--- title: "EDM Shops: Get RFQs for Wire, Sinker & Small-Hole Work | OpenSpindle" description: "Independent EDM shop? OpenSpindle sends RFQs most instant-quote marketplaces turn away: hardened tool steel, carbide, exotic alloys, fine detail. Free to join, no lead fees, keep your own customers." canonical: https://openspindle.com/for-shops/edm updated: 2026-08-31 --- # EDM shops: we have RFQs you don't see on instant-quote marketplaces **For: Wire, sinker & small-hole EDM shops** Spark-erosion jobs don't fit CNC price engines, so the hardened and exotic parts land in our inbox. We route them to EDM specialists set up to run them. Keep your own customers; quote the ones we send that fit. *Free to join* · *No lead fees* · *Keep your customers* ## The EDM work we are actively trying to place A sample of the RFQs we have received in the last several weeks that are hard to route to generalist shops. These are real part categories, not marketing filler. ### Wire EDM profile cuts in hardened tool steel - D2, A2, S7 and H13 at 58–62 HRC, cut to drawing after heat treat - Punches, dies, strippers, and die inserts for progressive-die shops - Qty 1–50; tolerances to ±0.0002 in on profile, ±0.0005 in true position ### Sinker EDM cavities and features in hardened steel and carbide - Mold-cavity rework, injection-mold inserts, sharp internal corners milling cannot reach - Carbide form tools, graphite electrodes burned to profile - Surface finish 8–32 Ra depending on skim passes ### Small-hole / hole-popping EDM in exotic alloys - Starter holes for wire EDM, cooling channels in mold tooling - Fuel injector and nozzle work in Inconel 718 and 625 - Holes from ⌀0.010 in to ⌀0.080 in; aspect ratios to 20:1 ### Refractory and specialty metals - Molybdenum (99.95%) and TZM electrodes and furnace hardware - Tungsten and tungsten-copper EDM for semiconductor fixturing - Shops with the ventilation, dielectric filtration, and PPE protocol to handle these If your shop regularly runs any one of these, you are the kind of shop we need to add to the network. ## What a good fit looks like You do not need every machine on this list; one or two of these means we have RFQs we would send you this month. - **Wire EDM:** Submerged or open-tank, 4-axis capability for tapered cuts, auto-threading preferred. - **Sinker (ram) EDM:** Graphite or copper electrode capability, servo-controlled Z, in-house electrode milling or a trusted graphite partner. - **Small-hole / hole-popping EDM:** Starter-hole machine for tool-steel and carbide, deep-hole work in exotic alloys. - **Secondary ops in-house:** Grinding, polishing, recast-layer removal, stress relief. Not required, but faster turns on complete parts. - **Materials experience:** Hardened tool steels (D2, A2, S7, H13), carbide, Inconel, titanium, copper and copper tungsten. Moly, TZM, or tungsten a plus. - **Shop certifications:** ISO 9001 is enough for most jobs. AS9100 or NADCAP opens aerospace EDM work; ITAR registration opens defense. ## What you get - **Free to join:** No subscription. No per-RFQ fee. We do not take a cut of your quote; the customer pays us. - **Quote-ready RFQs:** CAD files, drawings when the customer has them, hardness, tolerance, surface finish, and the date they need parts. Not a lead form. - **You price it:** Your price, your lead time, your terms. Skip anything that is not a fit without penalty. - **Payment protection:** The customer pays OpenSpindle up front. You get paid on your schedule, not theirs. - **Keep your own customers:** We do not call your existing accounts. The customers we bring you are new to your shop. - **DFM credit where you want it:** If you review designs and suggest changes to cost or lead time, flag DFM review on your profile and we bring you in on those projects. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### Will I lose my own customers to OpenSpindle? No. We do not solicit your existing accounts and we do not insert ourselves between you and work you already have. The RFQs we send are from hardware teams and buyers who found us, not from your book of business. ### Do I have to use your shop-management software? No. The RFQ work is independent of our shop software. You can run your shop however you run it today and still quote on OpenSpindle RFQs. ### What happens when I am slammed and cannot take more work? You skip the RFQ or quote the lead time you can actually hit. We would rather send you three jobs that fit than ten you have to turn down. ### Who pays for the material? You source and purchase the material (we can usually tell you the condition and quantity up front so you can quote it in). The customer pays OpenSpindle before you release the job to production, so you are not fronting material for an unpaid order. ### How is this different from Xometry, Protolabs, or Hubs? They are instant-quote engines; most won't price a hardened-steel wire-EDM job or a moly sinker job because the engine cannot. The customer bounces, finds us, and we route the job to a specialist. You see the actual customer, the drawing, and the real spec, not an algorithm's guess. ### What about hazardous materials like moly, beryllium copper, or tungsten? We only route refractory and hazardous-material jobs to shops that tell us they are set up to handle them (ventilation, dielectric filtration, PPE protocol, waste handling). If you have that setup, say so on your profile and we send those jobs to you. ## Where the RFQs come from - [EDM & Wire EDM capability page](https://openspindle.com/capabilities/edm.md) -- Buyer-facing landing page where EDM RFQs originate. - [Precision Grinding](https://openspindle.com/capabilities/precision-grinding.md) -- Often requested alongside EDM for finished punches and die inserts. - [Inconel / Nickel Superalloys](https://openspindle.com/materials/inconel.md) -- Buyers landing here routinely need wire or hole-popping EDM. - [Carbon & Alloy Steel](https://openspindle.com/materials/carbon-steel.md) -- Hardened D2, A2, S7, and H13 tool steel RFQs land here. - [Aerospace & Defense](https://openspindle.com/industries/aerospace-defense.md) -- EDM-heavy tooling for turbine, injector, and defense parts. - [Medical Devices](https://openspindle.com/industries/medical-devices.md) -- Wire EDM on implant tooling and surgical instrument components. ## Ready to see the next EDM RFQ that comes in? Sign up as a shop partner, tell us which EDM capabilities you run, and we send you projects that match the day they come in. [Apply as a shop partner](https://openspindle.com/apply.md)