A guide unit that stretches a wire electrode and guides the wire electrode to a machinable range section where a workpiece is placed includes: a first wire guide and a second wire guide; a first support element disposed spaced apart between the first and second wire guides and disposed spaced apart from the first wire guide, which determines a passage location of the wire electrode; and a second support element disposed spaced apart from the second wire guide, which determines a passage location of the wire electrode. The first support element has a variable direction relative to the first wire guide, the machinable range section of the wire electrode is formed of a portion stretched between the first and second support elements, and the wire electrode can tilt with respect to the wire electrode supplied from the supply unit.

A wire electrical discharge machine includes a contact detector provided at a lower nozzle and configured to detect contact of a wire electrode with the exterior of the lower nozzle, a suction unit configured to suction working fluid into the lower nozzle, and a wire feeding mechanism configured to pass the wire electrode through a machining hole in a workpiece and feed the wire electrode toward the lower nozzle. When auto wire feeding is performed with a work-pan containing working fluid, the wire electrode (is fed toward the lower nozzle by the wire feeding mechanism while the suction unit suctions the working fluid into the lower nozzle. When the contact detector detects contact of the wire electrode with the exterior of the lower nozzle, the wire electrode is rewound by the wire feeding mechanism.

A wire electrode is hung from an upper die guide of a wire electric discharge machine toward a workpiece, a distance from a position where the wire electrode on the top surface of the workpiece is hung down to a top end position of a machined groove formed by the electric discharge machining is calculated based on a commanded taper angle and the distance from the top surface of the workpiece to an upper die guide fulcrum position of the upper die guide, and automatic wire connection is performed by moving an upper nozzle by the calculated distance. In this way, a wire connecting operation can be performed in the vicinity of the tapered groove.

A wire electrical discharge apparatus includes a wire bobbin on which a wire electrode is wound, a straightening treatment unit to perform straightening treatment on the wire electrode fed from the wire bobbin, a machining power supply to apply a voltage between the wire electrode and a workpiece via a feed terminal set above the workpiece and contacting the wire electrode, and a control unit to control the straightening treatment unit and the machining power supply so as to apply a voltage between the workpiece and the wire electrode that has been subjected to the straightening treatment, to perform electrical discharge machining to form an initial hole in the workpiece.

A wire electric discharge machine, configured to determine whether or not electrical discharge machining of a workpiece can be performed, includes a determination unit for determining that wire electrical discharge machining of the workpiece can be performed when a wire electrode is moved toward the workpiece and a contact detection unit detects contact, and for determining that the wire electrical discharge machining of the workpiece cannot be performed when a breaking detection unit detects the breaking of the wire electrode before the contact detection unit detects the contact.

A controller for a wire electrical discharge machine includes: an abnormality location calculating unit that calculates an abnormality location at a time when an abnormality of the wire electrode has occurred on a wire running path; a solution information storage unit that stores abnormality locations and solution information in association with each other; a priority setting unit that sets a degree of priority for each of the abnormality locations according to a history of the abnormality location; and a display control unit that causes a display unit to display the solution information corresponding to each of the abnormality locations by taking the degree of priority into account.

A control device 8 controls a tension device 10 to apply a tension to a wire electrode WE such that a set tension value is as small as possible within a range of 80 g or less during a particular anneal period when a particular anneal current is supplied from a current supply device 5.

A wire electrical discharge apparatus includes a wire bobbin on which a wire electrode is wound, a straightening treatment unit to perform straightening treatment on the wire electrode fed from the wire bobbin, a machining power supply to apply a voltage between the wire electrode and a workpiece via a feed terminal set above the workpiece and contacting the wire electrode, and a control unit to control the straightening treatment unit and the machining power supply so as to apply a voltage between the workpiece and the wire electrode that has been subjected to the straightening treatment, to perform electrical discharge machining to form an initial hole in the workpiece.

A wire electrical discharge machine having an auto wire feeding function includes: guide parts arranged on a wire feed path along which the wire electrode is fed so as to guide the feeding of the wire electrode; fluid paths formed with the guide parts to supply a compressed fluid to the wire feed path; a compressed fluid supply device to supply the compressed fluid to the fluid paths; a tension detector to detect the tension of the wire electrode; and a control device that controls the compressed fluid supply device so as to supply the compressed fluid to the fluid paths, and based on the detection result from the tension detector, determines whether or not the wire electrode has reached a supply position of one of the fluid paths on the wire feed path to which the fluid has been supplied.

A wire electrical discharge machine includes: a supporting member for relatively moving a wire electrode relative to a measurement target; servomotors for moving the supporting member; a setting changer for changing the setting of a directive speed; and a motor controller that controls the servomotors in performing move-and-contact detection for detecting contact between the wire electrode and the measurement target by moving the two relative to each other, so that the wire electrode is moved relative to the measurement target based on the directive speed changed and specified by the setting changer.