At Petersfield-based Frazer Nash Manufacturing, the company has invested in its fourth Fanuc wire EDM, a RoboCut C600iB, which complements existing RoboCut 0C and 1C machines that have been running on the shop floor since the early 1990s.

EDM supervisor at Fraser Nash Manufacturing, Hayden Weeks, says: “We added the latest Fanuc RoboCut C600iB as we were looking for a machine that could accept larger parts. Moreover, some of our other machines are getting a little old now, so the new addition really speeds things up. The C600iB is at least 20 to 30% faster than our existing machines.
“Much of our work is in the food industry, so we do a lot of aluminium and titanium plates,” adds Weeks. “On the new machine at present is a 3D-printed alloy steel part and we’re cutting off the 3D printed base. From here, the job will go to five-axis machining.”
Programming of the machines is performed off-line using Fanuc CAMi software, which helps Frazer Nash perform cylindrical, conical and four-axis machining routines. Users can mirror CAMi software directly to the CNC screen by using the remote desktop function.
Fanuc’s B series has a host of newly developed features, and one in particular caught the attention of Frazer Nash: the EDM hole-drilling attachment. This bolt-on addition enables users to drill holes from 0.3 to 3.0 mm diameter through hardened steels and other challenging material types.
“An advantage of this system is that you don’t need to drill a plate before treatment or before it’s put on the wire machine,” says Weeks. “We load jobs straight on the machine, where the attachment will drill the hole. We can then centre-find the hole and feed the wire in for cutting operations.”
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