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Poor Man's EDM

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Bernd:
Found this on the Mial List I belong to. Might help out those small holes that need to be dilled through hardened material.





Bernd

David Jupp:
Now all those incorrectly made 123 blocks can be fixed !

Bogstandard:
Very interesting Bernd.

I'm always interested in easy ways to do things.

I have seen all sorts of home very complicated builds for EDM machines over the years, some requiring degrees in electronics, and many thousands of pounds worth of precision machinery, it would have been cheaper to go out and buy a second hand (or even a brand new) commercial unit.

I actually worked on that principle in the late 60's, when I was just a lad, but being used for an arc welding tool that could be run off your car battery.
It self struck by flicking backwards as you touched the stick onto the job, then forwards again, continually striking an arc and depositing metal. Because it wasn't a continuous burn process, a lot less heat was generated and you could actually weld paper thin corroded up steel sheets (just what cars of the time were built from).

The idea was actually put into production a few years later here in the UK, someone might even remember them. Not produced by me BTW, I just got the very basic prototype working. But it is basically exactly the same as the chappie in the vid was doing, but he uses gravity for the forwards motion, whereas I used a light coil spring, the same as a standard sort of solenoid, but great deal more amps. My coil was made from fairly thick copper wire wire wrapped in glass fibre tape for insulation, and it got very hot, but it worked for a run of about 6", then let it cool down a bit before continuing.

If anyone is interested in making a low voltage welder, I am sure I could remember enough to knock up a sketch to get you started.


John

raynerd:
There is a chap who demo`s spark errosion at the last few Harrogate shows and I also saw him at the midlands show. I don`t know too much about it but it looked a fancy setup, I presume similar to the one in the video - but I could be wrong!  Very interesting - thanks for posting. 

crankshafter:
I want one  :drool
Hey Bogs make us a nice C.O.C of your EDM.
Here is an other simple EDM.

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