This paper presents a method for determining machining parameters in 3-dimentional electrical discharge machining(EDM). The parameters are the peak value of currents, the pulse-on time, and the pulse-off time. It is known that they influence the performance of EDM more than the other else. The parameters are determined from the discharge area between a tool electrode and a work piece. The discharge area is directly influenced by the geometry of a tool surface and the tool discharge position. The discharge area on a tool discharge position is calculated from intersection curves between the tool surface and a horizontal plane. The grid search method is applied to determine the intersection curves. An example is introduced to show that the machining parameters are obtained from the surface geometry of a tool electrode.