Page 53 - Fall 2024 EDM Today

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The EPA booth in the South build-
ing was focused more on EPA’s
extensive line of consumables,
parts, accessories, tooling, and
machine tools. Clay explained that
one of their strengths within the
parts and consumables market is
the breadth of their product offer-
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ings. For example, they have wire
offerings from over nine different
manufacturers. They can offer wire
ranging from basic brass through
the latest exotic coated wires.
For those of us doing EDM Sinking, they offer choices from several graphite manufacturers, including their high-quality
EPA Series house brand. Clay also stated that EPA was proud to be selected as a distributor for Entegris POCO
Materials. He went on to say that EPA has two graphite machining facilities, one serving the West Coast and one
serving the East Coast and Midwest.
EPA’s consumables offering includes EDM Oil
made by Rustlick and oelheld’s IonoPlus. EPA
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also has their own Premium Ultra Synthetic
and Premium Plus house brands. Clay further
explained that their offerings include fi lter,
metallic electrodes of all types, and even resin
– both bulk and swap-out tanks.
In terms of parts, EPA’s Reliable brand parts
are available for all major manufacturers'
equipment. This includes guides, power feed
contacts, fl ush cups, rollers, belts, bearings,
and much more. Tooling selection is available
from System 3R, Carl Hirschmann, Gaiser, Ram
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Precision, Addvise, Hermann Schmidt, and
Walker Magnetics.
Prior to visiting the EPA booth, I attended the Succeeding with Powder
Bed Fusion Workshop. This event included presentations from multiple
expert speakers who discussed ways to overcome challenges faced by
the additive community. Clay Olson was one of the experts who spoke at
the workshop. Clay’s presentation was titled “Powder Bed Part Remov-
als – Challenges and Solutions.” Clay addressed a large group of work-
shop attendees and covered the diffi culties many companies face when
removing parts from build plates.
Clay talked of the benefi t of Fast Wire EDM to overcome many challenges
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that arise when trying to use Wire EDM. After the presentation, Clay took
questions from the audience. One common question was “How do you pre-
vent parts from falling on top of each other?” Clay reiterated that the design
of the capture method depends much on the nature of the part being re-
moved. He cited one possible solution of using EPA’s Tilt and Slide Rail and
Fixturing System. This simple but effective system allows the build plate to
be titled at various angles to allow parts to fall off in a particular way.
The questions were numerous, but Clay was able to satisfy everyone. He was rewarded with enthusiastic applause as
he left the stage.
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EDM Today, Fall 2024 Issue