[f32cpe]

Hi I just got an old Elox series 300 wire edm. It is supposed to have a diatomaceous earth filter. I did a little searching and so far I found pool filters like that. Are they the same thing? What size would I need? Did they come up with something better in the last 30 years?
Wire questions: I see different types of wire. The old manual I have mentioned copper wire. It has a spool of brass on it now. What are the differences ie. soft brass, hard brass, copper.
Setting questions: I have a sheet for steel, but I would like to cut aluminum also. My setting for 1 in steel states: pulse width/offtime 02/002 Capacitance 55 water set .4 feed rate in/min 0.017 I know alum is supposed to cut faster, is it just the feedrate I change or is there more.

Thank you for your help
Mike Langeweg

[roysol]

Mike, I'll take a stab at a couple of those. Yes, the diatomaceous earth filters are the same as the swimming pool filters, on many machines, exactly that. Most manufacturers have gone to cartridge filters as the maintainence on the DE filters takes too long and is very messy. There are also aftermarket filter units with cleanable filters.

Copper wire is rarely used, most common is straight brass, or zinc coated brass, in many permutations. There are a few others, rarely used for special conditions. Generally, hard brass is needed for certain autothreaders, probably not a concern on your machine. Half-hard is probably what you want, some of that is guided by how much taper you might be cutting.

Get yourself hooked up with a reliable knowledgeable distributor. They can give you some good advice.

Regards,

Roy Solomon

[f32cpe]

Thank you for your reply. The information is helpful. Yes, I don't need to worry about auto threading. I don't plan on much taper work, is so probably only a degree or 2. Thank you for the information on filters, not sure which way I'm going yet, I hear aluminum is hard on filters, so I think I would want 1 that I could clean and keep costs down.

Thank you
Mike

[Medm]

I would give the aluminum more offtime since you want maintain a steady cut. Aluminum almost cuts too easy since it conducts electricity so well. So you have to slow down the pulses of current to prevent wire breaks.

[f32cpe]

Thank you for that information. That should help me get started when I'm ready to cut.

Thank you
Mike