Patent ID: 7294806

Claim:
Device for measuring and adjusting a wire electrode used during electrical discharge taper machining, referenced on three axes, X and Y horizontal and Z vertical comprising the following elements: two geometric references, bottom and top, which may be intersected by a wire, each of them lying in a plane XY, the said references being offset from one another in a direction XY by a sufficient distance to make it possible to insert a vertical electrode between the two without either of them being intersected by the wire, a base element serving as a support to the said references and as an attachment stay on a work bed of a machine, means for moving axes of the machine and for measuring their positions, means for detecting an interference between the wire electrode and top and bottom geometric references, a bottom wire-guide movable in a plane of coordinates XY, a top wire-guide movable in a plane of coordinates UV parallel to XY, and movable in a vertical direction Z perpendicular to the planes XY and UV, and further including a plane P defined by the axis of the wire set close to the vertical and by an inclination vector {right arrow over (ΔUV)} in a plane UV, and top and bottom geometric reference, each lying in a plane XY with two different heights (z 1 , z 2 ) intersected by the wire successively and separately during a movement ({right arrow over (V)}) in the plane P, this movement capable of being made separately by one or simultaneously by the bottom and the top wire-guides, wherein, to measure the inclination of an electrode in all directions of a plane UV and wherein an axis-symmetric solid generated by the rotation about a vertical axis (Z″) of top and bottom geometric references each of them lying in a plane XY with two different heights (z 1 , z 2 ), means for placing the said axis close to one or other of these geometric references.