Recent Postings

Received this question over the weekend. Here's a quick answer:

A machining condition that has a work piece that is completely flat on both sides (top & bottom) so that the machining nozzles can both be set to within under 0.008” (set to 0.020” on Makino). This close setting of the machine nozzles, which is very sensitive and critical, is done with the aid of a metal shim or gage.  In addition to the work piece being completely flat, their must also exist a 0.200” wide zone of material all the way around the working geometry/shape to maintain seal-off and maintain flushing pressure, and their can be no thru or cross hole interruptions during the machining process (work piece and cut are thru completely solid materials).  Any changes in any of these conditions will contribute to part inaccuracies, wire breaks, and greatly reduced machining speeds.

That really begs the question - what is a poor flushing conditon?

A poor flushing condition is any cut or process that does not allow one or both of the machining nozzles to be set to within the “optimum” nozzle setting of under 0.008” to the work piece. Poor flush typically involves non-flat work pieces that may include changes in part thickness, machined steps, thru holes, cross holes, counter-bores, etc.  Poor flush can also occur in a completely flat work piece as a result of the work holding setup. It is quite common to see a completely flat work piece not allow one or both of the machining nozzles to be set to within the “optimum” flush condition height as a result of the nozzles needing to be raised away from the work piece to provide clearance for work holding and clamping.

A follow-up to the entry dated Friday, October 20, "Email from an Application Engineer"

The engineer who sent the original email notified me of the following.

The user initially saw a 35% reduction in machining time over the conventional wire EDM processes. The job originally took 9hrs 36min, and now is running at 6hrs 36min using HEAT.

This same customer started using special HEAT wire from EDM Sales & Supplies on this job, and has been able to further reduce the machining time on this job to just 4hrs 39min - a 52 percent decrease in total machining time!

While HEAT doesn't require special wire, the HEAT wire will improve even further your speed in poor flushing conditions.

For a time-sensitve project or a job shop enviornment, these kind of savings are invaluable! For more info on EDM Sales and Supply, visit their website edmsave.com.

Received a question asking about the HEAT webcast we did a few weeks back. You can view it by registering here.

Also, we're going to have an updated webcast with a customer using HEAT talking about his experiences on Dec. 7 at 11 a.m. Eastern. You can register to attend that here.

You can submit any questions or HEAT testimonals by emailing Jeff.Kiszonas@makino.com.

A few more details on the application we talked about last week -

On the SP43 EZ-Cut was set at + 10% for the rough-cut on SP43. This makes the machine cut a little more aggressively than what standard technology would allow.  EZ-Cut is represented on screen as a simple sliding scale.  If moved to the negative side of zero, the cut can be set to be less aggressive, if it is set to the positive side of zero, the cut becomes more aggressive.

The technology for .012" hard brass wire for cutting steel available on the competitor's machine had only two settings for the rough-cut.  One setting is designed for high speed rough-cut with nozzles sealed against the part and minimum radius of .500" for the shape to be cut.

The second setting is fast rough-cut for any contours but with nozzles sealed. In this particular test the lower nozzle was not sealed against the part (.800" gap).

The threading cycle on the other machine is very slow compared to Makino's "RETRY 3" rethreading function.

The customer's impression is that the Makino control is user more friendly than our competitor. Here are some of the customer's first comments:

We will post more real world results as HEAT is installed in an ever widening base of customers!

Just received this email:

We just installed a new Makino SP43 with HEAT and held operator training at a customer in the South.  This customer also has a competitor's machine.

Both machines were setup with .012" hard brass wire. Openings were cut on the left side of the blank.  The left side was 2.000" thick verses 1.5" average thickness on the right side, so this cut was ideal for the HEAT technology because of the varying thickness.

Initial cuts are showing a marked time improvement - faster by 20+ percent than the competitor's machine. More to come later this week after the customer gets going on a test run.

A recent account of a HEAT retrofit at a Makino SP43 owner:

Today I installed HEAT at one of our new customers. When I first tried to copy the .010" e conditions it produced an error that indicated there was not enough room. I deleted all conditions from 9000 thru 9099. This opened enough space.

We decided to use the special pump parameters on the first job. It was not "both" away but "one" away. It was a 2" tall piece of cast stainless steel, a repeat production job, 24 pieces this time. The cut time had been 1:04 for the part done the day before. High speed 1.2 was used but the part was in a fixture that put the bottom of the part .5" above 0. The est. cut speed was .137"/min. The actual cut speed was about .084"/min. when using standard conditions and pump parameters. I used the same 1.2 e condition and put the steel laminar nozzle on the bottom where the bad flush was. I kept the steel sealed off nozzle in the top because it was sealed off. The cut speed increased from .084"/min to about .124"/min. This is a dramatic increase. He has a fixture that holds nine parts, which had a total cut time of 9 hours 36 min. Using the enhanced flushing brought the per part time from 1:04 down to 44 minutes. This made the time to cut a complete fixture 6 hours 36 mins. This is better than a 35% time savings. The customer is very excited about this!

Kevin Most
Applications Engineer

Received a question asking if HEAT could be added to an existing machine.

Yes, it can. We can upgrade any existing Makino SP-series Wire EDM pretty easily, turbo-charging your speed in poor flushing conditions.

If you want to discuss this, feel free to contact me.

I received a question asking if special wire is required for HEAT and if there were any problems associated with rollers, belts, etc.

There are wires optimized for HEAT, but in general HEAT provides for faster cutting in real world applications without using large diameter or special coated wire.

HEAT can be used with both standard brass and coated wires (paraffin, non-paraffin, and high zinc). The sealed flushing process can be utilized on any Makino wire EDM machine designed for HEAT, and does not require multiple or dedicated machines specific to desired speeds.

A big problem in wire EDM machines is rollers and bearings failing. HEAT includes a patented wire drying system which eliminates the replacement of rollers and bearings. It also includes a filtration process to address high metal removal.

HEAT machines also require no special belts or belt replacements.