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Design Considerations

To enhance the processibility of parts produced with EDM, the designer is advised to follow some strategies:

• Relax the surface-finish for the part, if feasible. This allows the manufacturer to produce the part with fewer passes, at a higher current level and a higher metal-removal rate.

• Design the part such that the amount of stock removed by EDM is relatively small. Whenever possible, use traditional machining techniques to remove the bulk of the stock with the finishing operations performed by EDM. This reduces significantly the amount of time required for the EDM operations to be achieved.

• Design the part such that several parts can be stacked and machined simultaneously or a single part can have several EDM operations performed simultaneously.

• Design the part such that the electrodes required can be produced at low cost by keeping their shapes as simple as possible. Excessively thin, fragile electrode sections should be avoided, especially if graphite is employed as the electrode material.

• When existing holes are to be enlarged or reshaped by EDM, through holes are preferred to blind holes as they permit easier flow of dielectric fluid past the area being machined.