[Palisadetool]

I am cutting stacked Alum. pieces on my Sodick A 320 D. What kind of wire would I get for the best results ?

[cncnitro]

I use OKI brand wire from Belmont equipment & technologies.
OKI OS-25Z wire will cut steel (hard & soft), alum., carbide. These are metals I have cut, and I'm sure it will cut other metals that I have not cut. OS-25Z is a hard brass wire, .010 dia., with a zink coating on it. With zink, it cuts about 30% faster than just brass, and of course, it costs more too. If you are cutting a 4-axis cut with more than 10 degrees you might want to opt for soft brass wire.
Sodick also sells wire.
Gisco is also another name brand. (might have spelled Gisco wrong)
But any brass wire should cut alum.

[Palisadetool]

Thanks for the information. One more question. Is using Zinc coated wire harder on the equipment, and if so, how then?

[sodickappsguy]

zinc is harder on the machine. What happens is the zinc flake off of the wire as it goes through the tension rollers causing it to plug up guides and create a layer of dust on everything. I have also noticed that some rollers wear faster with zinc wire compared to plain brass wire. If you plan on stacking plates go with hard brass wire and turn your water pressure up. If you can get away with it(corner radius allowable) and want to go faster use .012 dia wire. Most of the time you can run an additional 20% (with a little tweeking). Add more to the P on the HP and you can also add to the ON time. For stability check your SF and make sure that the number is not alot higher than the speed you are running.

If it is much higher it will cause the machine to try and push harder than the power will allow causing it to break wire easier. I try and go about 15-25% over actual.

[Palisadetool]

Sodickappsguy Thank you for your advise.