CLIPPARD REALIZES THE BENEFIT OF PLASMA HIGH PERFORMANCE WIRE
/Using PLASMA Hybrid-Coated Wire instead of brass wire, Clippard, a market leader in high-precision pneumatic valves, achieved a better finish in less time with reduced power and less wire breakage.
“The jobs require a lot of setup time… so run time, finish and wire breaks all are critical for us.”
Summary
Clippard operates two ISO certified manufacturing locations in Ohio and does advanced machining of all types to produce its extensive catalog of standard and custom product solutions. At the heart of its machining capabilities are 12-axis CNC Swiss machines, CNC milling centers and CNC wire EDM’s. Various metal and thermoplastic materials are machined.
TREVOR MCCOY - CLIPPARD
Plasma High Performance Wire Test
PLASMA a proprietary hybrid-coated brass wire was presented to the Clippard Director of Operations, Robin Rutschilling and his CNC/EDM Programmer, Trevor McCoy by Barry Ramsay of Global Innovative Products (GIP). PLASMA comprises of a gamma-phase inter metallic zinc alloy coated wire with brass core and has been found suitable for all types of wire machines, with excellent auto-threading capability and increased performance, even at conventional brass wire settings. Clippard EDM department tested PLASMA on one of its Fanuc wire machines. In this test case, many of the components were being run for the production of special parts being produced by Clippard for robotic arm articulation.
“PLASMA achieves better finish with 15 to 20% improvement in run time”
Positive Results
The testing immediately yielded positive results, as McCoy notes, they were holding tolerances under a tenth, with a micro-finish that was very important for the application. “We do a lot of custom work for our own use - over 50% of my production in EDM. Some of the hard tool steels are difficult to drill and we also run various others. The jobs require a lot of setup time and filtering, so run time, finish and wire breaks are all critical for us.”