Sinker EDM or high end mill?

[mx247]

I was just informed our sister company will be purcashing an injection molding machine to expand their medical product line and the machine shop will be responsible for the mold making. We have experience in manufacturing blow molds and have done a couple small injection molds in the past. I was asked what equipment would be needed for us to be able to handle this. We have multiple Haas VMCs and lathes, a Mazak Integrex, a couple Fanuc Wire EDMs, an AgieCharmilles small hole EDM, Okamoto surface grinder, and other manual equipment. I was thinking a sinker EDM might be neccessary for the cavity work. but was wondering if a high end mill would be a better purchase. We like our Haas equipment but know the limitations.Of course I dont have any specific parts to look at, but from what I know they would be overmolding end lures and junctions on the medical tubing they are currently extruding. I am just looking to see what others in the industry are doing, from reading trade magazines there has been a transion away from EDM to hard milling when the work allows it.

[mkd]

IMHO, better not buy equipment until the offloading (or potential offloading) of the type of work proposed for said equipment reaches a point that makes sense. in other word if you buy something and it basically sits 11.5 months out of the year = bad choice.

that being said, personally, I would rather have a high end mill for hard milling and send out the once in a blue moon job for sinker. but only you can answer that question based on type of work.

mills are better for motorcycle parts, so the choice is obvious.

[within a thou]

Because you say most will be medical which to me means small parts make sure if you go the root of a mill that the spindle has high rpm and get yourself a deckel cutter grinderto start grinding carbide blanks to suit your needs. Sink edm is awesome for cavity work though and cleaning out corners but cutting your electrodes will screw with your coolant tank ball screws and ways in a new york minute. If you are going the route of sink edm I would just throw it out to your bosses that they should dedicate one of your smaller haas vmc's strictly for electrodes and replace it with the high end mill than you may end up with best of both worlds. Even with the haas's slower spindle you will still spit out electrodes quicker than you can burn them so this won't create a bottle neck (no pun intended since you talked about blow moulds).

 

My $.02 (Canadian funds of course but umm we got rid of the penny and $.02 actually gets rounded down to $.00 so take it for what its worth lol)

[FROZEN]

I think a high end mill (makino) before EDM. A mill is more versatile. They can broach out corners if you need them. You might be build alm short run molds at first. Custom cutters is must for mold making so look into grinding and tooling in house. The EDM might be down the road so don't put that out completely.

[GoetzInd]

Look into a Makino F5. Heard a lot of good things and it won't completely blow up the bank like their V series.

 

Mike

[FROZEN]

You pay for what you get.

[Redfire427]

The short answer is, you will likely need both. A high speed mill is very versatile, but in most cases, you will still need to edm small details. The Makino F5 is an awesome machine. We use ours for copper electrode manufacturing as well as hard-milling. You would not be disappointed with this machine. It is a MAJOR step up from a Haas.

 

Carmen

[Mjölnir]

I'd take a Roku-Roku high speed mill over a Makino any day.

 

Says the guy who has a Roku-Roku in his office.

 

In the end however, you're going to need both high speed mill and sinker edm capabilities. The edm will follow the high speed mill pretty quick, too. After you subcontract out some edm work and it comes back late and not done right manglement will discover it's better to do it in house.

[mx247]

I just got the quote in for a Makino F5 yesterday. We know eventually we will need the sinker, but feel we have more use for the mill at this point. The injection mold work will be in house stuff only, with a lot of develpoment/prototyping so the mill should give faster turnaround times over having to machine an electrode then burn a cavity.

The sales rep recommended the 20,000 rpm HSK spindle and the only other add on was the Renishaw NC4+ probe with laser toolsetter. Any other options I should be looking at? At this point any factory installed options are out, as the tax incentives for the end of year are one of the major factors in the purchase.