Calculating EDM Wire Costs with WEDM Tech Wize

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Calculating EDM Wire Costs

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 How to Calculate EDM Wire Costs

WEDM costs can vary depending on many factors, one main factor is the wire you are using as your electrode! Plain Brass wire is the most popular and you would like to think the price would not change by much between vendors. This is of course not the case because the market of users is always looking for a better deal! So, can you find a cheaper EDM wire? SURE! Will it work maybe?

Frankly, I don’t think buying the off brands for pennies less a pound is a good idea if you want to run 24/7 and have no issues. The buyer beware of where the wire is being made and if it is guaranteed should be a priority. It is not just the wire cost that might get scrapped, but the Tool Steel and time already put into the part or parts that are set-up in the machine that could be scrapped! Then the WEDM machines run time that could be wasted at $175.00 - $250.00 dollars an hour that adds up Fast!   

How to Figure out Cost of Using Brass or Coated EDM Wire

To figure the cost of using brass or any coated wire e.g. Plasma by GIP, you need to know your initial cost. 

  Let's start with the brass price per pound at $5.25. Then the diameter size since .010” is the standard we will go with that. Next thing you need to know is how many yards are in a pound of wire? That would be 1,193 yards per pound  for .010” wire. ( Side Note: Which would equal 13,123 yards on a 11 Lb. spool.) Since the WEDM is spooling off wire in yards per minute (or Meters per minute) we need to look at the E-Code for that amount.  

  Doing some quick math - if 1,193 yards equals 1 pound of wire, at $5.25 a pound the cost per yard would be $0.0044 cents per yard. With this number you can  calculate the wire cost per job once you know the amount of minutes the cut time will be. That is of course just one of the costs that need to be add to the job quote, but it is an important one to make sure you can make a profit on the job.  

The question is when is coated wire the better choice to make money? 

Well, if you need to get more parts done faster then coated wire can help you! See example:

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Figuring a 30% faster cut time the difference is $0.80 cents per minute higher cost, but you also need 

to figure you now have 12 more minutes of time to make more parts. If you made 36 parts in 24 hours,

Now you could make those 36 parts in 16.8 Hours so you could now make 15 more parts in the same period. 

So, in 7.2 hours, how much more money can you generate in the extra time? It will all depend on the job!  

Get a Free EDM Wire Cost Calculator

If you would like to get a copy of the full excel spread sheet, fill out the request form below with your contact information and we will send it to you by e-mail.

This is all a part of the service from GIP as we plan to build the best EDM Supply company with todays GIP High Performance EDM Wire made by BEDRA & ThermoCompact as the cornerstone. 

Let us know how we can help you and what you would like to see in the future editions of 

WEDM Tech WIZARD.  

“May your Sparks always be ON-TIME!”