EDM Wire Cutting

There are some jobs where conventional cutting simply won’t do. The geometry is too complex, the material too hard, the tolerance too tight. Consequently, this is where EDM Wire Cutting earns its place on the shop floor.

Wire EDM uses a continuously fed brass or copper wire — typically 0.1 to 0.3mm in diameter — to cut through any electrically conductive material. The wire never touches the workpiece. Instead, a rapid series of controlled electrical discharges erodes the material along a CNC-programmed path. The result? Cuts to tolerances as tight as ±0.001mm, in materials that would destroy a conventional cutting tool.

This isn’t magic — it’s physics. Furthermore, knowing how to use physics to remove load from your process is exactly what separates ingenious and experienced toolmaking from the ordinary kind. Although EDM wire cutting is very much a CNC process, it still needs toolmakers with a particular depth of knowledge and experience to do the job well. Many toolmaking workshops are shying away from paying for this sort of knowledge and experience.

Roger and his team here at RCG Tooling know the immense importance of EDM wire cutting. Hardly a tool or die leaves this workshop without some component made on the EDM wire-cutting machine.

5 Ways We Put EDM Wire Cutting to Work

• Tool and Die Making — cutting hardened steel dies, punches and stamping tools to profiles that grinding and milling simply can’t reach.
• Aerospace Components — producing turbine blade slots, fuel system parts and structural brackets from demanding superalloys like Inconel and titanium.
• Medical Device Parts — holding the fine tolerances that surgical instruments and implant components demand, in stainless steel and titanium.
• Prototype and R&D Work — complex profiles cut quickly, without dedicated tooling. Ideal when you need to prove a concept before committing to full production.
• Extrusion Dies and Nozzles — intricate internal profiles in hard tool steel for plastic extrusion, rubber moulding and food processing equipment.

5 Reasons EDM Wire Cutting Belongs in Your Process

• Tolerances That Mean Business — ±0.001 to 0.002mm accuracy. When the fit has to be right, this is how you get there.
• Hardness Is Irrelevant — carbide, hardened tool steel, Inconel, titanium — because material removal is electrical, not mechanical, hardness simply doesn’t matter.
• Zero Cutting Force — the wire never contacts the part, so there’s no mechanical stress. Thin walls, delicate sections and complex geometries stay exactly where you put them.
• Complex Profiles, Single Setup — internal contours, sharp corners, fine slots — all cut in one CNC operation. No compromises, no tool changes, no shortcuts.
• Surface Finish That Often Needs Nothing More — consistent Ra 0.2–0.8µm finishes straight off the machine. Less secondary work, more value out of your budget.