Close

Sinker EDM

A project log for Sinker EDM Machine

Like a hole puncher, but for metals. For your shelf or desktop.

dominik-meffertDominik Meffert 04/23/2022 at 14:360 Comments

My next idea for reaching the goal of this project is to build a machine that is as fail-safe as possible. So, no wire EDM machine where every wire break would require user interaction.

Instead of that, I will build a horizontal Sinker EDM machine with the workpiece mounted on the X-axis and easy access for replacing the electrode.

The later machine should then be able to cut out workpieces by drilling multiple holes next to each other. It will likely not be the cleanest cutting solution but will also be very unique. The cool thing about Sinker EDM is that the tool is not rotating and so it will not slip into already drilled holes which makes overlapping holes possible.

The machine will also get a proximity sensor which will serve two purposes. It will check the length of the electrode after every drilled hole because while drilling the electrode gets shorter. It will also reset the position of the electrode if the machine fails to keep its distance from the workpiece and crashes into it. As a result of that, even a crash will not lead to a failed machining job.

After the job has finished, you can start the job again to only drill the skipped hole.

In the future, I will look into using an endstop switch and changing the code, so that the machine can detect a crash as a backup to the normal distance keeping method so that no holes will be skipped.

Here is an *old* video of the machine (changed some parts since then):

Discussions