Automating the EDM Programming Process 

By Hari Sridharan 

“Remember when you were a kid putting together model airplanes?  The one thing I used to hate most was making a mistake on the very last part and having to take the entire thing apart.” 

That’s how one mold maker described to me the feeling he gets when he realizes an electrode was misplaced on a tool that is about to ship.  All the time and effort put into the machining of the mold component—roughing, heat treatment, finishing, drilling, tapping and polishing—is wasted.  All these things, as well as the machining of the electrode and EDM burning, might have to be redone from scratch.  

To keep up with intensifying competition and escalating customer demands for faster delivery times, many mold makers have invested heavily in production automation.  However, your production process is only as strong as its weakest link.  So while many shops have automated electrode design and manufacturing, the link to the critical step of EDM programming is still a manual task in most cases.  

Once the electrode design is done, electrode location, depth, and other parameters are provided to the EDM machine operator, usually on a piece of paper, a spreadsheet, or engineering drawings documenting the locations of each electrode.  The operator then manually keys this information into the EDM machine as part of the machine programming code.  With a typical mold requiring 10-15 electrodes (and often many more), this manual process of getting output from design and keying the information into the EDM machine can be tedious and time consuming, involving valuable programming time which can be better utilized.  

 As we all know too well, manual processes not only take time, but also leave room for human errors.  And when it comes to electrodes, these mistakes can be rather costly.  As one EDM machine operator poetically said, “They call it EDM sinker for a reason; your heart literally sinks when you realize you made a mistake on an electrode after all the work that has gone into the tool.  It’s especially bad when you know it’s a rush order that had to go out the door and will now be shipping late.” 

Fortunately for mold makers, it doesn’t have to be this way anymore.  Cimatron has recently introduced a new solution that automates the EDM programming process.  The solution leverages the fact that Cimatron supports the entire mold design and manufacturing process, including electrode design and production.  Once electrode design is done, it feeds the electrode setting directly into the EDM machine, saving time and eliminating the risk of costly input errors.  The solution supports the unique programming requirements of the major EDM machine brands in the market today, with new machines added regularly and upon request. Since not every mold maker works or programs the EDM machines the same way, the solution is customizable to individual company standards. 

The Cimatron solution supports the programming of multiple cavities or components, as well as multi-sided electrodes. It also addresses the need to include simple rectangular electrodes produced by grinding rather than CNC machining.  The application runs on top of a CimatronE Viewer, enabling the EDM operator to visualize all the electrodes and areas being processed and determine the best way to approach the EDM process. 

With this automated solution, EDM programming time for new electrodes can be reduced by as much as 95%. It also saves the need to produce engineering drawings, spreadsheets, and handwritten notes. And since modifying existing EDM programs for changes in cavity or orientation can also be tedious, the EDM programming solution makes the editing of existing programs easy and accurate.   

But most important for mold makers is the knowledge that they can trust the electrodes will be positioned correctly and consistently on each and every mold.  Being able to trust the location eliminates the need for time-consuming dry runs.  Even more importantly, error rate can be reduced to zero, and the risk of production delays is greatly minimized.   

More than just a data transfer tool, the solution provides EDM operators with production management capabilities to better control their entire work process.  EDM operators typically look at electrode production differently than the way designers do.  While the designer often looks to start with the smallest, simplest and quickest electrode, the operator would typically prefer to start the machine working on the largest and most time consuming electrodes first.  The EDM programming solution serves as a management console for the EDM operator, where he can select the order of electrode burning and keep track of which electrodes have been produced and which are still in queue. 

With manufacturers scrambling to accelerate delivery times, it is not uncommon for the EDM process to start before all the electrodes are machined and ready.  A built-in database saves the information of the electrodes which are already programmed, enabling the EDM operator to program only the electrodes which are ready for burning, then save the session and continue when the rest of the electrodes are ready.      

Every mold maker has an electrode horror story to tell.  Automating the EDM programming process takes at least one headache away, and mold makers are quick to embrace the solution.  Being a toolmaker in this competitive era is tough enough without having to worry about a simple thing such as the location of an electrode.  

Hari Sridharan is the VP of Engineering & Business Development for Cimatron Technologies, a global provider of innovative software solutions for design and manufacturing.  For more information, visit www.cimatrontech.com.

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