Patent ID: 8715468

Claim:
An apparatus comprising a machine for machining a part by micro-electrical discharge machining, said machine having a machining configuration, in which a tip of an etching electrode is plunged into a bath of dielectric fluid bathing a face of said part to be machined in order to carry out a machining of said part by electrical discharge machining, said tip of said etching electrode being small enough to enable etching, in said face, of grooves whose cross-width is less than 10 μm, said machine comprising a mechanism that enables a configuration of said machine to be modified, thereby enabling said machine to pass alternately and reversibly from said machining configuration to a sharpening configuration, in which said tip of said etching electrode and another electrode are plunged into an electrolyte bath in order to sharpen said tip of said etching electrode by electrochemical machining, a sensor for obtaining a shape measurement of said tip of said etching electrode, and a control unit configured for comparing said shape measurement with a predetermined template, and if said shape measurement is included in said predetermined template, permitting passage from said sharpening configuration to said machining configuration, and if said shape measurement is not included within said predetermined template, inhibiting passage from said sharpening configuration to said machining configuration.