The tool configuration inside the Winbro HSD-351 high-speed EDM drilling system

Recently announced as the new UK technical partner for Winbro Group Technologies, the Engineering Technology Group (ETG), based in Wellesbourne, has introduce the next generation Winbro HSD-351 high-speed EDM drilling system to the UK.

Winbro is a world leader in technologically advanced machining solutions for the aerospace, industrial gas turbine (IGT) and semiconductor sectors. The introduction of the new EDM drilling system via the ETG sales and distribution network will now see this technology made more widely available to manufacturers in all industry sectors.

The Winbro HSD-351 is a highly compact, high-speed single-point EDM drilling solution with a solid-state air-cooled EDM generator, that has already proven its pedigree in the aerospace and IGT sectors. It offers a spacious work axis envelope of 300 x 350 x 550mm in the X, Y and Z axes, with a rotary C-axis of +/-360deg and an A axis of +10deg/-135deg that allows the end-user to process five faces of the workpiece in a single set-up.

Accuracy is assured with a linear accuracy and repeatability of 0.008 and 0.006mm respectively with a rotary axes accuracy and repeatability of 20 and 15arc/sec.

From a technology viewpoint, the Winbro HSD-351 offers fast automatic electrode changes that spit, load and qualify the electrode in less than 15sec from the electrode cartridge system.

Meanwhile, its automated tool changer (ATC) uses twin 14-station carousels and an automatic barrel changer (ABC) with barrels that each hold 15, 25 or 49 electrodes up to 700mm long. The ATC also incorporates an automatic nose guide changer (AGC) and it typically accommodates up to 13 nose guides plus a probe.

A six-point probing system ensures accurate, automated machine calibration via an MP250 Renishaw probe that is carried on the AGC carousel.

In the work envelope, component clamping is facilitated by an Erowa pneumatic flat chuck that is supplied as standard. The chuck can accommodate parts up to 10kg with single or multiple component clamping possible with part flushing and chip reading available for automated production.

Designed as an automation-ready machine, the Winbro HSD-351 can be loaded from the front or the top and can also work in tandem with either an industrial or collaborative robot (cobot + AGV) solution.

The next generation Winbro HSD-351 can facilitate OPC-UA or MT Connect interface options that permit key performance variables to be monitored in real-time while the DAX data acquisition system records the details of each machined feature.

While this exciting technology makes the machine digital-ready as an Industry 4.0 solution, Winbro has created an intuitive user interface that demonstrates simplified programming via the TCPro and TCPost interface that makes the part model visible to the operator during production. This user-friendly system also presents a graphical feature selection for reworking operations.

Taking productivity, performance and capability beyond the realms of rival machines, the Winbro HSD-351 presents electrode check and verification on the machine quill position that minimises ‘true position’ deviation.

It also presents integrated electrode flow meter options, advanced shaped hole capability with the generation of 2-D and 3-D diffuser holes, signature analysis and breakthrough detection and auto-recovery and re-cut.