FA Series Provides Precision on Large Parts

Schneer is president of Swiss Wire EDM, an EDM shop that specializes in large components, mainly for the aerospace industry. When Schneer found out that the Mitsubishi FA30V wire EDM machine could handle 24-inch-thick material in a submerged cutting envelope, he was impressed.

"Over the years, we have done some really large components on wire EDM," says Schneer, a Mitsubishi customer since 1986. "The best way to EDM the parts accurately is to do them in a submerged environment. But when we got the really big parts, there was no machine available that could EDM those components fully submerged in dielectric. Then the new FA series came out."

Now with the FA30V, Schneer can meet the high-tolerance demands of his aerospace applications, such as turbine disks and large mold blocks without generating mountains of chips as required with conventional machining. "We've had some 21-22-inch-thick mold blocks that needed contours to be cut out. It's much less expensive to run through them with a wire machine than to try and mill away hundreds of cubic inches of material. We can usually convince our customers that EDM is the way to go."