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Normally, glue stop tabs have been cut with one single move, but because we know wire cutting is a slow process machinists may want to cut the tab in two moves. This would add a machine stop between the two cuts. It allows the operator to attend and monitor the last cut to ensure nothing is damaged in the process. The first cut would take a portion of the tab off and then the last monitored cut would be the final.
Below are the steps to set up the two move cutting process:
Right click on the Machine and choose Edit Settings.
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Select the EDM Setup tab.
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Within this tab you will see the section called Glue Stop processing.
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The first drop down available is the Two step strategy. There are three strategies to choose from:
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In order to use any of these strategies, you must activate Two Step within the Contour Toolpath itself. You will find this by opening the Operation Parameters for one of your Contour toolpaths and selecting the EDM tab.
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By selecting ‘Use Glue Stop’ from the Glue stop drop down you should notice the Two steps option become available.
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If it does not, this means that there is no value in the length setting within your machine settings.
Open the Edit Settings window by right clicking on your machine. Select the EDM Setup tab and enter in a value for the length. This is the length of your second cut.
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Select the Strategy that you would like to use to cut the tab. Each option changes the image within the preview window when you change the selection. This helps describe each option.
- Knock Out
o When the feature is processed as a die and Two steps is not active, the glue stop tab is cut in single move.
o When the feature is processed as a die and Two steps is active, the glue stop will be cut with two moves. The length of the first move is equal to the Stop distance minus the Two step strategy Length. The second cut is equal to the Two step Strategy Length. No machine stop will be output between the first and second cut.
o When the feature is processed as a punch and Two steps is not active, none of the glue stop tab material will be cut.
o When the feature is processed as a punch and Two steps is active, the glue stop tab will only be partially cut. The amount that will be cut is equal to the Stop distance minus the Two step strategy Length.
- Stop on Contour
o The glue stop tab will be cut in two moves. The machine will stop between the first move and the second move and the wire will remain on the feature edge. The first move length will be equal to the Stop distance minus the Two step strategy Length.
- Stop Approach/Release
o This option is exactly the same as Stop on Contour except the second move will pull away from the feature edge by the Lead Length amount.
The last option within the Two Step Processing settings is called ‘Apply start cutting conditions to glue stop’. This option will allow the start cutting conditions defined for the Rough Cut in Edit Cutting Conditions Dialog Box of the Wire EDM machine to be applied to the glue stop cut. Unique cutting condition values such as power and feed rate, can then be applied for a specified distance along the glue stop cut, before resuming normal cutting condition values.
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By adding an option to your contour cut. You can actually see the two step process in the CAMWorks toolpath itself.