EDM ZAP Takes Aim at the Step Where Metal 3D Printing Still Loses Time and Money

Separating printed parts from their build plates is a costly bottleneck. EDM ZAP is building a wire EDM machine designed for that job alone.

MONTGOMERY, IL, UNITED STATES, October 6, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Metal additive manufacturing has spent a decade getting very good at printing. It has spent rather less time getting good at everything that happens afterwards, and the gap is expensive. Research published by Wohlers Associates in 2021, drawn from 124 service providers across 27 countries, put post-processing at nearly 27 percent of the cost of producing an additively manufactured part. EDM ZAP Parts Inc., a precision EDM manufacturer that has been building equipment in Montgomery, Illinois since 1971, is now developing a wire EDM machine aimed squarely at one of the least glamorous steps in that chain: getting finished parts off the plate they were printed on.

The step sounds trivial and is not. Parts come out of a laser powder bed fusion machine fused to a metal build plate, after days of print time and a considerable quantity of powder, and they have to be separated without being damaged. Cutting them off with a bandsaw means printing extra stock to allow for the cut, which adds build time and material before the job even starts, and it risks deformation on thin walls and on the difficult alloys that justify printing in the first place. Wire EDM avoids that because it separates the part without putting mechanical stress through it, which is why it has become the preferred route for high value work. The catch is that most shops are doing it on general purpose machines designed for die and mold work, not for plates measured in feet and parts measured in thousands of pounds.

"IMTS made it clear that additive manufacturing is an important market for us, particularly metal printing," said Mike Schober of EDM ZAP Parts Inc. "These companies use wire EDM to separate printed parts from their build plates."

EDM ZAP's response is a machine built around that single application rather than adapted to it, engineered and assembled in the United States. The design priorities come from what actually consumes time on a shop floor, which is rarely the cut itself. Build plates are heavy and awkward, and a great deal of operator time disappears into getting them into the machine, positioned, and back out again.

"Our main differentiator is fully customized solutions 100% from the USA," said Schober. "Machine sizing, cutting requirements, and easier loading and unloading, tailored to the customer's operation."

As a guide to scale, the company points to build plates of approximately 28 by 28 inches, part heights around 30 inches and part weights up to roughly 4,400 pounds. Those are reference dimensions rather than maximum limits or a fixed standard configuration, and each machine is built around the requirements of the application. Materials are kept deliberately broad, covering the electrically conductive metals used in additive manufacturing.

The credibility behind that offer is not new. EDM ZAP was founded in 1971 with a single focus, which was to build better EDM power supplies and provide better service than anyone else in the industry. It still designs, manufactures and tests its own EDM power supplies at the Montgomery facility, including the Advantage series and the E-Series built for the energy sector. The company is not a distributor and not a reseller, and the technicians who service its equipment are the same people who understand it at a component level.

That range extends across sinker and custom EDM equipment, from classic Elox, ERM, Xermac and Cincinnati platforms through to modern CNC systems, alongside machines engineered from scratch around a customer's part geometry and cycle time targets. EDM ZAP counts 100 custom engineered solutions delivered to date, with equipment serviced across five continents.

Handling is where the additive work meets the company's existing EDM automation practice. EDM ZAP integrates robotic loading, automated fixturing and full cell controls, either around equipment a customer already owns or alongside a new build. Heavy plates moved repeatedly through a predictable sequence is close to a textbook case for it.

The machine is aimed at two groups, manufacturers running metal additive in house and metal printing service companies, with aerospace and defense leading and automotive, medical and energy behind them. EDM ZAP is not publishing cutting speeds, throughput figures or accuracy claims for the machines it is developing, and its customers remain confidential under existing agreements. Engineering teams are invited to bring their plate sizes, part weights and materials to the company directly.

EDM ZAP Parts Inc. was founded in 1971 and is based in Montgomery, Illinois. The company designs, manufactures, assembles and services precision EDM equipment, power supplies, custom machines and automation cells for manufacturers in aerospace, nuclear, medical, automotive, moldmaking and forging across five continents.

Emma Sivess
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