We’re following up on the original article 10 ways you can use Electro Arc Metal Disintegrators with 10 more ways you can use these metal disintegrating machines! Electro Arc metal disintegrators are designed to quickly remove broken taps, drills, reamers, studs, screws, and other broken tooling from any material without damaging the threads or the workpiece. You can also emboss identifying marks on tools, dies, steel tools, cut oil groves inside bushings. Undercut recesses in hard machine parts, cut tool bit holes in boring bars, cut dogging squares, extend oil lines, and recenter hardened shafts. Check out additional applications illustrated below!
Your die shop can disintegrate round holes for dowel pins in die plates and cut intricate shapes for slug clearance in die shoes. You can salvage piercing dies where the piercing hole has been damaged or enlarged through wear and resharpening. Use the Electro Arc metal disintegrator to cut larger holes for inserting soft plugs so that locations may be picked up and soft plugs rebored for standard hardened die bushings. Disintegrate new holes in your die-casting dies where there has been insufficient coolant circulation. Emboss identifying letters on punch heads, minimizing the stock of heading punches you need to carry.
Your metal disintegrator will help you quickly and easily correct machining errors as shown above.
Use your Electro Arc metal disintegrator to relieve the bulk of metal in die sinking to keep displacement of metal to a minimum in hobbling the master.
Drill holes as small as .080 inches
Keyways are quickly and easily cut and enlarged in cutters, gears, bushings, etc.
With any angle access, create solutions for your engineering challenges.
Use your Electro Arc disintegrator to identify various metals in wear tests by disintegrating marks with different-shaped electrodes. You can core out test samples this way.
Cemented tungsten carbide can be drilled and counterbored for any size Allen head cap screw.
Also, provide threaded holes in carbides by disintegrating a hole of approximate size, fill it with brazing material, and drill and tap the hole to give it stronger threads with minimal time and investment.
Pierce blind holes and shaped holes in carbide and any material that conducts electricity.
The disintegrating process has a rapid heating and cooling process which leaves the Rockwell Hardness of the metal around the hole unchanged. Special electrodes can be purchased to pierce blind or through holes at any angle.
Electro Arc is the original manufacturer of Metal Disintegrators based in Michigan. The company’s founder, Harold Stark patented the AC metal disintegration process in 1942 and opened Electro Arc’s doors in 1947. Stillion Industries purchased Electro Arc in 2019 and carries on the quality name that Electro Arc metal disintegrators have become synonymous with.
Electro Arc Metal Disintegrators Last a Lifetime
You can see one of Electro Arc’s original paper promotions above, featuring the following models:
Model 2-S – Still one of our most popular portable models! This basic metal disintegrator now features our Arc-er Head and portable design which make it perfect for use in small shops.
1-S (See below) – The model 1-S was the largest table top metal disintegrator offered by Electro Arc initially.
2-SA – The model 2-SA was one of the first tabletop metal disintegrators offered by Electro Arc. This self-contained unit is great for high production plants and tool shops.
3-S – The model 3-S originally offered with no built-in coolant tank offers great portability for use in confined spaces.
Not shown on this flyer, the Carbide Impregnator was another flagship product Electro Arc was known for between the 1940s and 1970s. Electro Arc is the original and best manufacturer of metal disintegrators in the world. Our machines are known for their durability and long-lasting design. Now among over 40 configurations available, we are confident you will find an Electro Arc metal disintegrator is still the best value for your application!
The location and contact information is NOT correct in this vintage promotion
Over 75 Years of Michigan Manufacturing
As you can see, the original disintegrating head is different than our current Arc-er, IQ, and Servo disintegrating heads. The features of Electro Arc metal disintegrators are the same great features allowing anyone to use our machines. Electro Arc Metal Disintegrators have castors, the choice of AC or DC, and portable or tabletop, including the option to order a custom table top size. Most models allow you to choose your KVA power rating. Additional features include support options, head options, remote start/stop, and more!
In 2004, Electro Arc purchased Uni-Tek and integrated DC metal disintegrators into our product line. Our most powerful machine, the Bolt Eater represents the heavy-duty application of metal disintegration with both portability and the power to remove large bolts!
Stillion Industries is proud to carry on the Electro Arc Metal Disintegrator legacy in Dexter Michigan! We continue to improve the metal disintegrator design and offer repair and refurbishing services for old machines. Learn more about Electro Arc’s history.
Electro Arc manufactures a full line of metal disintegrators both large and small, portables, table tops, AC and DC power supplies, and custom configurations to fit every application. Our AC power supply is ideally suited for hardened materials such as high-speed tooling. The DC power supply is superior at removing carbide tooling. We have multiple power supplies for removing taps as small as 0-80, and up to bolts/studs over 4” diameter in one pass. Our disintegrators are 10 times faster than other disintegrator manufacturers and are easy to operate.
You will find any of our small portable tap removers are far superior to the competitor. Our machines are built to last!
Supplies and Accessories The right consumables and add-ons
We can remove any type of metallic tooling, such as carbide or hardened steels, or any conductive metal part. Each of our metal disintegrators can use large-diameter electrodes. Our molybdenum (moly) electrodes have a higher melting point, which means you use less of an electrode in the process.
Our disintegrators come with everything you need to operate the machine including a coolant tank, pump, and motor plus free starter set of electrodes and collets. We offer portable magnetic base fixtures that use powerful permanent magnets for secure holding power.
All machines (including tabletop models) are built with cabinet-mounted wheels, handles, and/or usually lift eye rings for easy portability. To optimize portability, Electro Arc has put our disintegrators on heavy-duty trolleys. Everything you need goes with you in one convenient, easy-to-move cart, this includes a power supply, coolant tank, magnetic fixture, remote control, and lockable toolbox for storing electrodes and accessories for everything the operator will need on the job.
We offer multiple disintegrating heads available from small portable to larger heavy-duty heads with auto feed, servo feed, and manual feed options. Our disintegrating heads have been designed to handle the smallest and largest electrode. Our “in the quill head” or IQ delivers the precision and performance needed for small tap extraction to large turbine bolt removal. The Electro Arc head assembly is servo motor driven, hard-chrome finished quill and precision ground rack-and-pinion system. The Quill rides on the precision-honed bronze bushing, keeping .002” TOR tolerance. This provides smooth, positive, and accurate head feed. This is an exceptionally robust and accurate system that will provide a lifetime of trouble-free service. All our disintegrating heads can operate in any direction, including inverted or horizontal. All of our disintegrators come with a complete coolant system including a pump and motor and there is no need for a separate bath. Our disintegrators do not use an EDM dielectric fluid.
No need to submerse a part in dielectric fluid. Coolant is pumped through the head, and electrode directly to the point of disintegration, preventing heat distortion of your part, and also flushes disintegrated particles, which maximizes efficiency. We are the preeminent manufacturer of metal disintegrators. We have been building and designing easy-to-use, operator-friendly machines longer than any manufacturer in the world. All our machines are simple to operate, including easy to read current monitor/ammeter and no other gauges that need to be monitored.
Our disintegrators do not require an experienced operator. A competitor’s machine has warning indicators, pressure gauges, and several adjustments for the operator during and after the disintegrating process that are unnecessary and make operation more complex. Electro Arc has taken all these unnecessary problems and engineered the disintegrator to be worry-free. All our machines are high quality manufactured with warranties.
We have the ability to custom engineer machines for special purposes. Machines can be built to operate on nearly any input voltage. Machines can be CE or CSA-certified. Readily available parts and service to keep your machine operating for many years. Experienced staff provides the best-recommended solution and service for your individual needs.
All new machines include a minimum 1-year warranty. We do not use pneumatically (air) driven disintegrating heads, nor a mechanical swivel joint. Air is compressible and because air is compressible, it does not provide the kind of direct, mechanically positive characteristics of an electro-mechanical system. Therefore, the pneumatic system is prone to variations in either air pressure or coolant pressure. These variations in pressure cause the head movement to be erratic and choppy with less precision. Pneumatic systems are also prone to corrosion and other problems due to ingress of foreign particles and moisture. Electro Arc’s electro-mechanical system has none of these problems or exposures. We have an optional remote control with a start/stop or a remote that has all the machine controls. The operator should not have to fiddle around with adjustments to efficiently run the disintegrator.
We also have fixtures including a 3,000-pound permanent magnetic base which secures our rigid column and cross-arm. These hard chromed steel slides offer years of trouble-free service and there are no mechanical adjustments to make. One of our competitors uses an adjustable coolant pump with an alarm that alerts the operator if coolant pressure becomes dangerously high. The alarm gives the operator a chance to make pump adjustments before system failure. Electro Arc uses a factory-set pressure regulator, thereby eliminating the possibility of operator error with respect to the coolant pressure. Electro Arc (EA) machines do have an indicator light alerting the operator to any potential low coolant level.
A competitor’s machine has 8 axes of movement. Electro Arc’s machines has 7 axes of movement. Electro Arc’s machine positioning capability within the machine’s working envelope is identical to that of our competitor. Therefore, 8 machine movements are superfluous – adding the additional movement to machine complexity offers no functional reason, with more that can go wrong. We very much appreciate your consideration, and again, we believe that a thoughtful comparison of the disintegrators demonstrates that Electro Arc provides more value.
