Integrated Design and Manufacturing Lab

Practical No. 03
Date of Performance: 25/01/2018
A report on
Wire Cut EDM

Submitted by, Submitted to,

Prabhat Ranjan Dr. Abhay Sharma

ME17resch11005

i Prabhat Ranjan|IIT Hyderabad

 Contents
An overview 1

Introduction 2

Wire cut EDM 2

Special Features Sprintcut: 3

Procedure 5

Code used 6

Parameters taken 6

Results 7

Refrences 8

ii Prabhat Ranjan|IIT Hyderabad

 An overview

Aim- To understand the working of Wire Cut EDM

Objective
i) To know all the components of wire-edm
ii) To cut a workpiece in rectangular shape

Equipment use: Sprintcut

Make: Electronica

Parameters
i) Voltage
ii) Current
iii) Water pressure
iv) Wire tension
v) Wire feed rate
vi) Pulse on/off
vii) Dielectric temperature

Dimension of workpiece to cut

19mm X 10 mm X 5mm

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Introduction
In Electric Discharge Machining process an arc is produced when two
current-carrying wires are short-circuited. During this machining process, a
small portion of metals is also eroded away, leaving a small cater. this
phenomenon is used in electric discharge machining (EDM). EDM machining
process is also known as spark erosion machining.

EDM involves a controlled erosion of electrically conductive materials by the

initiation of electrically conductive materials by the initiation of rapid and
repetitive spark discharges between the tool and workpiece separated by a
small gap. Each electrical spark produces sufficient heat to melt a portion of
the workpiece and usually, some of the tooling materials also. Due to rapid
heating, the dielectric fluid evaporates in the arc gap which increases the
resistance until the arc is interrupted. The associated shock wave and flowing
dielectric fluid remove the gas bubbles which later collapse.

Wire cut Electric discharge machining

The Wire Electric Discharge Machining (WEDM) is a variation of EDM and is

commonly known as wire-cut EDM or wire cutting. In this process, a thin
metallic wire is fed on-to the workpiece, which is submerged in a tank of
dielectric fluid such as deionized water. This process can also cut plates as
thick as 300mm and is used for making punches, tools and dies from hard
metals that are difficult to machine with other methods. The wire, which is
constantly fed from a spool, is held between upper and lower diamond guides.
The guides are usually CNC-controlled and move in the x–y plane. On most
machines, the upper guide can move independently in the z–u–v axis, giving
it a flexibility to cut tapered and transitioning shapes (example: square at the
bottom and circle on the top). The upper guide can control axis movements in
x–y–u–v–i–j–k–l–. This helps in programming the wire-cut EDM, for cutting
very intricate and delicate shapes. In the wire-cut EDM process, water is
commonly used as the dielectric fluid. Filters and de-ionizing units are used
for controlling the resistivity and other electrical properties. Wires made of
brass are generally preferred. The water helps in flushing away the debris

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from the cutting zone. The flushing also helps to determine the feed rates to
be given for different thickness of the materials. The schematic of wire cut
EDM is shown in figure below

Fig 1: Wire cut EDM

The WEDM process requires lesser cutting forces in material removal; hence
it is generally used when lower residual stresses in the workpiece are desired.
If the energy/power per pulse is relatively low (as in finishing operations), little
changes in the mechanical properties of the material are expected due to these
low residual stresses. The materials which are not stress-relieved earlier can
get distorted in the machining process. The selection of process parameters
is very crucial, as in some cases the workpiece undergoes significant thermal
cycles that can be very severe. These thermal cycles can form recast layers
and induce residual tensile stresses on the workpiece which are undesired.

Special Features Sprintcut:

Travel X x Y: 600 x 400 mm

Max. work-piece height: 350 mm

Max. table size: 910 x 580 mm

Max. Cutting speed: 170 rnm2//rnm

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Taper: ± 30° over 50 mm

Best surface finish: 0.8 p Ra

4 1/2 axes control (Z axis on display)

Long life mineral bed filtration (DL 35 Unit)

Fig 2: Sprint cut Wire cut EDM Machine

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Procedure
1. Fix specimen.
2. Switch on the power supply of main switch
3. Release emergency button
4. Switch on the power of machine
5. Wait for the setting to complete (look at the screen)
6. Press “enter” button four times to activate the screen
7. Screen will show four options
a) Manual
b) Prog
c) Run
d) PRMTR
8. Press Manual
After pressing manual, screen will show following options
a) MDI- Manual Data Input (used for execution of single line at a time)
b) Jog- Used for setting of X and Y coordinate
c) Machine reference- This is automatically set by the maker. All the
calculations will be done from machine reference system
d) EF- Edge finding (used for finding the edge of specimen and set it X and Y
zero)
e) COORD
f) Dry spark- This is used for calibration
g) Centre find- Used to cut circular workpiece
h) Align- To align with incline surface. Maximum 180 can be machined on
wire-edm used in lab.
9. Press Program mode
a) Edit
b) Load
c) Save as
d) Delete
e) DIR

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f) Serial
10. Press Run
This will show following options
a) Select- enter program number
b) Graph- Shows the profile of machine to be cut
c) Status
11. Go for EF
a) Press F3 for moving wire head in Y+
Tool will start moving in positive Y direction. Once it touches the edge a
spark will be generated. Set it as Y=0 and v=0
b) Press F2 for moving wire head in X-
Tool will start moving in negative X direction. Once it touches the edge a
spark will be generated. Set it as X=0 and u=0
Now all the measurement will start from X=0 and Y=0
12. Adjust pressure of water using flush. There are two rotameters in this
wire-edm. One is for upper nozzle and another is for lower nozzle. Look at
the rotameter that float level in both the rotameter should be same.
13. Select MDI mode
Write the code to machine the required surface
Code used to generate the product
G01 Y19
G01 X10
G01 Y0
Parameters taken
TON (Pulse on time)- 120ms
TOFF (Pulse off time)-60ms
IP (Peak current)-160A
VP (Peak voltage)-2V
WP (Water pressure)- 1
WF (wire feed)- 4
WT (Water time)- 4

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SV (Servo voltage)- 35V
SF (Servo feed)- 150A

Results
Raw material used- Low carbon steel

10 mm

19mm

Fig 4: Final product dimension

Fig 5: Final product

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Refrences
1. https://electronicagroup.com
2. https://nptel.ac.in

8 Prabhat Ranjan|IIT Hyderabad