Methods for controlling the surface profiles of wafers sliced from an ingot with a wire saw include measuring an amount of displacement of a sidewall of a frame of the wire saw. The sidewall is connected to a bearing of a wire guide supporting a wire web in the wire saw. The measured amount of displacement of the sidewall is stored as displacement data. Based on the stored data, a pressure profile for adjusting a position of the sidewall is determined by a computing device. Pressure is applied to the sidewall using a displacement device according to the determined pressure profile to control the position of the sidewall.

A wire electric discharge machine has a function of performing correction of corner shapes independently on an upper surface and a lower surface of workpiece. On the basis of the positions of upper and lower wire guides and the position and the thickness of the workpiece, the wire electric discharge machine calculates, on the upper and lower surfaces of the workpiece, a shape correction amount in a state in which there is a space between the upper nozzle and the upper surface of the workpiece and also in which there is a space between the lower nozzle and the lower surface of the workpiece, from a correction amount at the time when nozzles of the upper and lower wire guides are closely attached to the upper and lower surfaces of the workpiece. The wire electric discharge machine performs shape correction according to the calculated shape correction amount.

Provided is a machining time prediction device including a predicted machining speed table where predicted machining speeds are registered in association with shape groups used for classification based on a shape of a machining path, a machining path generation unit generating machining path data including the machining path based on the program, a shape group determination unit determining which shape groups partial machining paths belong to, a path length addition unit adding and summarizing path lengths of the partial machining paths for the respective shape groups, a predicted machining time calculation unit calculating predicted machining times of the respective shape groups on the basis of a predicted machining speed table and the path lengths of the respective shape groups, a predicted machining time summation unit calculating a predicted machining time of the machining path by adding the predicted machining times of the respective shape groups, and a display unit displaying the predicted machining time of the machining path.

A wire electric discharge machining system according to the present invention includes: a wire electric discharge machine that relatively moves a wire electrode and a workpiece to be machined according to a program, and subjects the workpiece to be machined to electric discharge machining by the wire electrode; at least one hand; a robot which mounts the hand on a head of an arm, and operates an object to be operated; and a visual sensor that detects a position of a machined workpiece in a machining tank, which has been cut from the workpiece to be machined by the electric discharge machining, wherein the robot performs an operation of removing the machined workpiece from the machining tank, based on the position of the machined workpiece, which has been detected by the visual sensor.

A machining path creating device for wire electric discharge machines creates a machining path for machining a keyway in a side surface of a round hole. The machining path creating unit compares a keyway depth and a diameter of the round hole input by an operator. The machining path creating device determines that the input keyway depth is a cut depth when the input keyway depth is smaller than the diameter of the round hole and that a value obtained by subtracting the diameter of the round hole from the input keyway depth is the cut depth when the input keyway depth is larger than the diameter of the round hole.

A control device includes a speed setting unit configured to set a relative movement speed of a wire electrode with respect to a workpiece depending on the average of gap voltage per unit time, i.e., average gap voltage, and set the relative movement speed so as to move the wire electrode backward when the average gap voltage is less than a threshold, and a map compensation unit configured to change the threshold from a first threshold that is set when the amount of change in the average gap voltage is lower than a predetermined variation, to a second threshold that is greater than the first threshold, when the average gap voltage has changed in a decreasing direction and the amount of change in the average gap voltage becomes equal to or greater than the predetermined variation.

A wire electrical discharge machine for performing electrical discharge machining on a workpiece by applying voltage across an electrode gap between a wire electrode stretched between an upper nozzle and a lower nozzle and the workpiece to generate electrical discharges, includes a lifting mechanism configured to move the workpiece in the travelling direction of the wire electrode.

A control device includes: a control unit configured to control a main processing machine by replacing a machining shape on a machining surface of a workpiece specified in a program with a shape corresponding to an enlargement/reduction ratio and replacing a fixing distance for a core specified in the program with a distance corresponding to the enlargement/reduction ratio for the machining shape of the workpiece and a plate thickness ratio between the workpieces.

A program creation apparatus includes: a display unit configured to display a machining shape of a workpiece that is input by a user through an input unit; a core fixing portion setter for setting a predetermined range including a point on a machining line between the workpiece and a core to be formed by machining the workpiece, specified on the display unit with the machining shape of the workpiece displayed thereon, by the user through the input unit, as a core fixing portion; and a program creator for creating a program that causes the wire electrical discharge machine to fix the core to the workpiece in the set core fixing portion while machining the workpiece according to the input machining shape thereof.

A wire electrical discharge machine machines a workpiece so as to have different machined shapes on a top surface and a bottom surface of the workpiece. The wire electrical discharge machine includes: a distance measuring sensor for moving within a machining area of the wire electrical discharge machine and measuring a distance between the distance measuring sensor and an object to be measured; and a vertical position calculating unit for calculating a distance between a reference surface and the top surface and a distance between the reference surface and the bottom surface, from a distance between the reference surface and the distance measuring sensor, a distance between the top surface and the distance measuring sensor, and a distance between the bottom surface and the distance measuring sensor, measured by the distance measuring sensor.