Wire erosion in particular allows even the smallest inner radii of milling head systems, end mills or bell tools to be precisely sharpened. The VPulse 500 has found its new home at the Mapal PCD Tools Competence Center in Pforzheim. There it is used together with other Vollmer machines to manufacture or repair innovative PCD cutting tools.

It was 20 years ago that the PCD Tools Competence Center, then still known as WWS, ordered its first wire EDM machine from Vollmer. Since then, thanks in part to Vollmer technology and an intensive partnership with the machine manufacturer, the company has continuously developed its diamond tools.

Swabian partnership

Together, the two companies took advantage of the spirit of optimism surrounding PCD at the time and are now pioneers in this field. Due to their shared history, it was a special moment at the TDZ (Technology Service Center) in Biberach when the VPulse 500 wire EDM machine was ceremoniously handed over from Vollmer to the Mapal Competence Center. Not only because it is the 100th EDM machine, but also because three people who have stood for the partnership between the two companies for decades were present at the handover: In addition to Werner Stief, the founder of WWS and former Managing Director after the takeover by Mapal, Lothar Reinhardt (Head of Strategic Market Development at the Vollmer Group) and Sieglinde Vollmer were also present at the TDZ. The latter is a trustee of the Sieglinde Vollmer Foundation, a member of the Supervisory Board of Vollmer Werke and the daughter of company founder Heinrich Vollmer.

VPulse 500: EDM technology of the future

Wire EDM is particularly suitable for PCD tools that consist of complex geometries, such as those produced daily at Mapal. Every year, 110,000 PCD tools are manufactured or repaired at the Pforzheim site alone, and around 150,000 worldwide. Mapal has Vollmer wire-cutting machines at 13 international sites, including in the USA, China, Japan, Italy and France. The recently handed over VPulse 500 is equipped with a new erosion generator and advanced technology which, in addition to precise tool machining, also enables production from batch size 1 to large quantities. The modern machine kinematics ensure high profile accuracy, not only in production but also in maintenance.

"It's not every day that we are able to hand over the 100th machine to one of our customers, so the handover of the VPulse 500 to Mapal is a special event for us," says Dr. Stefan Brand, Managing Director of the Vollmer Group. "We have been closely associated with Mapal for years, and the customer-supplier relationship has developed into an intensive partnership." cs