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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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 Thursday, October 09, 2008
Customer Satisfaction

This came into our applications department recently from a new EDGE2 customer:

"Thanks for sending the test document on the Ultra-fine Circuit program. It was a big help, along with the input on looking at the block by block function in the diagnose screen. I now have a lot better understanding of how time control breaks down into segments and how much time I'm actually spending on each portion of each process. It was also interesting on how MC Method 13 has 3 segments to each process and Method 93 has 7 segments. It still amazes me on how the operator has virtually an unlimited amount of options when it comes to programming. The amount of information that's available to monitor every portion of the burn is a big benefit that was unheard of with our old machine. Every day I'm more and more convinced we made the right decision in going with Makino. Thank You."

This customer does a lot of carbide punch back-burning, and has seen a dramatic decrease in processing time on the Makino EDGE2 as compared to the other sinker they had been using. They also do a lot of carbide face details, and have seen improvements in surface finish, surface integrity, and geometric accuracy in these applications.  We did a webinar on the back-burning process back in October 2007, entitled Back Burning Punches. This webinar, along with our entire webinar archive, can be viewed for free at www.makino.com/library.

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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 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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 Thursday, March 27, 2008
New version of Machining Conditions is now available.

There is a new version of Machining Conditions now available for all SP-Series Wire EDM's.  This is Ver 501, and it provides settings for 3 Pass HEAT technology, more Precision Steel technology, and more Carbide technology.  The third pass HEAT technology adds a finishing pass, while the Steel and Carbide technologies have expanded settings up to 6 inch tall material.  Please contact Makino Technical support for more details at 888-MAKINO4 (625-4664).


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 Monday, July 30, 2007
Case Study in the next CMM

In the next issue of Competitive Mold Maker, we're going to feature a case study of a shop in Wisconsin using an SP43 with HEAT to create innovative mold locks.

We'll link to the case study as soon as it's up!

High Speed Burning
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 Monday, July 16, 2007
HEAT on the cover of EDM Today!

Featured in the next issue of EDM Today is Tom Frick of Intricate EDM, a HEAT user. Check his story out in the next issue!

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 Friday, May 11, 2007
Question: What about three pass machining?

Makino will soon be releasing HEAT Technology for 3 pass machining. Originally developed for 2 pass part processing in order to provide greater speed in poor flushing conditions, HEAT has been received with great enthusiasm by shops that require fast burn times and high accuracy, but may not need superior surface finishes. At the request of some of these customers, Makino developed settings for a third pass using HEAT for those jobs that require a finer finish as well. Current 2 pass settings can achieve 80 micro inch RA, while the third pass settings will be able to provide finishes of 50-55 micro inch RA. These figures are specifically for machining in tool steels.

High Speed Burning
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