[buffaloguy]

Imagine you have a 3" round bar and need to drill 2 holes. One hole is straight through the second needs to penetrate about half way in but needs to bend and come out 90 degrees from the start point. All in a smooth finish too.

Wire EDM do such a thing?

[RICHARD ZASTROW]

Can the second hole just be a pair of intersecting holes? We did that in a piece of plastic moulding machine tooling.

The finish had to be smooth and flow molten plastic through. The test was to pull a cotton ball through the hole without leaving any fiber in the hole.

We used a ball end tool inserted from both ends to blend the intersection.

Dick Z

[buffaloguy]

That is a clever idea, however it wont work for me. Customer wants the hole to have a larger radius. Almost like drawing a circle and erasing 3/4 of it.

[txcncman]

Sure, EDM can do this. Cost, about $6000.00. No, problem.

[buffaloguy]

6k? for a hole that bends? Joking right? If not, pls explain why its so much.

[txcncman]

Sort of joking, but not exactly. Almost anything is possible...if you spend enough money on it. In this case, the "engineer" needs to rethink their design or be willing to pay out the a$5 to get what they want.

[underthetire]

Just another case of someone designing a part that has no machining background. Might be able to cast the part.

[scaro]

My company will do it.
For the right money! The quotes I've seen so far are a bit conservative.

[buffaloguy]

Well the customer said it has been done before but the previous shop won't divulge how he did it. Trade secret or something. Can't be molded like I suggested, as per the customer.

[buffaloguy]

what is your email? I can send you more precise details this week

[scaro]

You may have more luck posting the details on here. I'm based in the UK.

[scaro]

I would like to see the actual part though. Only cos I don't really know what you need.

[underthetire]

Well the customer said it has been done before but the previous shop won't divulge how he did it. Trade secret or something. Can't be molded like I suggested, as per the customer.

That means it was very expensive and time consuming = looking for a cheaper alternative.

[buffaloguy]

Scaro, I will post more details soon for you.
underthetire, Thats my thought too. But the reason why I posted here in the first place.

How would a EDM do this? I thought they only do straight lines.

Seems almost impossible to do this this.

[fizzissist]

Use a ball mill to create the curved channel in the flat of a 3" bar cut exactly in half (minus 1/2 the thickness of some silver solder).
Do the same thing in another 3" section, but mirrored.

Furnace braze the two pieces together and polish the interior of the channel with whatever will get through the hole.

[wizard]

Make a curved electrode and a pivot assembly to turn it into the piece. The problem here is that you will have a radius right at the start of the entry point. However if the hole is to be tapped for pipe threads or something you might be able to make it look good enough.

In any event ask for a sample part. Seeing the actual piece might give you some idea as to the previous approach. Application is another thing, sometimes engineers believe things need to be done a certain way when maybe it doesn't. Then again sometimes they are right.

Sometimes working with metals sucks, electricians have bits designed to do something similar in wood beams. Those holes look like crap afterwards too.