Wire EDM Success!

Intro

Hi everyone, it's Cooper! I'm really excited to share our update with you. We've had some amazing success recently with our WEDM cuts and have been proving out our LinuxCNC configuration and closed loop controls.

Powercore V3

Just getting this out of the way as we have more interesting things to talk about. Powercore V3 is going well. We have not had any reports thus far of failing units. Production has been relatively straightforward. 

One fun thing we did recently with Powercore V3 production was taking the time to build out custom holders for storage and transportation. We built simple wooden cases out of 2x4s and they actually work really nicely.

These are super handy for taking the cases to and from the anodizing shop in town. It also provides a nice and clean way for the anodizers to pack up the order after it is completed. Overall, this kind of thing is one of my favorite parts of manufacturing. Those little tools you make yourself to make the day easier.

Starter Kits

The Starter Kit and Wire Tool are working well. I have been doing a lot of WEDM machining recently using them and I have to say that I'm pleased with the overall performance. There's only a few small things I would change in the future.

LDO Motors

The new Wire Tool Kits have been supplied to us by LDO Motors and they really went above and beyond! It's amazing the amount of machining resources available to them. When we placed our order, Jason asked if we were sure that we wanted laser cut plates and I responded that it was more affordable. He agreed but still said that he liked the look of machined parts more.

Lo and behold, when we received our order, the endoskeletons were machined and type III anodized. The quality of these endoskeletons is really great and the plugging for the ano job was great too. I'm really happy that we decided to work with Jason.

Welded Vat Machine

Something we've been working on has been a more complete or "ideal" wire tool machine. We took a stab at the first version of a machine that we're quite happy with.

Before you ask, that big orange box behind the machine is the electronics cabinet for the Betta Wire. It's not what we would combine with this machine. 

You can see the big linear axes with ballscrew actuators on there. This has been really great for us. Especially when it comes to being able to back up in gcode. A very rigid, low backlash solution to motion is, unsurprisingly, beneficial to WEDM. 

In the end, running this machine with LinuxCNC, I really really like it. It is easy to set up and cuts everything from 2mm titanium to 16mm aluminum.

One thing I have found to be an issue that is a little funny to me is the waste spool. The waste spool is very easy to use and I was happy in the last update with the clever solution to this part, but I think we need to change it to an entirely different solution.

The waste spool simply fills up too quickly. Sure, you can pause the CNC program in LinuxCNC, empty the spool, and then continue the cut, but I want to be able to start a cut and walk away for a few hours like a 3D print.

LinuxCNC's adaptive feedrate would allow this based on the Powercore V3's output, but the waste spool is now the bottleneck here. I believe I will take inspiration from the Betta Wire and add a belt puller to the tool. That way, waste wire can simply be sent to a waste bin or a 5 gallon bucket or similar. The cut can last as long as the source spool will.

Betta Wire

Speaking of the Betta Wire, we're moving forward with that! I had a great conversation with Nick, our CEO, yesterday. We're both of the opinion that there has been way too much scope creep on the Betta Wire.

If you aren't one of the people in our Discord chat or haven't been reading these updates, it's most likely that you still think that the Betta Wire is still a mostly printed machine that lives in a fish tank instead of a CNC machined and welded frame machine.

This, to me, is unacceptable. We just need to get it out. LinuxCNC functioning in a way that allows us to just walk away as a cut occurs, to me, is a trigger to just get this thing out. We've recently received some machined parts for an improved toolhead revision John has been working on.

These parts will certainly improve the Betta Wire and are something we've been wanting to do for a while, but I'm going to cut it there. We'll integrate the machined components where they need to be integrated and then we're going to move into testing. 

After we verify that the Betta Works as intended (at least as good as the large tank machine) we're going to start shipping it. We will be shipping assembled machines. It turns out that it is actually going to be less work for us to ship things that are assembled than it will be to write the documentation for assembling them and then troubleshooting the units. There's likely enough to be some troubleshooting anyway as people cut their teeth on WEDM.

I want these units to begin shipping before the end of 2025. I believe that this can happen. The most common request I get from people is for a turnkey machine and we have to honor that. Both for our customers, and for our sales numbers.

Conclusion

I find myself a bit frustrated that we have allowed so much scope creep on the Betta Wire, but I know that our iterations will result in a fantastic machine. The rigidity of the final build along with our ability to control the wire procession will be great and we just need to ship it already. I think a lot of your are going to get more than you paid for, and for the wait, you deserve it.

I'm going to get back to work. Thank you all for the trust you have placed in us. Until next time.

-Cooper