Abstract: A railvice for use with a wire EDM, milling machine, or boring machine, having an elongated rail through which a T-slot extends longitudinally. A locking member of the railvice sits in the T-slot. A jaw element of the railvice connected to the locking member by a bolt includes a cavity for the locking member. The locking member has bias forces acting upon it to force the locking member towards the bottom of the T-slot as well as along the T-slot. The bolt externally anchored with respect to the locking member is rotated to cause the bias forces acting on the locking member to assist in either locking the locking member in the T-slot or forcing the locking member to the bottom of the T-slot for movement of the railvice along the T-slot.

Abstract: A workpiece holding system with lock screw in which the lock screw is placed axially in the center of an adjustment screw for an adjustment block thereby eliminating any deflection and eliminating any small errors. Since the lock screw is already spring pressured on the adjustment screw, the increased pressure of the lock screw will not cause any change in the adjustment of the adjustment block and since the lock screw is oriented in the center of the adjustment screw, there will be no deflection of the adjustment block.

Abstract: A vectoring and orbiting control unit for electrical discharge machines (EDM). The unit is an adjunct to conventional EDM machines having a microprocessor-controlled electrical power supply/control unit that includes a gap detector/processor, position detector, and z-axis translator. The vectoring and orbiting control unit controls the electrode movement in the x-y, or polar, coordinate plane directly, and provides z-axis command data to the system controller of the power supply/control unit, the latter capable of moving the electrode along a z-axis. The vectoring and orbiting control unit displays a menu of various canned vectoring and orbiting modes available, permits the operator to select a desired mode, and enables the operator to input, in a verifiable, user-friendly manner, various machining values consistent with the mode selected by the operator.

Abstract: The locking system for a precision vise includes a slotted base with downwardly facing serrations engaged by a locking block having upwardly facing serrations with the locking block being connected to the lower end of a bolt oriented generally at a 45.degree. angle and extending upwardly through the slot and a passageway in the movable jaw to clamp the movable jaw in adjusted position. The bolt includes a threaded upper end with a nut thereon and a flange or shoulder intermediate the ends engaged by light spring which also engages a downwardly facing surface on the movable jaw to move the locking block downwardly in order to assure that the serrations on the locking block will not engage the serrations on the base when the nut on the locking bolt is rotated to release the movable jaw.

Abstract: A workpiece holding system utilizing an improved vise having jaws that remain parallel with the workpiece and introduce a downward force on the workpiece to retain it against a precision supporting surface with the system of this invention primarily intended for use in holding workpieces on EDM wire machines. Each jaw has a step at the bottom which is significant when used on a wire EDM machine as it provides the ability to "pick up" the location of the workpiece from four sides. The system includes a dovetail incorporated into the vise with the position of the dovetail being the same regardless of the size of the vise thereby making it possible to use two different vises in a vertical setup to hold elongated workpieces accurately and making it easy to change from one vise to another. A single adjustment block can be used for a number of vises thus reducing the overall cost of the system.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for vector machine control of a tool and a workpiece so as to perform desired electric discharge machine (EDM) operations on the workpiece in accordance with a polar coordinate frame of reference. The method for vector machine control calls for the processing of input data to derive vector magnitude data, vector angle data and Z-axis data. The tool is advanced in the direction of the Z-axis by a given amount to an offset position, and the tool is then successively advanced and withdrawn in the direction of a given vector angle (corresponding to the vector angle data) by a corresponding distance (corresponding to the vector magnitude data). The procedure may be repeated for successive vector angles and magnitudes, and may be further repeated at other offset positions in accordance with other vector angle and vector magnitude data.