Ebbco Inc., The Company

BEHIND

The EDM Machines

The Company "behind" the EDM Machines.  Dielectric conditioning equipment is almost always located behind the EDM machine, and to date, Ebbco equipment such as this, is in daily use on over 4,500 EDM machines.

Within the EDM industry, there are many different machines.  Different types, such as Sinker, Wire, and Small Hole, along with many different manufacturers, both local and worldwide.  One common thread however, is that ever y EDM Machine, regardless of the type or brand name, employs a dielectric fluid.  This fluid requires constant conditioning for the EDM process to function properly.

A partial view of the manufacturing area shows work in progress, along with finished products ready for delivery in the background.

Over the years, countless improvements have been made to EDM machines, and today, they practically run themselves.  With CNC controls that can almost think, they select the proper settings with just a minimum of operator input, and can take action when problems occur.  They actually pick up the workpiece position, determine the parameters to be used on the various cuts, and end up with the correct finished size, and the surface finish that was pre-selected. No doubt about it, with auto threading, anti-electrolysis power supplies, sophisticated controls that ensure maximum speed with accuracy, and programming systems that are knowledge based, today's EDM Machines truly have the ability to run around the clock.

An All Important Requirement

However, in spite of all the improvements that have been made, one requirement remains, just as important as it was on the very first EDM Machine, and that is the proper conditioning of the dielectric fluid.  And the simple fact is, if that requirement is not met, even the most sophisticated machine will produce unacceptable work, and will soon come to an abrupt halt.

One company that recognized this fact early on, has been busy developing innovative products that can efficiently condition the dielectric fluid in every respect, and that company is Ebbco Inc.  We recently had the pleasure of visiting their brand new facility in Chesterfield Michigan, where we talked with Ed Bourgeois, their President.  We wanted to find out the story behind Ebbco's growth and recent expansion.

Ed explained, that back in 1983, along with his wife and father-in-law, he started Ebbco, Inc. in a 2,000 sq.ft. leased building.   The fledging company focused on process filtration , and their initial market was the Metalworking industries in Michigan, principally in, and around Detroit.  It was hard work, and the growth was slow, however, after one year they hired a salesman, Bob Porritt, and they soon "discovered" an expanding market that Ebbco could grow along with - That market was EDM!

Filtration of the Dielectric

Providing replacement filter cartridges for all the many Japax EDMs in the Detroit area was Ebbco's entry into the EDM market.   By aligning themselves with Harmsco, a filter manufacturing company, they were able to provide the EDM users with a cleanable polyester cartridge that would not deteriorate in water, at a competitive price, with off-the-shelf delivery.  The resulting sales bolstered the new company, and other EDM Machines were searched out.  However, rather than build different cartridges for each machine, Harmsco suggested that they design and build a high-efficiency, high capacity filtration unit that would adapt to any EDM Machine - and Ebbco agreed.  This successful endeavor was a much more ambitious project, that required a major sales effort and a large capital investment.  However, the result of this decision is reflected in the success of the Ebbco Company we see here today.

Beyond Filtration

The next area of EDM dielectric conditioning that Ebbco entered was deionizing the water.  The dissolved solids in the dielectric water are removed by passing the water through a vessel containing a mixture of specially charged resin beads.  Working with Harmsco, a newly designed unit was manufactured, that was able to increase the capacity and the life of the DI resin.  This new unit was also designed to make it convenient to replace the resin, but more importantly, to regenerate the spent resin, rather than discarding it.  Ebbco instituted a convenient system for EDM users to have their spent resin recycled, thus saving money, while being environmentally responsible.

Ed Bourgeois told us that today, regeneration is an extremely popular method of handling spent resin.  He explained that in the past, regenerated resin was not universally accepted, because it typically had a shorter life than new resin, however, this is no longer the case.  At first, the resin was being regenerated by small local companies that were not familiar with resins used by the metalworking industries.  As a result, they did not clean it properly before the regeneration process.  By not removing all the dirt from the resin beads, the capacity was lessened by as much as 50%.  Today however, EDM resin is processed by industrial regeneration companies, and is thoroughly cleaned.  Ed told us that regenerated resin has the same life, and in some cases, a longer life than new resin.   The bottom line is, if you are discarding your spent EDM resin, you are wasting a valuable resource, and are not being environmentally responsible.

A variety of units, some of them including storage tanks, are complete and ready for packaging and shipment to OEM Machine Manufacturers.  Several different EDM Manufacturers use specially designed Ebbco dielectric conditioning units, as standard equipment on all of their machines.

Ozone Treatment of the DI Water

Another area of concern is organic build-up in the dielectric water.  This sometimes occurs, and it can cause several problems.   When bacteria laden water is pumped through a filter or resin bed, it coats the surfaces with a type of slime which causes premature failure of the filter elements and the resin.   The filters appear to be generally clean, but they shut down after just a few hours of service.  A slippery feeling to the inside of the tank walls is evidence of a bacteria problem.  Adding a biocide to the water would correct the problem, however, it would also alter its conductivity and render it useless as a dielectric.  In order to eliminate the bacteria, Ebbco now offers and ozone generator to inject this oxidizing agent into the water, thus easily solving the bacteria problem, without disturbing the conductivity of the dielectric water.

Temperature Control

Since EDM is a heat generating process, the dielectric fluid acts as a coolant, to maintain constant temperature of both the machine tool and the workpiece.  In order to obtain the close tolerances that today's EDM Machines are built for, it is important to closely control the temperature of the dielectric fluid.  This is accomplished by circulating the dielectric through a thermostatically controlled liquid chiller.  This is yet another method of conditioning the dielectric fluid that Ebbco provides a ready solution for.  Their latest addition is a line of liquid chillers that are suitable for use on any type or style of EDM Machine.

To sum it up, Filtration, Deionizing, Ozone Treatment, and Temperature control, are the four processes that Ebbco utilizes for the treatment of dielectric water.  Dielectric oil only requires two of them, Filtration and Temperature control.

The Future for Ebbco Inc.

Ebbco is experiencing a healthy growth on existing equipment, along with expansion because of new products.  The new building was designed with ample room to allow the doubling or tripling of sales over the next several years.

An exciting new product that is undergoing final testing is permanent media filtration that is fully automatic, and does not require replacement of cartridges.  They are confident that this unit will be fully tested and on-line by early 1997.  Ed pointed out that Wire EDM Machines are running faster, and because of new control features, a large percentage of them run around-the-clock.   This calls for more efficient dielectric conditioning to keep up with the increased through-put of work.  The fully automatic, permanent media filter will help provide that much needed increase in efficiency.

In addition to EDM, Ebbco also designs and builds equipment for conditioning fluids for other metalworking industries, and is experiencing healthy growth in these markets.  Their latest product in that area, is a high pressure filtering and delivery system for through-the-tool coolant.  It delivers conditioned coolant through a small hole in the cutting tool, at 1000 PSI.   When you consider all the innovative products that Ebbco has developed over the past 13 years, there can be no doubt that their future is secure.