Product cost modelling for micro-EDM drilling

The recent miniaturization of components in manufacturing has increased the production of lightweight and sophisticated systems in many different industrial fields. Micro Electro Discharge Machining (micro-EDM) is one of the most extensively used contactless and chipless machining processes. Although it is one of the most used technology, there are a few research works which investigate the economic implications of this machining. This paper reports a model cost to estimate μEDM-machining costs, including fixed and variable costs. A case study was presented taking into account micro holes on stainless steel obtained using different electrode materials. The capability of the model was demonstrated.