Wire erosion is a machining discipline in which charged wires are used to cut through a workpiece held in an electrolyte bath to form a part.
As it cuts through the material, the wire is also eroded. Because of this, the wire spools continuously from one end to the other to avoid an accidental breakage. The wire can be deliberately broken to allow the wire to move from one area to another without cutting.
The position of the wire can be controlled in either Two Axis or Four Axis
mode:
Two Axis Wire Positioning - The wire is held vertically. Only one set of co-ordinates (XY) is needed to describe the wire’s position.
Four Axis Wire Positioning - Each end of the wire moves independently on a plane. The lower plane (using XY co-ordinates) and the upper plane (using UV co-ordinates) are parallel to one another.
Usually part of the profile stays uncut to stop portions falling off the workpiece. The distance of this last uncut length of profile is called the Support Tag. EdgeCAM provides a Cut Support Tag (Wire Cycles menu) command to cut through this last part.
See Also