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Shop Uses EDM Process to Cut Form Tools

In early November, I made a trip to Chicago and visited DuPage Machine Products for a story about the shop’s use of EDM to cut form tool blanks to use on its multi-spindle and single-spindle lathes.

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Your faithful scribe (me), Dave Knupfer Jr., and Olin Chinery examine some of the form tools cut on the shop’s EDM machines. ​

In our February issue, I plan to take PM off the beaten path—a little. Increasingly, I am seeing “screw machine shops” incorporating non-traditional processes in their stable of machine tool operations.

In early November, I made a trip to Chicago and visited with DuPage Machine Products for a story about the shop’s use of EDM to cut form tool blanks to use on its multi-spindle and single-spindle lathes. The company has been doing this a while, and its EDM guy, Olin, is getting quite good at operating the machine.

My interview with Dave Knuepfer Jr. and his dad revealed some future plans for the shop using the EDM process. These two have been very generous to me with their time, as I have previously published several stories about interesting things they are doing, but you’ll have to wait for the magazine to learn the details of their venture into using EDM. Call this a “teaser” post.  

Read a couple past articles about DuPage, including "Shop Cleans up Oil Room with Storage and Dispensing System" and "Bar Handling Made Easy."