7 votes

Wire EDM is an insanely precise manufacturing method. But there's a trick behind these objects that appear to have no seam.

Posted by cfabbro
Tags: engineering, manufacturing, fabrication, electrical discharge machining.wire, electricity, illusions, materials, metals, videos, steve mould
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9zyenX2PWk

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Title
How these impossibly thin cuts are made
Authors
Steve Mould
Duration
9:37
Published
Apr 28 2023

2 comments

  1. uselessabstraction
    Link
    Yeah. The wire has a diameter. The most common size of wire used is .01" / 0.25mm. The spark gap adds another couple thousandths of an inch to the width of the cut, depending on how many finishing...

    Yeah. The wire has a diameter. The most common size of wire used is .01" / 0.25mm. The spark gap adds another couple thousandths of an inch to the width of the cut, depending on how many finishing passes you take (ranging from 0 to 5 typically). If you cut both sides of the puzzle piece from the same block, there would be a visible gap. These interlocking pieces need to be cut from separate blocks. In practice, tolerances of +/- .0001" are managable for thin workpieces. Thicker cuts begin to have issues with hourglass / taper, where the wire erodes somewhat before it travels all the way through the workpiece.

    4 votes
  2. mat
    Link
    "Wire EDM is accurate to five thousandths of a mm which in inches is... ...another number" I like Steve Mould's videos. He's good at explaining fairly complex things and he goes into a pleasing...

    "Wire EDM is accurate to five thousandths of a mm which in inches is... ...another number"

    I like Steve Mould's videos. He's good at explaining fairly complex things and he goes into a pleasing amount of detail. My favourite of his is What do Protons Taste Like?

    3 votes