The design of integrated route in micro-EDM

Micro-electrical discharge machining (micro-EDM) is a flexible process, consisting of many techniques. The effective combination of these techniques is of great importance to improve machining performance of micro-EDM. In this regard, a new method is proposed in this paper discussing how to design process routes for integrated micro-EDM. The structure of microparts should be divided into fundamental structural components, each of which to be fabricated by means of proper EDM processing techniques according to the features of those micro-EDM methods. In this article, the machining sequence of the integrated route is studied, followed by design principles of integrated machining established to meet specific machining requirements. Then we analyze machining errors during the integrated machining process. Lastly, we demonstrate how a microgear reducer was fabricated with the integrated process. The integrated route of its microparts was designed by following the proposed method. The reducer was successfully produced on a self-developed multifunctional machining platform.