Abstract
This paper proposes a method for determining optimal EDM parameters based on discharge area from the physical model of a tool electrode. Main parameters, which affect the EDM performance, are peak value of currents, pulse-on time, and pulse-off time. Such parameters are closely dependent on the discharge area in EDM process. In this paper the discharge area is estimated from the CMM scanning data to the tool electrode. The method is very useful when any geometric information to the tool electrode is not provided from tool modeler or producer. The method consists of following four steps. First a triangulation mesh is constructed from the CMM data. Secondly, the z-map is modeled from the triangulated mesh. Thirdly, the discharge area is estimated from intersection between the z-map model and a z-height plane. Finally, the machining parameters are easily calculated by some known EDM equations to the discharge area. An example is introduced to show that the machining parameters are calculated from the CMM data to a tool electrode.