Spark erosion: Detailed view, simple machinery

I have added a tub, glued from plastic sheets to my EDM machine:

and installed the windshield washer pump from a car to flush the drilling site with water. I got the pump from the scrap dealer around the corner for 5 euros. So that the water doesn't splash too much and the pump doesn't overheat during continuous operation, only 3.3V are applied to the terminals:

To make you see what difference the flushing makes, I had to prepare my microscope for under water operation. A short steel tube with a glass bottom does the job:

With an extension of the tub, I am now prepared to record under water timelapse videos with my microscope:

It took a while to record all the microscope images of spark erosion and put all of them into a video, but I hope, that the result gives you a totally new view on the EDM process:

Enjoy!

I am working on a video showing the impact of sparks on hardened steel with huge magnification.

The first strike leaves a crater of impressive 0.7mm:

99 "shots" are needed until the 1mm drill finally dives into the blade with no more sparks forming:

No perfect result, yet.

I have created a first, very experimental setup of an Electrtical Discharge Machine:

It works, in general and drills holes in a razor blade. Nothing more, yet.

Future chapters will:

- give you a close look on the process

- add flushing

- dive into the electronics part (the core element of an EDM)

- deal with different materials (electrode as well as materials to be processed)