Wire EDM Services for Precision Components

The call came from a machine shop in western Pennsylvania. They had a wire EDM in-house, but the part was bigger than their table travel. They needed it cut from hardened tool steel, held to a tenth, finished to specs their grinding department couldn't touch. They found Jennison, sent the print, and had parts in hand within the week.

We get calls like this constantly. Sometimes it's a capacity problem. Sometimes it's a material the shop has never cut. Sometimes it's a finish requirement that eliminates every process except wire EDM, and the buyer just figured that out.

The question behind every call is the same: Can you cut this part, in this material, to this tolerance, at this size? Here's how we answer it.

What Wire EDM Does That Other Processes Can't

Wire EDM uses a thin, electrically charged brass wire (about 0.010" diameter) to cut conductive materials via controlled electrical discharge. The wire never touches the workpiece. Rapid electrical sparks vaporize metal along the cut path.

No mechanical cutting force enables new possibilities. Tolerances don't degrade as cutting progresses. Hardened materials stay intact when the wire applies no mechanical stress. Conventional cutting struggles with very hard materials and eventually fails. Wire EDM cuts hardened tool steels, carbide, titanium, and superalloys equally, with no hardness ceiling. If the material conducts electricity, wire EDM can cut it. It also cuts intricate internal geometries and tight inside corners milling cutters cannot reach.

If you know this already and want to check if we can handle your part, skip to machine specs below. Comparing EDM to other processes? Our guide to choosing between stamping, CNC machining, and laser cutting covers the broader decision. Wire EDM complements those processes; it doesn't replace them.

Machine Capacity: When Your Part Is Too Big for Your Shop

That's why the western Pennsylvania shop called. Their machine lacked travel for the part. Ours didn't.

Jennison operates five wire EDM machines. The largest is our Sodick AQ750LH with 29.5" x 19.7" table travel and 24" maximum thickness. If your part exceeds standard small-format capacity (many shops run 12" x 10" or smaller), we can likely handle it.

Our full EDM lineup:

Sodick AQ750LH: 29.5" x 19.7" table travel, 24" maximum thickness. Large-capacity machine for oversized work.

Fanuc Robocut C600iA: Production wire EDM for volume and standard-size parts.

Fanuc Robocut 1IC with MicroFinish power supply: Dedicated fine-finish machine achieving 6 micro-inch Ra surface finishes.

Fanuc Robocut 0IC: Additional production capacity.

Fanuc Model O: Additional production capacity.

Five machines prevent single-machine bottlenecks. When one machine runs a long job, others keep production moving. See our capabilities page for complete equipment details.

Our EDM operators average 15-plus years of experience. This matters more in wire EDM than most processes. EDM is highly operator-dependent: machine settings, wire threading approach, flushing strategy, and skim pass sequences all affect results. Experienced operators on good machines produce better tolerances and finishes than machine spec sheets alone suggest.

Surface Finish: Down to 6 Micro-Inches

Standard wire EDM produces surface finishes in the 8 to 16 micro-inch Ra range, depending on material, thickness, and skim passes.

Some parts need better. Precision die components, mold cavities, and medical device parts require fine surface finishes beyond standard EDM range. Secondary processes (hand polishing, lapping) after EDM introduce risk: manual finishing can alter the dimensional accuracy the wire achieved. Remove a tenth too much material and geometry shifts.

Jennison's micro-finish wire EDM capability produces surface finishes down to 6 micro-inch Ra directly off the wire, with no secondary finishing. We run a dedicated Fanuc Robocut 1IC with MicroFinish power supply on parts to 21.7" x 14.6" x 12".

Parts come off the machine at final dimension and surface finish. No additional handling, no dimensional distortion risk from secondary finishing, no added lead time.

Materials Wire EDM Handles

Wire EDM cuts any conductive material regardless of hardness. That fact alone opens applications no other process can touch.

Hardened tool steels: Conventional machining requires cutting before heat treatment, then hoping dimensions survive thermal cycling. Wire EDM cuts after heat treatment when parts are at final hardness. No dimensional distortion from subsequent processing. What you cut is what you get.

Carbide: Conventional machining needs expensive diamond tooling that wears quickly. Wire EDM cuts carbide with the same brass wire it uses for everything else. The process doesn't care about hardness, only electrical conductivity.

Titanium: Titanium is widely used in aerospace and medical applications and is sensitive to heat. Conventional machining creates heat-affected zones that alter microstructure and compromise performance. Wire EDM removes material without the concentrated heat causing these changes.

Inconel and other superalloys: These nickel-based alloys are critical for naval and defense applications where extreme temperature and corrosion resistance matter. Conventional machining struggles because superalloys work-harden rapidly; each cutting tool pass makes the next harder. Wire EDM bypasses this because there's no mechanical cutting.

Copper, brass, and aluminum: For precision electrical and electronic components where thin walls and delicate features would deform under conventional forces, wire EDM provides dimensional control without mechanical stress.

Tolerances and Process Control

Wire EDM routinely holds ±0.0002" tolerances (two ten-thousandths of an inch). For context, this is tighter than most CNC milling operations can reliably maintain, especially in hardened materials.

Several factors enable this. Modern wire EDM CNC controls compensate for wire deflection in real time, adjusting the wire path as conditions change. Automatic wire threading eliminates variability between cuts; each threading event starts consistently. The process is inherently stable because the wire never touches the workpiece, so there's no tool wear to track across a production run.

Tightest tolerances come from multiple skim passes. The first pass (roughing cut) removes bulk material. Subsequent skim passes progressively improve dimensional accuracy and surface finish, each removing less material and leaving a cleaner edge. Typical precision jobs involve a rough cut and two to four skim passes, depending on tolerance and finish requirements.

When Wire EDM Is the Right Call

Wire EDM isn't always the answer, but for certain applications, it's the only answer.

Your geometry has tight internal corners. Milling cutters have a radius and cannot produce sharp internal corners. Wire EDM can because the wire is typically 0.010" diameter, producing corner radii of 0.005" or smaller that no milling cutter matches.

Your material is too hard for conventional machining. Above about 50 HRC, conventional cutting tools wear fast, deflect, and produce inconsistent results. Wire EDM doesn't care. It cuts the hardest tool steels as easily as mild steel. There is no hardness ceiling for wire EDM.

Your tolerances are tighter than milling can reliably hold. When the print calls for ±0.0002" and the material is hardened, wire EDM is typically the most reliable process for consistent production results.

Your surface finish requirements exceed grinding capability. Grinding works well on flat surfaces and simple profiles. For complex geometries, wire EDM's fine-finish capability (down to 6 micro-inch Ra) achieves what grinding cannot.

Your part is too valuable to risk. One-off tooling components, expensive superalloy blanks, parts with weeks of prior machining invested. When scrapping costs are high, wire EDM's zero-mechanical-force nature significantly reduces cracking, distortion, and catastrophic tool failure risk.

Your current wire EDM machine can't handle part size. If your in-house machine maxes at 12" travel and your part needs 20", you need a shop with bigger equipment. Jennison's Sodick AQ750LH handles table travel to 29.5" x 19.7" with 24" thickness capacity.

Wire EDM also plays a role in aerospace manufacturing, where precision die components and tight-tolerance features are standard.

Send Us the Print

Looking for a wire EDM shop that can handle your part (material your current shop can't cut, size your machine can't handle, or finish you can't reach)? Send the print. We'll tell you if we can run it, what it costs, and when you'll have parts.

You don't need a formal RFQ package. A drawing and quantity start the conversation. Contact Jennison Corporation or visit our wire EDM service page for full specs and contact information.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the maximum part size Jennison can cut on wire EDM?

Our largest machine (the Sodick AQ750LH) has 29.5" x 19.7" of table travel and handles workpiece thickness up to 24". If your part exceeds what your current EDM shop can handle, we likely can run it.

What surface finish can you achieve with wire EDM?

Standard wire EDM produces finishes in the 8-16 micro-inch Ra range. Our fine-finish capability uses a dedicated Fanuc Robocut 1IC with a MicroFinish power supply, reaching 6 micro-inches Ra directly off the machine with no secondary finishing needed.

Can wire EDM cut hardened materials?

Yes. Wire EDM cuts any electrically conductive material regardless of hardness, including hardened tool steels, carbide, titanium, and superalloys like Inconel. There is no hardness ceiling. Wire EDM applies no mechanical cutting force, so hardness doesn't limit what we can cut.

What tolerances does Jennison hold on wire EDM parts?

We routinely hold ±0.0002" on wire EDM work. The actual tolerance achievable on your part depends on material, thickness, and geometry, but wire EDM is the tightest-tolerance cutting process available for most precision applications.

How do I get a quote for wire EDM work?

Send your print or CAD file through our contact page or call directly. We'll review the geometry, material, and tolerances, and provide a quote typically within a few business days. A drawing and a quantity are enough to start the conversation.