A few years ago, the mold industry saw the emergence of high-speed milling machining that would replace EDM, leading some factory owners to make irrational choices when investing in equipment. In fact, factories should figure out the advantages and disadvantages of these two technologies, and choose the right equipment according to their own processing needs, and avoid follow-up and obedience.
1. Can the development of high-speed milling replace EDM?
It can be said that EDM and high-speed milling are the two main forces in mold forming technology, and they have their own merits. With the rapid development of high-speed milling technology, will its development trend replace EDM?
Objectively speaking, high-speed milling technology is not a panacea, its production stems from the supplement of traditional milling and EDM process weaknesses, its maturity has gradually broadened its application, but due to the characteristics of the milling process itself Constraints, it is impossible to replace EDM in the mold processing. Here we use the actual production experience of the mold companies to make some analysis and introduction.
2. The advantages of EDM and its application
In summary, the advantages of EDM are mainly reflected in the processing of deep slot slits, the processing of inner corners, the sharp edge processing, subtle, complex, precision machining, deep cavity processing, and superhard materials. The processing, these are the lack of high-speed milling capabilities. It can be seen that EDM has absolute advantages in the manufacture of delicate molds with sophisticated shapes.
With the rapid development of high-speed milling machining technology, the demand for EDM processing of rough and medium processing types has been significantly reduced. However, in the face of challenges, EDM has incorporated advanced numerical control technologies, and technological advances have enabled various process indicators to reach high levels. At the same level, a highly precise micro-cavity can be obtained with edges and corners, and a mirror finish with an Ra value of less than 0.1 μm can be obtained. In addition, EDM CNC milling, mixed powder EDM large area finishing and other technologies, but also to expand the application of EDM.
For the machining of precision small cavities, narrow slots, grooves, corners, etc., EDM should be the primary process of choice; for the machining of complex shaped parts, especially when the tool is difficult to reach the complex surface, EDM has it. The significance is: where deep cutting is required, high-speed milling is more specifically avoided where the aspect ratio is particularly high. For machining of high-tech parts, the programming time of general machining electrodes is higher than that of high-speed milling workpieces. To be short, this difference becomes more apparent in more complex processing applications; in the place where EDM finishing is specified, EDM is used to provide a fire pattern surface.
It is worth mentioning that there are a lot of processing conditions, from the theoretical analysis can be applied to high-speed milling to complete the processing. In fact, due to the high cost of micro-tools and the risk of milling high-hardness steels, it is better to use EDM to easily mill the copper electrodes and achieve predictable discharge machining results.
3. The advantages of high-speed milling and its application
High-speed milling adopts small-diameter milling cutters, high-speed rotation and small-cycle feeding, which greatly improve production efficiency and machining accuracy. At the same time, due to low milling force, the workpiece hot deformation is reduced, the milling depth is small, and the feed is faster, so the processing The surface roughness is very small.
High-speed milling is suitable for the processing of most molds. In the mold processing, high-speed milling can be processed 60HRC hardened steel. Therefore, high-speed milling allows machining after heat treatment, which greatly simplifies the mold manufacturing process. The traditional processing procedures are: roughing of the outer shape, roughing of the processing cavity, heat treatment, finishing of the outer shape, EDM machining of the cavity, fitter polishing of the cavity, and surface hardening. The processes after high-speed machining are as follows: rough machining → heat treatment → contour finishing → high-speed milling cavity → surface hardening treatment, which can save electric machining (relatively speaking), manual grinding and other processes, shorten the process route, and then greatly Improve processing productivity.
In general, high-speed milling machining should be used as an alternative to EDM for large removals. When the tool is easy to access the workpiece, the shape of the machining part is open, and when the aspect ratio is small, high-speed milling is suitable.
In fact, high-speed milling is very suitable for the manufacture of electrodes. Traditionally milled electrodes need to be hand-polished with poor consistency and affect the quality of EDM. High-speed milled electrodes require virtually no artificial polishing, and rough and finished electrodes can achieve nearly perfect consistency. At the same time, high-speed milling can process thin-walled, more complex electrodes.
However, no matter how the high-speed milling is developed, due to the limitation of its mechanism, even if a five-axis machining of a rotary tool is used, the shape of the clear corner cannot be processed. For a deep cavity and a narrow groove, the tool rigidity is insufficient and the effect is not ideal.
4. The development of the integration of EDM and high-speed milling
In the rapid development of high-speed milling machining, the development space for EDM has been squeezed. At the same time, high-speed milling has also brought greater technological advances to EDM. Such as: The use of high-speed milling to manufacture electrodes, due to the realization of narrow area processing and high-quality surface results, so that the number of electrode design greatly reduced. In addition, manufacturing electrodes with high-speed milling can also increase the production efficiency to a new level, and can ensure the high accuracy of the electrode, so that the precision of EDM can also be improved. If most of the processing of the cavity is done by high-speed milling, EDM is only used as an auxiliary means to clear corners, so that the retention is more even and less.
The development of EDM and high-speed milling machining is harmonious. Complementary, the development of high-speed milling machining technology has promoted the development of EDM technology, and at the same time it has provided new development momentum. There is an irreplaceable role between them, and both should avoid weaknesses. The combination of these two technologies provides a perfect machining solution for the manufacture of high-complexity, high-precision molds.
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