Recent Postings

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!

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.

I recently spoke to a HEAT customer who informed me that he has reduced set-up time on one job from almost 3 hours to about 1/2 hour because of HEAT. Even though the work piece for this job is flat on top and bottom allowing for good sealed flushing, by using HEAT Technology, he was able to move the flushing nozzles away from the work piece far enough to clear the clamps that were used to hold the work piece. Now instead of having to plan work piece holding/clamping in order to avoid the upper head hitting the clamps, he simply does his set-up however is convenient, uses HEAT settings instead of standard technology, and runs his parts with the flushing nozzles moved away from the work piece surface. He is also able to realize shorter process times with faster burns while also consuming less wire. This means shorter lead times and higher profits.

A: It is the combination of different Makino adaptive control technologies that have been combined to create a much faster machining and straightness accuracies with poor flushing conditions. This technology is a total revamping of our existing poor flush technology (Both Away…for both nozzles away from work piece). Makino has been able to better the straightness accuracy while greatly reducing cycle time under poor flushing conditions… which is a very difficult thing to do! We have greatly increased flushing pressure, and we have updated this poor flush technology to include some of our newer adaptive technologies:

BellyWIZARD: Improves part straightness thru adaptive and mechanical adaptive controls…this technology was originally developed and is part of our standard machining technology library for “optimum” flush conditions (High Speed and Precision settings). It has been incorporated into the HEAT technology and is a critical part of machining straighter parts.

PowerWIZARD: Improves and stabilizes the machining power to prevent wire breaks and to help improve accuracies. For the HEAT technology, this adaptive control has been set to be more sensitive, so that this technology will be more reactive to changes in both flushing and material thickness changes.

CornerWIZARD: Improves the geometric shaped and corner tolerance of the work piece. For HEAT technology, this adaptive control has been modified to accommodate the increases in both machining speed and flushing pressure.

FlushingWIZARD: This includes the two independently monitored and adaptive flush pumps that are each dedicated to the upper and lower machining heads. Each pump will sense and adapt to changes in “flushing dynamics” of the cut more quickly than any of our competitors (our competition only uses one pump), and this aids in maintaining machining speed as well as to prevent wire breaks. For HEAT technology, the flushing pressure has been greatly increased, which is a key factor in reducing cycle time.

Makino SP series machines are already known for using less wire than other machines in the same class on like jobs.  With HEAT technology providing faster cut times in many applications, this will help to even further reduce wire consumption by these machines.  With brass wire costing around $6.00 to $6.50 per pound, this can result in substantial savings for those shops that use the SP series machines with HEAT.  EDM Sales & Supplies (1-800-EDM-SAVE) also offers a proprietary coated wire called Versacut-H that will further reduce process times on any WEDM regardless of manufacturer.  This wire was developed exclusively for Makino to compliment the HEAT system.  Combined with HEAT Technology on the Makino SP series machines, our customers have seen as much as 52% reduction in process times on some jobs.  Contact Makino EDM Applications, EDM Sales & Supplies, or Jeff Kiszonas to get more details.

Part of the reason HEAT is so effective is due to the WIZARD technology already built into Makino Wire EDMs. Here's an explaination of what that is:

BellyWIZARD: Improves part straightness thru adaptive and mechanical adaptive controls…this technology was originally developed and is part of our standard machining technology library for “optimum” flush conditions (High Speed and Precision settings). It has been incorporated into the HEAT technology and is a critical part of machining straighter parts.

PowerWIZARD: Improves and stabilizes the machining power to prevent wire breaks and to help improve accuracies. For the HEAT technology, this adaptive control has been set to be more sensitive, so that this technology will be more reactive to changes in both flushing and material thickness changes.

CornerWIZARD: Improves the geometric shaped and corner tolerance of the work piece. For HEAT technology, this adaptive control has been modified to accommodate the increases in both machining speed and flushing pressure.

FlushingWIZARD: This includes the two independently monitored and adaptive flush pumps that are each dedicated to the upper and lower machining heads. Each pump will sense and adapt to changes in “flushing dynamics” of the cut more quickly than any of our competitors (our competition only uses one pump), and this aids in maintaining machining speed as well as to prevent wire breaks. For HEAT technology, the flushing pressure has been greatly increased, which is a key factor in reducing cycle time.

Keep your eye out for the next edition of Manufacturing News (SE, SW, Midwest and NE). Intricate EDM, a shop using HEAT on their SP43, is featured on the cover.

They're acheiving amazing results with this new technology!

The general accuracy rating for HEAT at 4.0” tall is:

Accuracy:
±0.0002” (±5µm)

Straightness:
0.0002” (5µm) total – T.I.R.