Wire EDM Services
Four wire EDM machines cutting profiles a milling cutter cannot produce: square internal corners, blades well under a millimetre wide, and hardened tool steel cut after heat treatment. Send the profile and the material condition.
Wire EDM Services At Zhongjiecheng Auto
As Machined
What This Service Covers
The parts, materials, and tolerances we run under Wire EDM Services, and where the process fits alongside the rest of the shop.
Wire EDM cuts by electrical discharge, not by cutting force. That is the whole reason it exists in our shop: it will cut a part that is already hardened, it will produce an internal corner as sharp as the wire radius, and it puts almost no load on the workpiece, so a 0.4 mm blade comes out straight instead of pushed over.
The work we run most is tooling. Stamping die inserts with a row of identical blades cut on the same pitch. Connector mould inserts with slots too narrow for any cutter to enter. Carrier blocks with an open-ended slot and a series of small square notches down both walls. On parts like these the cut is what defines the part, and the milling operation before it exists only to bring the blank to size.
The normal route on hardened parts is rough mill soft, heat treat, then wire cut the profile last. Hardening distorts a part. If the profile is cut before heat treatment, that distortion ends up inside your finished feature. Cut afterwards and the distortion is removed by the last operation.
Two things to send with the drawing. The material condition, because hardened and annealed steel cut at different speeds and different prices. And whether the corner radius is a maximum or a nominal — the wire leaves a radius equal to its own, and asking for a smaller one means a finer wire and a slower cut.
On ganged tooling, tell us the accumulated dimension across the whole set rather than the pitch between neighbours. A small error repeated fifteen times is what misfeeds a strip in the press.
Working Range And Typical Tolerances
Confirmed figures only. Anything your drawing needs beyond these is a conversation, not a refusal.
| Capability | Range Or Value |
|---|---|
| Machines | 4 × CNC wire EDM, reciprocating molybdenum wire |
| Materials cut | Tool steel hardened and annealed, stainless, carbon steel, copper, aluminum, carbide on request |
| Maximum workpiece height | 300 mm |
| Cutting travel X × Y | 400 × 500 mm |
| Wire diameter | Ø 0.18 mm standard; Ø 0.12 mm for small internal radii |
| Smallest internal corner radius | 0.10 mm |
| Positional tolerance | ±0.01 mm typical, multi-pass |
| Cut surface finish | Ra 1.6 typical; Ra 0.8 with additional finishing passes |
| Taper cutting | Up to ±6° over 100 mm |
Send The Drawing Anyway
The table lists what we run every week, not the limit of what we can do. If your part is larger, tighter, or in a material not listed, Owen checks it against the machines and the inspection kit and tells you plainly whether it fits, within 24 hours on business days.
Materials And Finishes For Wire EDM Services
What we most often run on this process. If your drawing calls for something not listed, send it anyway and we will confirm.
Supported Materials
Grades we stock or source for this process.
Surface Finishes
Finishes applied after machining, in house or with qualified partners.
Parts Machined With Wire EDM Services
Material, process, and application on every card. Open a part to see the specification and the inspection it received.
Slotted Carrier Block with Wire-Cut Comb Profile
- Process: CNC Milling, Wire EDM
- Material: Carbon Steel
- Industry: Automotive, Electronics & Robotics
Wire-Cut Blade Insert Set for Connector Stamping Tooling
- Process: CNC Milling, Wire EDM
- Material: Tool Steel
- Industry: Automotive, Electronics & Robotics
Ganged Wire-Cut Die Insert Bar with Seventeen Positions
- Process: CNC Milling, Wire EDM
- Material: Tool Steel
- Industry: Automotive, Electronics & Robotics
Every Quote Comes With DFM Notes
Owen reads the drawing before pricing it: tolerances that add cost, features that need a second setup, finishes that change lead time. Send a STEP or PDF with the material and quantity, and the quote reflects what is actually machinable, within 24 hours on business days.
What We Check On Wire EDM Services Parts
<p>Wire cut parts are checked on the two things the process controls: the profile itself, and its position relative to the datum edges the part was set from.</p>
Slot widths, blade thicknesses and pitch across a ganged insert are measured on a Rational VMS-3626, because the features are too fine and too close together for hand tools.
Individual slot widths checked with pin gauges and blade thicknesses with a blade micrometer before the set is released.
On an insert row, the total across all positions is checked, not only the pitch between two adjacent blades. Accumulated error is what shows up in the press.
Position of the cut profile is checked from the same ground datum edges used to set the part on the machine, on a granite plate with a height gauge.
Where Wire EDM Services Is Used
The sectors that most often send us drawings for this process, and what their parts have to do.
CNC Machined Parts for Automotive Equipment
Stamping die inserts, forming die blocks, ganged wire-cut tooling and equipment components for automotive production, machined in tool steel with the profile cut after…
Explore Industry →
CNC Machining for Electronics & Robotics
Connector tooling inserts, robot grippers, laminate insulators, small carriers and sensor mounts, machined where the features are small, the sections are thin and the…
Explore Industry →CNC Machining for Industrial Automation
Fixture plates, end-of-arm tooling, brackets, rails and housings for automated equipment, machined to the dowel and bolt positions that decide whether an assembly goes…
Explore Industry →CNC Machining for Semiconductor Equipment
Carrier plates, nest plates, handling fixtures and equipment brackets for semiconductor and substrate handling, machined for flatness, hole position and clean, burr-free edges, and…
Explore Industry →Projects That Used Wire EDM Services
Real drawings, the requirement that drove each job, and what shipped.
Batch of Eight Slotted Carrier Blocks with Wire-Cut Comb Profile
- Industry: Automotive, Electronics & Robotics
- Process: CNC Milling, Wire EDM
- Key requirement: Notch pitch: ±0.02 mm along each slot
Wire-Cut Blade Insert Set for Connector Terminal Stamping Tooling
- Industry: Automotive, Electronics & Robotics
- Process: CNC Milling, Wire EDM
- Key requirement: Slot width: ±0.005 mm
Seventeen-Position Wire-Cut Insert Bar for a Progressive Stamping Die
- Industry: Automotive, Electronics & Robotics
- Process: CNC Milling, Wire EDM
- Key requirement: Accumulated pitch: ±0.01 mm over 17 positions
Material Certificates And Inspection Reports Travel With The Parts
Tell Owen which records your receiving inspection needs: mill certificates, first article report, CMM report, certificate of conformance, or all of them. They are agreed at quoting, not requested after the parts arrive.
Questions Engineers Ask Before They Send A Drawing
If yours is not here, ask Owen directly. A one line question on WhatsApp is fine.
Chat With OwenShould the part be hardened before or after wire cutting?
Before, in almost every case. Heat treatment moves the part. If the profile is cut first, that movement ends up in the feature you care about. Cut last and the profile is produced in the part's final hardened state. Tell us the target hardness and we will plan the route around it.
What is the smallest internal corner radius you can cut?
Half the wire diameter plus the spark gap. With our normal wire that is a small but real radius, and with a finer wire it gets smaller at the cost of cutting speed. If your drawing shows a true sharp corner, tell us whether the radius may be a maximum. That single note usually decides the wire size and the price.
How thin a blade can you cut without it bending?
Wire EDM applies almost no force, so blade thickness is limited by whether the blade survives handling and use rather than by the cut itself. We routinely cut blades well under a millimetre. The practical limits are the flushing gap between blades and how the set is supported coming off the machine.
Can you cut a die insert with fifteen identical blades and keep the pitch consistent?
Yes, and the number to specify is the accumulated pitch across the whole set, not the pitch between neighbours. A small error repeated fifteen times is what jams a strip. Say what the total across the set must be.
Do you need a start hole, and can you drill it?
For any closed internal profile, yes, and we drill it before the cut. Tell us if there is anywhere on the part where a start hole would be visible or would break a critical surface, and we will place it where it does not matter.
What surface does wire cutting leave, and can it be improved?
A matte recast surface whose roughness depends on the number of finishing passes. More passes give a finer surface and a slower, more expensive cut. If the cut face is a sliding or sealing face, say so and we will add passes. If it is a clearance face, we will not.
How thick a part can you cut?
Up to the maximum workpiece height of the machine, but the practical limit is lower than the mechanical one: taper and finish both suffer as the height goes up. Send the section height with the enquiry.
Can you re-cut or repair an existing insert?
Sometimes. Send the part and the drawing. If enough material is left and a usable datum edge survives, we can re-cut the profile. If the datum edges are worn, the part has to be re-ground square first, or the whole geometry moves.
Send The Drawing, Get Process, Tolerance And Lead Time Back
A STEP, IGES, or PDF file with the material, quantity, and the tolerances that matter is enough to start. You get a price, a lead time, and manufacturability feedback from a real person, not a bot.
Owen Lan
Sales, Zhongjiecheng Auto
Replies within 24 hoursEvery message from this page reaches me directly. Tell me the material, the quantity, and which dimensions your inspection checks, and I will tell you whether Wire EDM Services is the right route, what it costs, and how long it takes.
Prototypes and production runs both welcome. Tolerances, finishes, inspection records, and packing are confirmed before you pay a deposit.
Owen Lan
Sales, Zhongjiecheng Auto CNC Machining
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