EDM Department Inc.
For many observers, operations at EDM Department Inc. in Bartlett, Illinois, are closer to groundbreaking research than engineering. When it comes to precision, this company really takes things further. Studying EDM Department’s capabilities requires an extraordinary magnifying glass!
“Our drawings are usually in microinches,” relates, Mark Raleigh, founder and GM. “We manufacture microcomponents with nanoproperties. Nonetheless, we have to admit that getting down to under 1 µinch is still a challenge.”
The company primarily produces moulding tools for the development of new products in the medical technology, defence and communication industries – seldom tools for series production. For the same industries, it also makes prototype components and precision products in short series.
One example of a microelectrode. Graphite, 14 needles, each with a diameter of 130 µm, i.e. barely three hairs!
Mark Raleigh has extensive experience in precision. His positions have included one as the head of moulding tool production in the Molex Group. Here, almost 25 years ago, he evaluated what the market had to offer in the form of streamlined interfaces for electrode manufacture and electrical discharge machining. Ever since, System 3R’s products have been a part of Mark’s professional activities.
He started his own company just over ten years ago and, along with his staff of ten, is now totally oriented towards precision – not to say ultraprecision!
One example of the above is EDM Department’s manufacture of graphite electrodes and the discharge machining, in tool steel, of 120-µinch holes to a depth of 1,700 µinches. Another is a tool for needles. The needles have to have a tip radius of 500 nanoinches! Delivery is only possible through combining the latest in milling and EDM technologies, e.g. nanopulsing and vibration-damped palletisation, VDP.
One generally recognised truth in manufacturing is that measures which reduce machine dead time are almost always considerably more profitable than those that clip seconds off the machining process itself. This is where interfaces that enable rapid tooling are vital.
Another truth is that, in many machining processes, vibration sets a limit to production capacity. Precision and surface quality are both negatively affected by vibration. The minimisation of vibrations is thus highly desirable and, in practice, a system’s damping capacity is of crucial importance.
Mark Raleigh: “We now mill electrodes that simply could not be produced before.”
System 3R has developed vibration-damped palletisation, VDP, a product programme offering unique damping properties and capabilities. VDP is patented and gives users a significant competitive edge.
Mark Raleigh explains: “As regards electrode manufacture, VDP has markedly sharpened our capacity. Before, we could make microelectrodes with a length to diameter ratio of 12:1. We have now made electrodes where the ratio is 35:1. In fact, we can presently produce electrodes that, in the old days, were absolutely impossible using milling machines!”
Printer friendly version
Related links:
VDP-Vibration-damped palletisation