Electrode Manufacturing

with NX

Restricted Siemens AG 2015 Smarter decisions, better products.

NX Electrode Manufacturing

Electrode
Electrode Design Electrode Machining
Measurements

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Siemens PLM Software
NX Electrode Solution
- Process Integration

Project definition
Concurrent team design Blank Design
Customization and reuse capabilities Burn Area Design
Specify Holder
Sparking area design
Geometric under-sizing
Blank & holder design Most complete and fastest
process from design to Validation
Electrode copy / mirror
Project Initialization manufacture through
Design checking
intelligent automation &
Drawing creation / automation process integration Drawings/
BOM creation / automation Burn Sheet
Direct machining automation
Electrode measurements Workpiece
Process Planning / Machining
Teamcenter integration
NX has satisfied a wealth of requirements that
enable a flexible and fully capable electrode
design process.

Takahiro Maruyama, Chief Tool Design and Manufacturing Engineer,

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Shonan Design Co., Ltd
Siemens PLM Software
Electrode Design

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Siemens PLM Software
Electrode Design Wizard
- Overview

NX Electrode Design un-complicates and

accelerates designing electrodes with a step-by-
step process:

Integrate mold design, electrode design, and machining

Automate design tasks and reuse knowledge
Rapidly perform design changes with associativity

Validate and guarantee the design

EDM Features

The NX Electrode Design product provides the

breadth of integrated tools necessary for the
electrode design process.

Takahiro Maruyama, Chief Tool Design and Manufacturing Engineer,

Restricted Siemens AG 2015
Shonan Design Co., Ltd
Siemens PLM Software
Electrode Design Wizard
- Function overview

NX provides a streamlined process toolbar with the

tools needed to create fast and high quality
electrodes

Includes commonly used functions to easily create

sparking heads
Trim Solid
Create Box
Replace Solid
Extend Solid
Blend
Etc

Includes functions to:

Design Blank
Electrode Fixture
Drawings/Check/BOM
Calculate touch area
Etc
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Siemens PLM Software
Electrode Design Wizard
- Initialize Project

Automatically generate an assembly for organizing

and managing the electrode project

Define multiple EDM design settings to enable

concurrent design and establish EDM machining
settings

Origin point

Machining orientation

Associatively link core / cavity to electrodes

Automatically include machining pallet

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Siemens PLM Software
Electrode Design Wizard
- Sparking Head design

Easily and efficiently model the working area /

sparking faces of electrodes.

Create Box
Quickly create a box to specify the working area
Trim Solid
Drag a box to fill a space without changing its shape
Replace Solid
Define a box based on selected boundary faces
Extend Solid Create Box
Extend the size of a box by dragging its faces
Reference Blend Extend Solid
Add an associative blend to a box by referencing an adjacent
blend curve
Replace Solid

Reference Blend
Restricted Siemens AG 2015 Trim Solid
Siemens PLM Software
Electrode Design Wizard
- Design the Blank

Define and customize blank stock size and shape in

spreadsheet for reuse

Automatically search spreadsheet and find proper

blank identified electrode working area
Possible to specify 1 blank per multiple working areas

Create position report relative to MSET coordinate

system (used for machine setup)

Capture machining parameters for automated

machine set-up

Surface colors/attributes automatically assigned for

downstream usage
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Siemens PLM Software
Electrode Design Wizard
- Validate Designed Electrodes

Automatically identify interferences between

electrodes and targets

Identify problem areas visually

Calculate (includes batch checking capabilities)

Sparking area
X, Y, Z dimensions

Automatically identify and apply sparking attributes

Automate face color and attributes mapping to

electrode faces (useful for manufacturing process
planning)

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Siemens PLM Software
Electrode Design Wizard
- Generate Drawings

Apply pre-defined drafting template to automatically

generate drawings
Electrode design and drawing are associative

Automatically assign design attributes (position,

dimensions, spark gap, material) to drawing and
tables

Automatically create electrode detail and assembly

drawings
Electrode drawing
Burn sheet

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Siemens PLM Software
Electrode NC Programming

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Siemens PLM Software
Electrode Manufacturing
- Associative Electrode Machining

Direct machining of electrodes

Leverage CAM templates to automatically generate

NC

Associativity between the electrode design and

CAM enables automatic tool path update

Leverage surface colors/part attributes to automate

machining setup and machining parameter definition

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Siemens PLM Software
Electrode Manufacturing
- Integrated Electrode Machining

Electrode Material attribute ensures correct CAM

template usage.

Spark Gap values automatically assigned to CAM

process
Create up to 3 different Spark Gap Electrode programs
in 1 action.

Geometry selection done automatically.

Customizable operation sequences and Machining

Data Library based on customer practices.

Customizable shop documentation

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Siemens PLM Software
Additional information

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Siemens PLM Software
Electrode Manufacturing
- Caveats

Currently does not use Master Model in the CAM

setup

Currently only supports metric electrodes

This method is for 3D orbit only

When starting NX up, the 1st time Electrode CAM

Setup is used it picks the template from
cam_general.opt.
The 2nd time onwards it picks the template according to
design material attribute

NX CAM limitation; Contour Area outputs cut

regions as steep first. If top down is required it is a
manual
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Siemens PLM Software
Electrode Manufacturing
- Roadmap

Integrated automated CMM output

Allowing for spark gap checking and position alignment.

Automated EDM machine output

Positioning, rotation, touch area, spark gap parameters

Support 2D orbit electrodes better than today

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Siemens PLM Software
Electrode Manufacturing
- Successful Practice Documentation

Complete environment setup instructions

Includes all files needed for implementation

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Siemens PLM Software
Thank you

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Siemens PLM Software