Where Waterjet Wins
Of all the cutting processes available today, waterjet takes first place most often, because it can cut virtually any type of material up to about 9 inches thick. There might be times when you’ll need the pinpoint accuracy of an EDM machine, but try cutting stone or glass with one, and you’ll see why waterjet wins. Perhaps you’re used to more traditional cutting machines like saws or endmills, but again they fail in creating intricate designs or cutting materials outside their narrow realm.
The following list of waterjet cutting advantages is from www.waterjets.org, where you can find lots more information on waterjet cutting.
- Cheaper than other processes.
- Cut virtually any material:
- pre hardened steel
- mild steel
- exotics like Titanium, Inconel, Hastalloy
- gummy 304 stainless
- (most steels cut at the same speed, whether hardened, or not.)
- Copper, Brass, Aluminum: They are a cinch!
- brittle materials like glass, ceramic, quartz, stone.
- laminates
- flammable materials
- Cut thin stuff, or thick stuff.
- Reduce scrap by nesting shapes.
- Make all sorts of shapes with only one tool.
- Cut wide range of thickness’ to reasonable tolerance up to 2” (50mm) thick
- Up to 5” (127mm) or thicker where tolerance not important, or in soft materials.
- No Heat Generated / No heat affected zones – this is cold cutting!
- No mechanical stresses
- Cut virtually any shape
- Fast Setup
- Only one tool to qualify / No tool changes required
- Leaves a satin smooth finish, thus reducing secondary operations
- Clean cutting process without gasses or oils
- Makes its own start holes
- Narrow kerf (0.030″) removes only a small amount of material.
- Your “scrap” metal is easier to recycle or re-use (no oily chips!)
- You can cut different sections of a part at different cut qualities (i.e. speeds) to reduce cost or increase precision.
- Can easily switch between high production, and single piece production
- No “scaley” edges, which makes it easier to make a high quality weld
- Cuts composite materials, or materials where dissimilar materials are glued together
- Can cut stacks of thin parts all at once.
