Manufacturing – EDM

From models, Fourté directly fabricates products through the process of wire Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM). Working from the model allows quick and accurate prototyping. A Wire EDM machine cuts hardened tool steel accurately. The process uses from .004” to .012” wire to cut the parts. An EDM machine is a large power supply that displaces molecules from the part being cut to the wire running through the machine. The power supply on the EDM machine has settings for different types of metals and thicknesses. It breaks the molecular bond of the material and plates it on the wire.

During wire EDM machining a thin single-strand metal wire, usually brass, is fed through the work piece. The machining typically occurs submerged in a tank of dielectric fluid. The process is used to cut punches, tools and dies from hard metals that are too difficult to machine by other methods. The wire, which is constantly fed from a spool, is held between upper and lower diamond guides. The guides, CNC controlled, move in the x–y plane. The upper guide can also move independently in the z–u–v space.

Fourté can provide prototype to production EDM parts. This discipline of manufacturing can be performed at our site in the Silicon Valley of the San Francisco bay area or our offshore facility.