One of the things that can make for a fun challenge on a injection mold is when necessary non-mill possible features, or crazy curved shut off surfaces’ that can only be done cost efficient and/or accurate enough by Sinker EDM are the challenge ahead.
This could be considered a challenge for the toolmaker, not the engineer. That of course is until the toolmaker asks the engineer for some Solid bodies that can machined from 3D on the screen to electrodes in real life.
Someone might told you that these electrodes can be created using standard SolidWorks commands.They aren’t lying. You see, you could also throw your smartphone in the garbage, and just go back to send smoke signals… 🙂 …alright maybe I’m not being totally fair. Let me show you what I am talking about. Here is a video that I recorded, using the SolidWorks Mold class example on how to create an electrode in SolidWorks.
ElectrodeWorks
Now let me introduce you to ElectrodeWorks. This product is developed by RnB out of Israel. The product is pretty amazing. As you will see in this next video we are going to attack the burn area as we did using standard SolidWorks tool. Then ignite the EDM fluids and simulate, adding holders, spark gap, and automatically create manufacturing drawings. In less time than it took using those ordinary SolidWorks tools.
Conclusion… You can defiantly create electrodes using standard SolidWorks functions, but I think this add-on deserve at least a look if creating electrodes and making a profit is an everyday goal.