Study on Micro-EDM (1 st Repo.rt)

Feasibility Study

Abstract

This paper deals with micro-electrodischarge machining which enables three-dimensional machining of micromechanical systems.
In a relaxation type pulse generator, the minimum discharge energy depends on the stray capacitance. A small stray capacitance was achieved by using ceramic material for the mechanical components such as the bearing and machining table base.
Adhesion of the electrode and workpiece tends to occur for small discharge energies. The rotation of the electrode is indispensable in micro-electrodischarge machining since the adhesion is avoided by applying it. An accurate rotation was achieved by laying the mandrel, which installs the electrode, directly on the V-shaped block. This modification realized an accuracy of rotation better than 0.51μm.
Since the bending and runout were too large for small-size electrodes, it was necessary to form electrodes under the same setup as in machining. The formation was realized on the machine using the reverse discharge method.