on to verify recast and HAZ thickness, existence of micro cracks, surface hardness, tensile strength, etc.  If you would like a copy of Radical Departures, let me know and I will make sure you receive on.  The test cuts and magazine are free.

Accuracy | Surface Finish
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 Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Customer Support Is Very Rewarding

There's always a good feeling you get after reading an e-mail like this...

"It is a pleasure to write this e-mail. I wanted to express my gratitude for the support I've always received from all of my contacts with the people from SST Group. Mr. Dan Dotson keeps in frequent contact with me on any consumable items that I may need. He always finds time to call me at least weekly to provide updates on SST product updates or to offer encouragement as we navigate this difficult business cycle environment. Many thanks.

I would also like to tell you about the valuable support I receive from another of your highly qualified people. Kevin Most has probably been the biggest reason I have been successful with the investments I've made with Makino EDM's. Many, many numerous times I have clicked on his speed-dial on my cell phone over the last 2 to 3 yrs and have never not been able get in immediate contact with Kevin. I'm not talking about problems with my machines but rather application issues such as helping me by discussing the best way to burn select materials so I can quote a job, or complete a job or just enlighten me as to the capabilities of the SP43. I have one small customer that asks me to burn a shape in carbide that is actually a spline curve which often trips me up on the programming side and Kevin always finds a solution for me. Did you know that he helped me through one of these projects by exchanging e-mails while he was in Singapore last year? Yep, he found time between meetings, tours and training to get the info to me. Unbelievable. Ask him sometime how he worked me through a 4axis application for an exhaust nozzle on a jet engine that turned into a blanket order that lasted over a year and may repeat again this year.

Lately, I've been moving jobs from other wire edm's over to the Makinos to take advantage of using my 'HEAT' settings on quite thin but very rigid work pieces. I don't think 'Heat' is generally recommended for 1/4" or 3/8" thick work pieces however when the parts are in a rigid set-up and very poor flushing 'Heat' works very well.

I will not extend this email further with any more examples of how I've been supported. So let me conclude with this. Picture me in my shop, standing in front of the control on a SP43, cell phone up against my ear, saying "Kevin, how do I get it (the SP43) to do this" That says it all.

When I purchased my second Makino, I told Nick that I made my decision based on buying not just a good machine but also buying the Makino Team. I'm sure I'll feel the same when I'm ready for my third."

Sincerely,
Jack Lanphier Pres.
Lanko Industries, Inc.
Mentor, Ohio

Thanks for the e-mail Jack. It's a pleasure for all of us at Makino to serve our customers.
Accuracy | Consumables | Cycle Time Reduction | High Speed Burning | Surface Finish
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 Friday, January 30, 2009
Amazing EDM Fine Hole comparison

Makino has recently done testing for a customer in the medical industry for EDM Fine Hole machining.  Part of this testing compared Fine Hole EDM to Laser and conventional mechanical drilling techniques.  The results of the tests were pretty amazing.  The photo micrographs below show the results of all three processes.  As the demand for smaller holes in medical devices, telecommunications and fiber optics, and aerospace applications increases, Makino continues to develop and refine our Fine Hole EDM machines to meet these demands.  Requirements for many of these projects include accuracy of size and shape, consistency in dimensions and locations of entry and exit, and straightness through high L/D ratios.  Check out these pictures and decide for yourself which process produces a better result in tight tolerance, high accuracy hole drilling.  These photos were machined into 316 Stainless Steel, 0.250mm thick, and captured on a scanning electron microscope.  Magnification levels are indicated on the photos.

This 0.015mm hole was developed using using a PICO second laser. Notice the deformation of the entrance hole and splattering of the exit hole.



The following 0.090mm hole was produced using conventional drilling. Notice the differing entrance and exit hole diameters and inaccurate roundness.



The next 0.020mm hole was produced using Makino Fine Hole EDMing. Entrance and exit holes were of the same quality with little to no deformation occurring to either one.




Makino fine hole EDMing was used to produce this 0.100mm hole as well. Once again the entrance and exit holes were virtually of the same quality. As you can see, little to no deformation resulted.


Accuracy | High Speed Burning | Surface Finish
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 Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Makino's newly developed Titanium booster technology
FW: Ti Booster technology
Makino has recently developed Titanium booster technology for Makino sinkers at the request of a major aerospace manufacturer.  In order to use it, the EDM machine must have a generator booster that provides an additional 60 amps to the existing standard generator.  What's new is the technology, or machining conditions, that provide the burn parameters for the machining - On time, Off time, Servo, Amperage, etc.  The new technology is currently for high speed roughing only, and provides material removal rates of about 2 grams per minute.  This is about 70-80% faster than previous technologies.  Makino is currently developing finish settings for this new technology that are expected to be able to achieve finishes down to less than 2 micronRa, or 75 microinchRa.  This technology will be available for most Makino sinker EDMs. We'll be broadcasting an online seminar on our Titanium booster technology this Thursday, January 22, 2009. If you'd like to attend and learn more about these advancements in titanium machining, you can register for free here. Thanks for reading everybody, hope to see you at this weeks seminar!

Accuracy | Cycle Time Reduction | High Speed Burning | Surface Finish
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 Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Advancements in EDM technology from Makino

Makino EDM introduced some new technology at IMTS. For Wire EDM, we presented the new DUO43 and DUO64 WEDMs. These machines will replace the SP series, and have several improvements of note. The DUO series machines are about 20% smaller in footprint than the SPs were, but retain the same X, Y, Z, U, V axis travels. The bed of the machines have been redesigned to incorporate the clean and dirty tanks into the same platform as the machine tool. New technologies will give the machine about a 20% increase in performance in many applications, and we have specifically designed .012" wire technologies to address both speed and performance with larger diameter wires. This is the only WEDM made that offers a choice of wire guide systems, either our proven Split Precision V Guides or the new PICO Precision Guides for small hole/close pitch threading and precision land/taper work for fine blanking and precision stamping dies.

On the sinker side, our newest advancements are a titanium specific generator, and Super Spark Graphite. The titanium generator allows high speed burning of titanium parts, specifically at the request of a major aerospace manufacturer, while maintaining surface integrity of the parts being machined. Super Spark Graphite is a new technology that drastically reduces burn time in deep cavities, while reducing electrode wear. In some cases, Super Spark Graphite allows EDMing of details that were impossible to do with older, standard technologies. One example of this that was on display at IMTS is a blind hole machined with a 5mm (0.197") square electrode to a depth of 200mm (7.874"). The fact that this can even be done at all is amazing, but it took only 20 hours (with no external flushing) and had around 20% wear on the roughing electrode (1st of 3 electrodes total).

For more information on these and other technological advancements in EDM from Makino, go to www.makino.com, or contact me at jeff.kiszonas@makino.com.

Accuracy | Cycle Time Reduction | High Speed Burning
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 Friday, August 08, 2008
An Update on Our Aerospace Material Testing

I've mentioned in the past that Makino is doing materials testing of aerospace alloys that have been processed with EDM. Makino has shown 2 webinars addressing this topic. I will be presenting more information on this topic as a speaker at this year's IMTS in Chicago, IL on Wednesday, September 10 at 10:00 a.m. Makino EDM has had testing done on several different aerospace alloys, having just added Inconel 718 to the list of tested materials. Other alloys previously tested for HAZ, recast, micro-cracking, and Vickers Micro-hardness include 6061-T6 aluminum, 17-4 stainless, and 6Al-4V titanium. Be sure to stop by the Business and Technology Forum to see results of the latest testing performed by a NADCAP certified lab.

Accuracy | High Speed Burning | Surface Finish
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 Thursday, May 15, 2008
Success Stories from PICO Wire Guides

Hey everybody, forgive me for the lack of posts recently. We’ve been busy helping customers with a few challenging applications.

Today I wanted to share a couple of success stories I received from customers using the PICO wire guide system.
 
The customer was using a U32j with PICO to thread two series of holes in a die plate. The die plate contained a total of 836 holes, half of them were 0.012", and half were 0.015" in diameter. The wire this customer used was 0.006" brass. To the pleasant surprise of this customer, the machine correctly threaded 835 of the 836 holes.
 
Many customers have had great success with the PICO guides in several different applications, including holes smaller than 0.020" diameter, and/or with pitch locations of less than 0.060" center-to-center. Another customer is actually automatically threading through a series of holes in a stack of parts with separation between each part in the stack. The part stack, including the spaces, is about 1-1/2 inches tall.
 
Many of these success stories have come from applications used in medical and aerospace parts manufacturing. If you’re using Makino’s new PICO system and want to share your experience, email me at jeff.kiszonas@makino.com. We’d love to hear from you!

Accuracy
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 Friday, April 25, 2008
Wire EDM testing in progress...results soon to come.

I've mentioned this before here, but I want to remind everyone that Makino is doing some interesting materials testing related to EDM and aerospace manufacturing.  We've already had a lot of Wire EDM testing done - 18 samples, 3 different alloys (17-4PH, AL6-4V, 6061-T6), 1, 2, and 3 pass machining. Tests performed were recast thickness, Heat Affected Zone thickness, micro cracks, and Vickers Micro Hardness.  We've seen some very impressive results that you can see in our webinar archives at Makino.com . We are now in the process of testing the same 3 alloys, same tests, but with Sinker EDM burns. We'll be adding Inconel 713 in the very near future. I'll have results from these tests in the next couple of weeks, and I'll presenting this data at the Montreal Machine Technology Show on Tuesday, May 13. Anyone interested in these types of tests should stop by if you're attending the show. I'll also be supporting our Canadian distributor, SST-Canada, in their booth, number 332. If you're at the show, stop by either the technical presentation on Tuesday morning, or the SST booth to say hi. If you'd like a copy of the test results of what we've done so far, just send me an email and I'll send you a copy.

Accuracy | Cycle Time Reduction | High Speed Burning | Surface Finish
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