Thin, rotating electrode for electric discharge machining a hollow three dimensional contour.

摘要

Tool electrode for electrical-discharge machining (EDM) in layers, comprising an electrically conducting tube; the ratio of the thickness of its wall to its internal diameter is preferably between 1/10 and 1/3; it may be cylindrical or have a triangular or square cross-section, for example, or have any other profile describing a circle when the electrode is rotating. It may be filled, at least partly, with a material wearing more rapidly than that of the actual tube. It makes it possible to program tool paths in a grid with a spacing (pitch) equal to its internal diameter, the cavity or relief to be eroded being virtually decomposed according to a superposition of parallel strips whose thickness is equal to or less than that of its wall, and to simplify the simulation of the variation of material take-off and of the machining rate along the path by using, for the tip of the virtual tool electrode, a shape as simple as a cylinder of radius equal to its external radius (or to this external radius plus the machining gap). <IMAGE>