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Difference betweeen MDM & EDM :

Metal Disintegrators or MDM machines are manufactured for the specific purpose of removing broken tools from work pieces. The metal disintegration process removes a tap, bolt or drill leaving the hole intact and allowing a part to be reclaimed.

The difference between MDM and EDM is speed, cost and accuracy. MDM removes material very fast. MDM uses a spark erosion process commonly used for destructive cutting. Typical application includes broken tool extraction (taps, drills, reamers, drill bits) metallurgical sample excavation and bolt removal. There is no faster or efficient or cost effective method to remove broken tools, studs or fasteners than MDM.

Using an EDM to remove broken tooling is possible, but it is time-consuming and has limitations. First, the part has to be small enough to fit in the dielectric fluid container. Second, an EDM machine will take hours to extract a 3/8” tap, where an MDM will take just minutes. Third, the MDM process does not require submersion of the part. Lastly, EDM machines are significantly more expensive than MDMs and tying up an expensive production machine with tooling extraction could be costly.