YCM Alliance
Published

Don’t Discount the Small Stuff

At least in the short term, the most significant machine design changes aren’t always the most significant difference-makers on the shop floor.

Share

Leaders-In background

Charlie Mauer (left), co-owner of Wire Specialists, looks on as fellow co-owner John Mueller adjusts a fixture in the shop’s new MV2400R EDM. 

When I first set out to write about Wire Specialists, a contract manufacturer in Brookfield, Wisconsin that specializes in wire EDM operations, I figured the shop’s newest piece of equipment would be a major focus of the article. I was right about that, but the piece still took a somewhat unexpected turn.

Delivered just a few months before my visit, the new addition is a representative of Mitsubishi EDM’s MV series, a line of wire machines with a type of motion system that, to date hasn’t been used on any other machine tool. Having attended the unveiling of the new line earlier that year, I naturally assumed this much-touted innovation was a key factor in the shop’s decision to order a second MV2400R within months of installing the first.

To my surprise, however, the shop’s co-owners had a lot more to say about other design improvements that, from a purely engineering standpoint, might be considered more incremental: a redesigned wire threader; power supply enhancements that reduce wire consumption; new canned cycles in the CNC; and a power feed contact designed for easy indexing. Go here to learn more.
 

Related Content

YCM Alliance
QualiChem Metalworking Fluids
World Machine Tool Survey
Paperless Parts
High Accuracy Linear Encoders
715 Series - 5-axis complete machining
Techspex
DN Solutions
YCM Alliance