There are many types of EDM tooling.
3R EDM tooling is one of the most popular, and one of the most expensive. I love everything about it except the price, To make plastic molds you must use EDM tooling
3R tooling has more options available than the other choices. They have the old standard of the 20mm round holders, 3R junior for small electrodes, 3R macro for larger electrodes, and 3R Refix. 3R makes adapters available so that you can run just about any combination of these on your system.
We have some older EDM machines that are based on the 20mm round system. To accommodate the older machines for productivity with our newer machines that are 3R combi (both junior and macro) we have adapters that make our 20mm holders fit the new junior or macro line.
3R has premounted electrodes available. The ones for the 3R Junior are competitively priced if you allow real shop rates for the time spent mounting your own carbon. We use the premounted carbon and mount our own carbon. We machine our own small carbon mounts in bulk from 2 ½” x 12” x 12” blocks of carbon. We make up our one useful predefined sizes, machine all of the mounting holes in the base block, with each block engraved with the carbon grade and machined grooves around it showing where to saw. This makes it easy and efficient to saw the block up into small electrodes. Then we just put them in a box along side the premounted carbon. When a moldmaker needs an electrode, he just opens the drawer and decides if the premount sizes, or our premade electrodes chucks are adequate for his needs. This makes quick work of the “getting ready to work” portion of EDMing.
The 3R Refix EDM tooling line, in my opinion, is more suited to making large quantities of the same electrode, and robotic loading, which we do not do. We make 3 or 4 of each electrode, not 20 or 30. The advantage of the 3R Refix line is that you do not need set up blocks to hold each electrode you are machining. The 3R Refix line is held on a plate with special spring dowels. Since the machining blocks to hold electrodes while machining are each in the $2500 and up range, it adds up quickly to provide every moldmaker with two or three of these of his own. The problem is the machining plate to hold the Refix base inserts is also expensive.So, make the decision based upon the number of employees you would need to outfit with the various tooling equipment. If 3R is your choice visit https://www.plasticmold.net/
Erowa makes a very nice line of EDM tooling. It is in the same price range as 3R but does not have as much variety of styles of holders. Their quality is excellent, so if a bargain presented itself, it might be a good choice. Right now, Erowa is really pushing forward on robot assisted tooling. So if robots are where you are headed, evaluate them at
SINCERE TECH
Square one by Sunspot is yet another choice. Again, their quality is excellent. Their pricing is attractive in comparison to 3R or Erowa. We have an adapter to use them on our EDM machines that are also 20mm. They have a good assortment of holder style to meet many needs. A nice thing about Sunspot is that they sell all three brands, so you can evaluate pricing of all three without surfing around a lot at SINCERE TECH,EMD tooling can make any type of plastic molds for the molded parts, no matter you need abs injection molding, pp, pc, or pmma injectioin molding, there are same and need EDM tooling manufacturing for the molds
So, as you can see from my ramblings, all three of these manufacturers make quality EDM tooling products. The requirements of your shop will help you make the final decision. Just remember that when you buy a new EDM machine, consider which brand you want on it BEFORE you order. It is a lot of work to properly change the head on your machine after the fact and have it work seamlessly with your tool changer. Spend several hours evaluating and then negotiate a discount on tooling purchased at the same time as your machine. If you already have one of these brands, shop the sales and auctions for near new tooling. Don’t buy anything that “looks” used. Abused tooling won’t hold tolerances and will cost you much more than just throwing it away or reselling it and admitting you made a mistake.