METHOD OF WIRE CUT ELECTRIC DISCHARGE MACHINING

Abstract: Wire discharge machining appts. which imposes a voltage across and injects machining fluid between work and a wire includes an input unit, e.g. a keyboard, for setting data, e.g. the machined material and wire radius etc., for determining machining conditions, a calculating section which uses input data indicating distance of upper and lower machining fluid nozzles from the work to calculate the pressure of fluid from these nozzles, a memory storing standard machining conditions, and a unit which supplies machining conditions input to a machining power source, and varies the standard machining conditions supplied from the memory depending on the pressures calculated by the calculating section.

Description: Technical Field The present invention relates to a method of electric discharge wire cutting, and more particularly to a method of electric discharge wire cutting to enable an electric discharge wire cutting apparatus to automatically vary machining conditions dependent on the position of nozzles. Background Art It is widely known in the field of electric discharge wire cutting apparatus that the pressures of a machining liquid from nozzles are increased to cool the wire to accelerate removal of machining chips for thereby increasing the machining rate. To this end, the nozzles are required to be located as closely to the workpiece as possible. One example of such an arrangement is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 52-123794. FIG. 4 schematically shows the relationship between a workpiece and nozzles. Denoted at 11 is a table for placing a workpiece 12, and 13, 14 upper and lower nozzles, respectively. A machining liquid is poured from the upper and lower nozzles into a machined hole (not shown) in the workpiece. The closer the nozzles are to the workpiece, the higher the pressure of the machining liquid, so that the workpiece can be machined at a higher speed under stricter conditions. When a subtable 15 is used, as shown in FIG. 5, during a machining process, the lower nozzle 14 needs to be spaced a certain distance from the workpiece since the subtable 15 and the nozzle 14 would otherwise interfere with each other. Moreover, as shown in FIG. 6, where a stack of thin workpieces are machined, the stacked workpieces 16 should be spaced a distance from the lower nozzle 14 because a workpiece holding screw 17 which holds the workpieces together would interfere with the lower nozzle 14. Therefore, the workpiece or workpieces may not be machined while the nozzles are being located closely to the workpiece or workpieces. Machining conditions are generally determined while the nozzles are disposed closely to the workpiece as shown in FIG. 4. If the nozzles are spaced from the workpiece, the workpiece cannot properly be machined under normal machining conditions, but the wire may be broken or the machining accuracy may be lowered. There is also a device for varying the rate of flow of a machining liquid dependent on the position of the nozzles. However, this device has not necessarily been useful since a considerable degree of skill is required on the part of the operator to determine an appropriate flow rate for the machining liquid. From JP-A-56-76340 it is known to set the optimum distance between the fulcrums of such a wire cutting apparatus in dependence on the thickness of the workpiece. From JP-A-61-164721 it is known to vary the machining conditions when the flow rate or the liquid pressure varies from that set. The system disclosed in JP-A-61-056826 is similar, a sensor being used to detect the flow of the machining liquid. None of these prior proposals provides for variation of the machining conditions in dependence on the relative nozzle heights, the machining conditions being required to be set initially by the operator after determination of these factors. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method which enables an electric discharge wire cutting apparatus to overcome the aforesaid problems and being capable of automatically varying machining conditions dependent on the position of nozzles. According to the present invention, there is provided a method of varying the machining conditions of an electric discharge wire cutting apparatus for applying a voltage between a workpiece and a wire to machine the workpiece while supplying a machining liquid from nozzles to a gap between the workpiece and the wire, the method comprising the steps of: entering nozzle height data from a keyboard into the apparatus, the nozzle height data representing the gaps between the nozzles and the corresponding respective surfaces of the workpiece; calculating nozzle liquid pressures from the nozzle heights entered through the keyboard; and varying the machining conditions in dependence upon the calculated nozzle liquid pressures. As shown in FIG. 2, the nozzle height and the liquid pressure on a workpiece surface are related such that as the nozzle height increases, the liquid pressure is lowered. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the liquid pressure and the machining speed are related such that as the liquid pressure goes higher, the machining speed increases. Therefore, as the nozzle height increases, it is necessary to reduce the machining speed. Consequently, the nozzle height is entered as data and the reference machining conditions are varied dependent on the nozzle height. The workpiece is thus machined stable under the machining conditions according to the liquid pressure. One example of a method in accordance with the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the apparatus for use with the present invention; FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the relationship between nozzle heights and liquid pressures; FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the relationship between nozzle liquid pressures and machining speeds; FIG. 4 is a view of a machining process in which nozzles are located closely to a workpiece; FIG. 5 is a view of a machining process in which a subtable is employed; and FIG. 6 is a view of a machining process in which stacked workpieces are machined. Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention An embodiment of the present invention will hereinafter be described in specific detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention. Denoted at 1 is an input means normally comprising a keyboard, 2 a calculating means for calculating a nozzle liquid pressure and applying the calculated nozzle liquid pressure to a machining condition varying means (described later), 3 a machining condition storing means for storing normal machining condition data, 4 a machining condition varying means for varying the machining condition data from the machining condition storing means 3 based on the liquid pressure from the calculating means 2 and for applying new machining conditions to a machining power supply 5 which effects machining operation under the given machining consitions, and 6 a display means for displaying various input data, predictive data, alarm messages, and the like. Operation of the embodiment will hereinafter be described. When nozzles are located closely to a workpiece, data items such as M: material t: workpiece thickness d: wire diameter are entered from the input means l in order to determine machining conditions. When the nozzles are separated from the workpiece, data items such as ℓu: upper nozzle height ℓl: lower nozzle height Rp: rotational speed of the pump are also entered. The data items such as the material (M), the workpiece thickness (t), the wire diameter (d), and the like are sent to the machining condition storing means 3, and normal machining conditions, i.e., machining conditions where the nozzles are disposed closely to the workpiece are determined: The machining conditions include: Vo: charging voltage Ton: ON time Toff: OFF time C: capacitance of the capacitor Ip: charging current Vs: servo voltage T: tension and these data items are delivered to the machining condition varying means 4. The data items of ℓu, ℓl, Rp are fed to the calculating means 2 where the liquid pressures are calculated. The liquid pressures can be determined by: Pu = K·Rp²· f(δu) Pl = K·Rp²· f(δl). The symbols used are defined as follows: Pu: upper nozzle liquid pressure Pl: lower nozzle liquid pressure K: constant Rp: rotational speed of the pump δu: upper nozzle height δl: lower nozzle height. f(δu), f(δl) are functions indicating the relationship between the nozzle heights and the liquid pressures as shown in FIG. 2. The liquid pressures thus determined are sent to the machining condition varying means 4. The machining condition varying means 4 modifies or varies the delivered reference machining conditions with the liquid pressures. Which conditions are to be varied are dependent on the workpiece, the conditions, the speed, and the like. The capacitor capacitance is not generally varied since it greatly affects the surface roughness. When the nozzle heights are varied, the liquid pressures are lowered. When the machining conditions are varied, one of the great problems caused is breakage of the wire. The phenomenon of the wire breakage is largely affected by the charging voltage (V), the OFF time (Toff), the charging current (Ip), and the like. For example, assuming that the reference OFF time stored in the machining condition storing means 3 is Toff0, an optimum OFF time Toff when the nozzles are separated from the workpiece and the liquid pressure is lowered can be expressed by: Toff = Toff0·{(Po/Pu)·(Po/Pl)} m where Po is the liquid pressure at the time the nozzle is in intimate contact with the workpiece, and m a coefficient that is experimentally determined. The actual OFF time is determined according to the above equation in the machining condition varying means 4, and the determined OFF time is applied to the machining power supply for machining the workpice with the modified OFF time. Rather than relying upon the calculation accordign to the equation, an optimum OFF time may be determined experimentally, and a table with respect to nozzle heights is prepared and stored in the machining condition storing means, so that an optimum OFF time may be read out of the table when a nozzle height is entered. The upper nozzle 13 only, the lower nozzle 14 only, or both of the upper and lower nozzles may simumtaneously be considered. Even when the nozzles are separated from the workpiece, therefore, the workpiece can be machined automatically under optimum machining conditions. While the OFF time has been described in the above embodiment, the charging voltage or the charging current may also be varied in the same manner. These data items may be varied by preparing pre-calculated tables and reading corresponding data from the tables when nozzle heights are given. Based on the varied machining conditions, data items such as a machining time, an offset, and the like under these machining conditions can be displayed on a display means which is normally a CRT or the like. A machining condition may be set and entered by the operator during machining operation. In this case, if the entered condition is stricter than the automatically determined condition, e.g., if the charging voltage is higher, the wire is subjected to the danger of breakage. Therefore, should this happen, an alarm message is displayed on the display means. As the nozzles are separated from the workpiece, the liquid pressures are lowered, as shown in FIG. 2, and hence the maximum workpiece thickness that can be machined without wire breakage is also reduced. The maximum machinable workpiece thickness may therefore be experimentally determined, and when the nozzle heights exceed the maximum machinable workpiece thickness based on the data of the workpiece thickness and the nozzle heights that have been entered from the input means, an alarm may be issued and an alarm message may be displayed on the display means 6. The aforesaid control is executed by a micro-processor in the electric discharge wire cutting apparatus, and various data items are stored in a memory such as a RAM or the like. The mechanism of the electric discharge wire cutting apparatus may be of a conventional nature. With the present invention, as described above, inasmuch as the machining conditions are automatically varied dependent on the nozzle heights, the workpiece can stably be machined by entering nozzle height data even if the nozzles cannot be located closely to the workpiece.

Claims: A method of varying the machining conditions of an electric discharge wire cutting apparatus for applying a voltage between a workpiece (12) and a wire to machine the workpiece while supplying a machining liquid from nozzles (13,14) to a gap between the workpiece and the wire, the method comprising the steps of: entering nozzle height data from a keyboard into the apparatus, the nozzle height data representing the gaps (δu,δe) between the nozzles and the corresponding respective surfaces of the workpiece; calculating nozzle liquid pressures (Pu,Pℓ) from the nozzle height data entered through the keyboard; and varying the machining conditions in dependence upon the calculated nozzle liquid pressures. A method according to claim 1, wherein the machining conditions include at least an OFF time (T OFF ). A method according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the machining conditions include at least a charging voltage (V) or a charging current. A method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein a table of machining conditions related to respective nozzle heights is prepared and stored in the apparatus, data with respect to nozzle heights entered through the keyboard being read from the table and the machining conditions being varied dependent thereon. A method according to any of the preceding claims, further including displaying predictive data such as a machining time or an offset based on the machining conditions. A method according to any of the preceding claims, further including storing the varied machining conditions and comparing the data stored with a corresponding machining condition newly entered from the keyboard, and issuing and displaying an alarm when the newly entered machining condition is stricter than the corresponding stored machining condition. A method according to any of the preceding claims, including storing maximum machining workpiece thicknesses corresponding to respective nozzle heights; reading a maximum machining workpiece thickness value corresponding the entered nozzle height; and providing an alarm when a workpiece thickness greater than the workpiece thickness corresponding to the nozzle height is entered.

Inventors: OBARA, HARUKI
Applicants: FANUC LTD.
Application year: 1987
Main classification: B23H7
IPC codes: B23H7