Novel Tool Design Method for Orbiting EDM

Tool design for orbiting EDM process often encounters some difficulties to adjust for EDM orbit and machining overcut concurrently. In orbiting process, the tool sweeps out some extra volume due to the additional orbit motion. Hence, it is compulsory to adjust tool geometry based on the chosen orbit cycle to avoid dimension distortion on the final product. Currently, tool correction is done manually since there is no CAD package which provides a specific assistance to adjust the tool geometry for orbital motion. Therefore, design process becomes lengthy and more prone to error due to manual correction process. The authors have proposed a tool design principle for orbiting purposes. Presented in the paper is continuation of the previous work, which emphasizes an automation strategy of tool design developed inside CAD system. The tool is compensated automatically for overcut and EDM orbit, and checked for its validity. The developed CAD system has been tested for a few EDM applications with complex shapes and proven effective to cut tool design time and human-related failures which are commonly found during manual design processes. Experimental validation for a complex part was executed with a promising result.