A wire electric discharge machine according to the present invention includes a multijoint robot including a wire crossing mechanism for crossing a wire electrode on its tip end, a robot controller for controlling the multijoint robot, a numerical controller for controlling the wire electric discharge machine, and a transmission unit for transmitting a coordinate position when the multijoint robot is driven and controlled to move the wire crossing mechanism from the robot controller to the numerical controller, and the numerical controller synchronizes a position of each shaft of the wire electric discharge machine with a movement of the wire crossing mechanism with reference to the coordinate position transmitted by the transmission unit.

A multiwire electric discharge machine includes: a plurality of guide rollers; a machining power supply that applies a voltage between each of a plurality of cutting wire sections and a workpiece; a dummy workpiece including a contact surface curved in such a way as to be capable of coming into contact with a curved surface of the workpiece except for an end point, the end point being to be reached by each of the plurality of cutting wire sections when machining of the workpiece is completed, the dummy workpiece supporting the workpiece from one side in a first direction, the first direction being a direction in which the workpiece moves; and a pressing mechanism including a pressing portion, the pressing mechanism pressing the workpiece against the dummy workpiece by bringing the pressing portion into contact with the workpiece from another side in the first direction.

A device .[.(340, 440, 540).]. is connected to an output terminal of a controller.[.(330).]., having a single input terminal connected to a first power terminal of an external power source .[.(305).]. which outputs an AC voltage between the first power terminal and a second power terminal. The device includes a bleeding circuit.[.(342, 442, 542).]., and a switching arrangement .[.(344/346, 444/446, 544/546).]. to detect whether the controller powers a load .[.(320.]. or disables the load. When the controller is in an OFF state, the switching arrangement connects the bleeding circuit between the output terminal of the controller and the second power terminal to provide a current path between the output terminal of the controller and the second power terminal. When the controller is in an ON state, the switching arrangement disconnects the bleeding circuit between the output terminal of the controller and the second power terminal.

A machining program creation apparatus for a wire electrical discharge machine for creating a machining program for cutting a predetermined machining shape in an object to be machined includes a first unit defining the machining shape; a second unit defining a shape of the object to be machined; a third unit designating a reference position to be used when the machining shape is machined; a fourth unit for generating a first machining path for cutting the machining shape based on the machining shape, the shape of the object to be machined, and the machining reference position; a fifth unit for generating the shape of the object to be machined as a second machining path based on the shape of the object to be machined and the machining reference position; and a sixth unit for drawing the first and the second machining paths on the same screen.

In a wire electric discharge machine, a workpiece mounting unit mounts a workpiece tilted at a preset angle to a plane based on two orthogonal axes, X- and Y-axes. An XY-coordinate system is tilted at the preset angle so that it is transformed into an XY-coordinate system. A machining command value commanded by a machining program is corrected based on the XY-coordinate system. Thus, the tilted workpiece is taper-machined with a wire electrode kept substantially perpendicular to the XY-plane (table surface).

In a wire electric discharge machine, a workpiece mounting unit mounts a workpiece tilted at a preset angle to a plane based on two orthogonal axes, X- and Y-axes. An XY-coordinate system is tilted at the preset angle so that it is transformed into an XY-coordinate system. A machining command value commanded by a machining program is corrected based on the XY-coordinate system. Thus, the tilted workpiece is taper-machined with a wire electrode kept substantially perpendicular to the XY-plane (table surface).

A measurement program for sequentially measuring measurement points, which are to be measured with a touch sensor, is created on the basis of a machining program, which is read in, for machining a turning tool. Then, the rake face height is measured on each of the measurement points and the measurement data is stored. Subsequently, a calculation method of a correction amount is selected so as to calculate the correction amount, and whether or not the calculated correction amount is smaller than a regulation value is determined. The machining program is modified on the basis of the correction amount when the correction amount is not smaller than the regulation value, while the machining program is modified on the basis of the correction amount in accordance with the selected method when the correction amount is smaller than the regulation value.

The numerical controller creates a machining path on which a wire electrode is moved by analyzing blocks of a machining program, and creates interpolation data indicating an amount of movement for each interpolation period on the machining path. Further, the numerical controller calculates a length of the wire electrode used for machining (machined surface length) for each interpolation period, calculates a consumption amount of the wire electrode for each interpolation period, calculates a compensation amount for compensating the amount of movement based on the interpolation data, on the basis of the calculated consumption amount and compensates the amount of movement indicated by the interpolation data, based on the calculated compensation amount.

In wire electric discharge machining performed with a wire electrode moved relative to a workpiece based on a desired shape, a command speed is controlled so that the discharge densities per unit distance in circular-arc and straight portions of the desired shape are equal, in consideration of the difference in arc length between a circular-arc portion in a desired shape and the corresponding portion of a machining path, whereby the shape accuracy of the circular-arc portion is improved.

A wire electrical discharge machine for detecting an end face of an object, configured so that when a contact detection movement is started and if contact between the wire electrode and the workpiece is detected, positions in which the contact between the wire electrode and the workpiece is detected are stored as contact detection positions and that when a non-contact detection movement is then started and if non-contact between the wire electrode and the workpiece is detected, positions in which the non-contact between the wire electrode and the workpiece is detected are stored as non-contact detection positions. When it is determined whether or not a set number of times of execution is reached and if the set number of times of execution is reached, a reference position is obtained by adding the radius of the wire electrode and a clearance of the wire guide to an end face determination position.