An electrical discharge machine uses electrical current to erode the part being produced to the correct size and shape. The electrical eroding current generally comes from either a wire - wire edm, or from a pre-ground precisely profiled electrode - plunge edm. In both cases a control system is required to move the part or the electrode in the required direction while maintaining the gap between the wire or electrode and the part being produced. This is usually achieved by continuously monitoring the voltage between the electrode and the part.

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The closer the two parts are, the lower the voltage. In reality one of the two components continually oscillates along the desired path at high speed, attempting to keep the voltage between the two constants. Essentially the better the control system the faster the oscillation, the more stable the voltage, and the faster the erosion process.

AMC motion controllers are used together with operator control panels implemented using WinAMC to control plunge electrical discharge machines. The high performance of AMC B motion controllers results in rapid oscillation and extremely precise voltage control, very consistent current flow and higher machine productivity.

Electrical discharge machines require that many parameters be defined to optimise the process, WinAMC makes generating and using such custom panels a simple process of 'point' 'click' and 'drag'. WinAMC Evaluation software can be downloaded from the website using the 'Downloads' section, this has three sample electrical discharge machine control panels and many others besides. WinAMC permits an unlimited number of control panels to be simply generated making it ideal for this and other application.

One Electrical Discharge Machine controller comprises of an AMCB 4 axis stepper controller, two AMC 3 axis microstepping drive units and PC based control panels. Stepping motors, operated in microstep mode, are well suited to the application due to their high torque, small size, inherent robustness and reliability.

The machine is capable of being operated in different modes, some which require different controller configurations, operator interfaces and setup parameters. AMC controllers are configured by setup files generated using AMC Utils. Many setup files can be permanently held in the controller at the same time.