Micro- and nanoelectric-discharge machining

New solutions are needed for manufacturing small and very precise components and micro-systems for the watch industry, for micro-optics (telecommunication), for medicine (processing biocompatible materials, medical implants, tools for ophthalmic surgery and for living cells manipulations) and even the chemical industry (micro-reactors). A small, very precise EDM machine called Delta3 was developed at EPFL and connected to a new generation EDM-generator from AGIE. It has a working volume of 8 mm×8 mm×8 mm, a high resolution (5 nm) and a high bandwidth dynamic (600 Hz). These performances are made possible by using a parallel kinematics based on flexure joints, thus completely eliminating friction, wear and backlash. Three linear electromagnetic motors actuate the machine. With the special features of the Delta3 one can explore new strategies for micro-erosion. The high dynamical behavior of the machine allows better flushing conditions and better gap control. With the improved precision we expect to erode small pieces with a precision of 100 nm, which means an order of magnitude better than the actual state of the art EDM machines on the market. The small overall size of the Delta3 makes it ideal to be used in a micro-factory.