Wire Erosion of 4-Axis profile – Paper Shredder

Industry Sector:    Financial/Business

Type of Work:       Wire Erosion of 4-Axis profile

Client Requirements:
We were recently approached by a client and asked if we could wire erode 9 pointed details, tapering to a plain diameter. This was for a paper shredder which was to be used for shredding plastic £5 bank notes. You can see from the photographs included, the piece of metal that we started with and the end result once we had cut the profiles with tapered sides.

Because the project involved 4 axis wire erosion, accuracy and precision are essential and that’s why investment in the very latest technology is essential in order to achieve this level of precision. We were able to use our AG 600 LH machine which has an X/Y/Z axis travel of 600 x 400 x 500 mm. This piece of advanced EDM technology features linear motor drives on 4 axes to ensure reliability. The AG series combines speed and accuracy with high levels of precision.

Using this type of technology means that we can incline the wire also called the electrode that the machine produces. As a result, we can adapt it to create components with differing profiles or as with this project, to create components with taper.

Work Carried Out: 
At Cheshire Wire Erosion we have a range of the most up to date machines for electrical discharge machining (EDM) that are capable of delivering engineering solutions to many industrial sectors including the financial and business sector.

A key element of this project was to create the tapered sides for the 9 pointed details. They had to be flush to the side and tapered down to create grooves in the sides of the component. The length for this project was 465mm. Our wire erosion machines allow us to machine profiles through parts, such as with this project.

The EDM method enables us to produce slots, holes and other complex shapes in hard materials to a close tolerance. Conventional cutting processes would find this difficult but with the technology we have combined with the experience and skills of our staff we can meet these demands.