Albany has recently purchased an EDM machine (electrical discharge machining). This is an Agie Charmilles machine, and is ideally suited to making Albany’s most precise components, especially gears. Here we can see our R&D Manager working on the machine.
The benefits that Albany will see from using this machine are:
- The machine will make components with impressive accuracy
- The machine is ideal for prototypes and spare parts, as it is as flexible as the programmes with which it is loaded
- The machine can run unattended, which is especially suited to running at night.
In Electrical Discharge machining, material is removed from the workpiece by electricity passing between two electrodes. The Albany machine uses wire as one of the electrodes. When in operation, the wire is separated from the workpiece by a dielectric which is essentially water. The photograph above shows the bed of the machine with a section of steel from which gears are being cut, with a close up below. Normally the machine would be full of water.
If you buy a gear pump, a lobe pump or a screw pump from Albany Pumps, there is a good chance that components will have been made on the new machine.
Our machine has proved itself popular in the press. Albany featured in a magazine article in GF Machining Solutions. The machine also featured in Production Engineering Solutions, which you can read here.
