Expanding Our Capabilities: Introducing Sinker EDM Services for Complex Parts
While we have offered wire EDM services for years at United Centerless Grinding, we’ve often received RFQs for jobs that were ideal for sinker EDM instead. When designs required blind features or other elements that only sinker EDM could produce, we had to regretfully decline the project.
But that’s no longer the case. We’ve added sinker EDM to our breadth of services, and we’re ready to take on even more of your EDM needs. We can now use EDM to machine blind features, as well as complex geometries and hardened materials—all while supporting lights-out machining for faster production at a lower cost.
Find out more about the benefits of our new capability and learn which projects are best suited for sinker EDM needs.
What is Sinker EDM, and How Does It Differ From Wire EDM?
EDM, or “electrical discharge machining,” is a process that removes material from a workpiece with electrical discharges instead of relying on mechanical cutting forces as in traditional machining.
The two most widely used types of EDM are wire and sinker EDM, but other variations include EDM drilling, EDM milling, and dry EDM. In addition to wire and sinker EDM, our shop offers EDM drilling.
Many people may group all EDM capabilities under the same umbrella, but wire and sinker EDM have distinct advantages and applications.
In wire EDM machining, a thin wire electrode cuts through material, ideal for through-cutting operations.
Sinker EDM uses a shaped electrode that “sinks” into the material, creating a negative impression. Sinker EDM is ideal for blind holes, 3D cavities, and complex geometries.
Sinker EDM is also known as “conventional EDM,” while RAM EDM is a related term that refers to a specific sinker EDM machine design.
Adding Our Cutting-Edge Mitsubishi SG 12
To complement our wire EDM capabilities, we recently invested in a Mitsubishi SG 12 Sinker EDM machine. The SG 12 is a cutting-edge piece of equipment, enabling faster and more efficient machining than sinker EDM models even a few years ago.
Even though the machine is new to us, the technique isn’t. Our team has decades of experience with sinker EDM, and we continually cross-train to ensure an expert is always ready to produce your quality parts..
What Sets Sinker EDM Apart?
Sinker EDM offers several benefits over wire EDM or traditional CNC milling:
Blind Feature Machining: Sinker EDM can create features that do not extend through the entire part, which wire EDM cannot achieve.
Complex Geometries: Sinker EDM employs a graphite electrode (or other conductive material) to shape the workpiece, allowing it to produce features such as sharp internal corners or compound angles.
Hard Material Machining: While traditional milling struggles with tough materials, sinker EDM can precisely machine materials such as hardened steel, titanium, and Inconel.
Lights Out Machining for Maximum Efficiency
Our new sinker EDM machine includes several features that enable lights-out machining, where we set up a job at the end of the workday and run it unattended overnight. This process can shorten your project timelines through continuous production and potentially reduce your costs by decreasing the required labor.
Critical features include our 20-tool automatic changer, which allows the machine to process multiple features or parts without any operator intervention. The SG 12 also features Remote 360 monitoring, allowing our team to check on the machine’s status from any location. If an issue arises, the system notifies us immediately, even if we’re outside the building.
United Centerless Is Ready for All Your EDM Needs
With the addition of sinker EDM, we now offer three EDM services: wire EDM, sinker EDM, and EDM drilling.
These three complementary options allow us to not only handle a wider variety of projects than ever but now you’ll no longer have to seek out multiple vendors for EDM needs—we can handle it all in our shop.
We’ve expanded quite a bit over the past decade, even as many of our customers still know us only for our long-running centerless grinding services. In fact, our sinker EDM services are only the latest addition to our range of capabilities. So whether you’re looking for a precision grinding company or you need Swiss precision machining, we’re always ready to deliver the high-quality results you expect.
Request a quote to get your next EDM project started!
