Novel Tool Design Method for Orbiting EDM -A 2nd Approach on Design Automation Developed in CAD-

Abstract

Tool design for orbiting EDM process often encounters some difficulties to adjust for EDM orbit and machining overcut concurrently. In orbiting process, the tool sweeps out some extra volume due to the additional orbit motion. Hence, it is compulsory to adjust tool geometry based on the chosen orbit cycle to avoid dimension distortion on the final product. Currently, tool correction is done manually since there is no CAD package which provides a specific assistance to adjust the tool geometry for orbital motion. Therefore, design process becomes lengthy and more prone to error due to manual correction process. The authors have proposed a tool design principle for orbiting purposes. Presented in the paper is continuation of the previous work, which emphasizes an automation strategy of tool design developed inside CAD system. The tool is compensated automatically for overcut and EDM orbit, and checked for its validity. The developed CAD system has been tested for a few EDM applications with complex shapes and proven effective to cut tool design time and human-related failures which are commonly found during manual design processes. Experimental validation for a complex part was executed with a promising result.

Electrode Design for Orbiting EDM: An Experimental Approach

“…The algorithm of tool design, tool validation and geometry comparison of design model and product model is written in SolidWorks API and is executed automatically after inputting all of necessary information needed to process the model. Figure 2 presents the developed user interface [6].…”

“…The authors have proposed a new method to compensate the shape of the electrode with regard to the applied orbit path [3]. The method is based on the principle of inverse Minkowski sum and developed as an electrode design package in a commercial software [6]. This work presents an experimental work on orbiting EDM using electrodes that have been designed following the non-uniform offset method of inverse Minkowski sum.…”

Micromachining in Powder-Mixed Micro Electrical Discharge Machining

“…In the field of material science and engineering, compared to other machining processes, EDM has been widely used to fabricate difficult to machine materials [3][4][5][6]. This is due to the fact that EDM has good control in providing high surface quality and machining accuracy without sacrificing machining efficiency [7][8][9][10]. There are challenges for developing the device in the field of biomedical and automotive industries, which is the miniaturization of the system [11][12][13].…”