Products - Wire EDM

The UPV-3 and UPV-5 Ultra-high Precision WEDM machines are designed with an oil dielectric system for precision machining of carbides, and other hardened materials used in the manufacturing of tooling for precision stamping, fine blanking, and powdered metal forming.  These machines are also capable of processing complex cutting tools and cutting tool inserts made of PCD, or polycrystalline diamond.  These complex tools will usually have a PCD cutting surface mounted to a tool steel or carbide substrate. 

An oil based dielectric fluid allows a smaller spark gap (i.e., the gap between the wire electrode and the work piece at the time of electrical discharge) than a water-based fluid. This facilitates precision machining of narrower slot widths and smaller corner radii. These wire EDM machines are equipped with Makino’s newly developed SPG II machining circuit that provides significant improvements in best surface finish and finish machining efficiency. A surface finish of 0.2 ?m Rz is obtained under standard machining conditions for 20-mm (0.79") thick work pieces measuring up to 100 x 100 mm (3.93"x3.93").

Other advantages of an oil-based dielectric system are that there is no softened HAZ layer produced when processing carbide, nor will any surface corrosion occur on machined surfaces. In long run applications where the machined parts must remain submerged for extended periods, this can be critical in controlling corrosion or oxidation layers on parts that are susceptible to these effects. When cutting carbide materials in de-ionized water, for example, an electrolytic corrosion can occur.  These materials can range from various grades of tungsten carbide to traditionally recommended EDM-grade carbides.  When this does happen, the result will be cobalt binder depletion in the work piece.  Using oil dielectric instead of water, this electrolytic damage is eliminated thus extending edge quality, edge life, and overall cutter life.  Oil dielectric fluid is well suited to the machining of hardened materials and polycrystalline diamond (PCD).

In carbide machining testing performing like burns, the UPV machines have proven to be up to 22% faster than Makino’s current water based machines, and up to 78% faster than Makino’s prior oil based technology, with good sealed flushing.

Both UPV machines are fitted with PICO Precision wire guides that have a proven record of high performance on Makino’s DUO and Uj Series WEDMs. The UPV-3 has XY-axis travels of 14.56"x10.63" (370 x 270 mm), while the UPV-5 provides XY-axis travels of 21.65"x14.56" (550 x 370 mm).

 

 

Technical data