The use of EDM in the manufacture of dies both for blanking and drawing is facilitated by the use of a continuous wire (0.050.2mm dia.) electrode, together with kinematic profiling. The wire, which constitutes the tool electrode, is fed by a spool and rewind mechanism, normally perpendicular to the surface of the workpiece. Only the wire diameter plus the overcut is eroded, and hence the total amount of material removed is much lower than with conventional EDM. The path traced by the wire can be numerically controlled, thus conferring all the advantages of direct programming of shapes, and avoiding the normal necessity for pre-shaping of electrodes. The shapes produced must however be essentially two-dimensional.

Sink EDM is a spark erosion process between two conducting surfaces immersed in a dielectric fluid, with the eroded area taking the opposite shape of the electrode. Mostly, the electrode material is made of copper and graphite. Using sink EDM machine can obtain the shape that wire-cut EDM can't produce. Sink EDM can machine the through holes, blind holes as weel as the under cuts.