Wire EDM Cutting Conditions

Introduction

This topic explains the Cutting Conditions page of the Wire operations found in the Wire Wizards.

Cutting Conditions

The Cutting Conditions parameters can be linked to a Cutting Conditions Database that is provided with the software and selected in Current Settings (Default or Job). You can then use the values from the database or you can manually edit the values for the operation by overriding Link to Database.

 

Important: The values that display when using Link to Database are determined using various factors from the job. The stock thickness, wire size, wire material, and the number of operations (or number of passes, as for Skim Cut operations) all determine what information is linked from the database.

 

General Settings

  • Link to Database

Select the check box to link all applicable parameters in this dialog box to the values from the database that is selected for the current machine. This setting is only applied to the Cutting Conditions group which contains the Offset, Power Setting, and Feedrate. The Wire Speed and Tension (and pass comments) are not tied to the database.

Clear the check box to manually define the values in this dialog box independently from the database values.

 

  • Selected Pass - displays all passes that are available for the current operation. For Rough Cut and Tab Cut operations, this is a always a single operation. For Skim Cut operations, this displays the number of passes defined for the operation (Skim Cut: Pass 1, Skim Cut: Pass 2).

 

  • Edit Table - is provided to allow you to view and/or edit the cutting conditions and comments for all operations in the feature in a single location. Click Edit Table to open the Dialog box. If you edit any values in this location, when you click OK the Link to Database check box is cleared.

 

  • Pass Comment - is a text box provided for you to type any pertinent information to be output with the comments for the operation.

 

Machining Registers

When the Use Machining Registers check box is selected for an Agie machine in the Current Settings dialog box, the Machining Registers group is added to the Cutting Conditions dialog box. These machining register values are linked to the database, so these options are unavailable when the Link to Database check box is selected. To manually edit the machining registers, clear the Link to Database check box and type the appropriate number for each register: Generator Register, Offset Register, Flushing Register, and Angle Register.

 

Cutting Conditions

All of the following options are not available when the Link to Database check box is selected. In this case, these options display the values from the database. To manually edit these values, clear the Link to Database check box at the top of the dialog box. Important here is that when there is more than one Skim Cut pass, these values only apply to the pass that is currently selected in the Selected Pass list in the General Settings group.

 

  • Offset - sets the offset value for the Selected Pass. Type the appropriate value.
  • Power Setting - sets the power setting for the Selected Pass. Type the appropriate value.
  • Feedrate - sets the feedrate to use for the Selected Pass. Type the appropriate value.

 

Wire Speed and Tension

The following options are always available regardless of the state of the Link to Database check box. The wire speed and tension are not stored in the database.

 

  • Speed - sets the wire speed for the Selected Pass. Type the appropriate value.
  • Tension - sets the wire tension for the Selected Pass. Type the appropriate value.

 

Note: The Wire Speed and Tension are not used for all machine types. These values can be set to zero if they are not needed.

Next Topic

After defining the Cutting Conditions for the last operation in the feature, click Compute to create the wirepath for the feature.

 

After finishing the Wire EDM Wizard, the Wire EDM Feature is added to the CAM Tree for you to control various feature and operation settings including start points and much more.