How much does it cost · wire EDM
The price of a wire EDM part comes down to machine time: the cut area (contour length × thickness) divided by the material’s cutting rate, plus 40 to 60% of that time for each skim pass. RFQdecoder charges that time at €90 per hour (machine, operator and overheads included) and adds €150 of setup and programming per batch (figures published by QuoteBuddy in 2026). Scrap (non-quality) and a 5% margin are then added to the part total.
In wire EDM there is no tool pushing through the metal and there are no chips. The cost is therefore almost entirely a matter of machine time (source: QuoteBuddy, July 2026).
That time cannot be read from the contour length alone. Removal rate is measured in mm² per minute: what counts is the area the wire has to erode, that is the contour length multiplied by the cutting height. For the same contour, doubling the thickness roughly doubles the cut time (source: QuoteBuddy, July 2026).
RFQdecoder applies this rule: rough cut time = (contour length × cutting height) / rough cutting rate of the material.
The tool’s reference rates come from the table published by QuoteBuddy for a single rough pass (source: QuoteBuddy, July 2026):
The source presents these figures as approximate planning defaults, to be calibrated against each machine’s logs. Generator settings, wire type, flushing and the required edge quality all move them.
Each skim (finishing) pass re-traces the whole contour. QuoteBuddy suggests budgeting 40 to 60% of the rough-pass time per skim, as a planning figure. A part held to ±0.005 mm with a mirror finish can take three or four passes; a rough blank-out takes one (source: QuoteBuddy, July 2026).
Total time is charged at €90 per hour, the figure in QuoteBuddy’s example (source: QuoteBuddy, July 2026). This is a burdened rate: a single number per hour that absorbs the machine’s own cost, the floor space, the power, the operator and a share of the shop’s overheads (source: QuoteBuddy, July 2026). The tool counts this rate as is, without adding overheads a second time; only scrap (non-quality) and the 5% margin are added to the part total. For comparison, Altior reports €80 to €130 per hour, excluding VAT, for EDM (wire or sinker) in French mechanical subcontracting (source: Altior, June 2026).
Setup and programming (squaring and indicating the blank, fixturing, generating and proving the path, first start) are fixed per batch: €150 in QuoteBuddy’s table, an amount the tool uses. That is €150 on a single part and €3.00 per part on a batch of 50 (source: QuoteBuddy, July 2026).
Example assumptions (chosen for illustration, not taken from a source): steel part, 120 mm contour length, 20 mm thick, one skim pass, batch of 1 then batch of 10. Rate chosen for the example: 250 mm²/min, within the steel range of 180 to 320 mm²/min; it is the value in QuoteBuddy’s own worked example.
Public values used: 40 to 60% of the rough-pass time per skim pass, €90 per hour, €150 of setup and programming per batch (source: QuoteBuddy, July 2026).
These amounts exclude wire threading and start hole drilling (see below). The tool then adds scrap (non-quality) and the 5% margin to this total. With another rate from the range, the rough-pass time changes in the same proportion.
Two items are not included in the price, and the quote says so: automatic wire threading and start hole drilling.
Before the wire can be threaded into an internal feature, a start hole has to be drilled through the blank for every closed contour. Three internal windows mean three start holes, three threads and three lead-ins. QuoteBuddy adds an automatic threading time for each start point (source: QuoteBuddy, July 2026).
For a part with several internal contours, these times come on top of the displayed price. Ask the supplier for them.
Divide the cut area (contour length × cutting height) by the material’s rough cutting rate, for example 180 to 320 mm²/min for steel according to QuoteBuddy. Each skim pass adds 40 to 60% of the rough-pass time.
Because the cutting rate is an area per minute. For the same contour, doubling the thickness roughly doubles the cut time, and so the machine cost (QuoteBuddy).
RFQdecoder uses €90 per hour, fully burdened (machine, operator and overheads), the figure in QuoteBuddy’s example, and counts this rate as is: only scrap (non-quality) and the 5% margin are added to the part total. Altior reports €80 to €130 per hour, excluding VAT, for EDM (wire or sinker) in French mechanical subcontracting.
Setup and programming, €150 per batch, are fixed. They add €150 to a single part and €3.00 per part on a batch of 50 (QuoteBuddy).
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