Two heads prove better than one for EDM machining

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Building one’s own expertise

ILMA is said to be a pioneer in the field of EDM, a technology it has used for more than 50 years. According to Caraffini, “In the early sixties, we needed a large machine for EDM to load the dies and punches intended for the automotive sector. Unfortunately, there were no installations of a suitable size available on the market.” So, the company built its own by modifying a Hermann Kolb unit, replacing the drill head with an AEG head and fitting the machine with a 3,000 x 1,500 mm work tank.

Meanwhile, the requirements of ILMA were continuously increasing, the director said. “I spent some time at our workshop in the United States at that time, and I saw a model fitted with two heads. On my return, following along the lines of this principle, we decided to develop a machine for multi-head erosion.” He noted that the company had planned four heads, but the structure was too heavy and complex, so it opted for three and a work tank of 3,600 x 1,800 mm. “The machine operated efficiently until last year... Sadly, the lack of spare parts forced us in the end to work with only one head and therefore we decided to replace it with a new generation model”.

To replace the old unit, ILMA approached ONA, a Spanish company specialising exclusively in erosion systems. Leonardo Volponi, ILMA’s production and technical director, said: “One objective we wanted to reach with the new machine was to completely eliminate the polishing operation.” After visiting ONA’s production departments and conducting tests, ILMA selected a TX10 model, a two-headed machine with a work tank measuring 4,000 x 2,000 x 1,250 mm.

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