Waterjet Cutting
Waterjet cutting is merely an expedited manufacturing erosion process within a chosen material. Highly pressurized water is forced through a diamond or ruby nozzle into a mixing vessel.
This pressure produces a vacuum and pulls garnet sand into the stream in which it is then fired at the material in place for cutting. The sand particles “cuts” away at the material causing the result of erosion to take place at such a high speed it is considered as cutting.
This has enabled waterjet cutting to become an extremely powerful and adaptable machining process that is used in a lot of industries across the globe.
What is a Waterjet Cutter?
A waterjet cutter is industrial machinery comprised of three main parts to utilize a high-pressure jet of water for eroding a thin line through a piece of material.
Subject to the material’s compound and density like aluminum a granular abrasive is mixed into the waterjet to strengthen its cutting capacity. The abrasive is added at the nozzle so that a basic toggle between only abrasive and water cutting can be carried out.
What are the Benefits of Using Waterjet Cutting?
Waterjet cutting offers manufacturers flexibility and adaptability that is unheard of. The scope of benefits related to using waterjet cutting is what gives this technology its advantage over its competition like saw and laser cutting.
Superior Edge Quality
No other cutting technique comes close to the first-rate edge quality you are going to experience using waterjet cutting. Streamlined, uniform burr-free edges are the reasons as to why designers and manufacturers specifically choose this technique of cutting.
The first-rate edge quality is succeeded by through a blend of pressure, water speed, size of nozzle and abrasive flowrate. In a lot of cases waterjet cutting eliminates the requirement for auxiliary finishing, which is going to save a considerable amount of time and cost.
Super Accurate Interior Cutouts
Having the precise cutting of 0.1 to ±0.2mm, waterjets become the preferred tool when making interior cutouts. Custom patterns, pieces of art, unparalleled designs and logos can each be manufactured easily utilizing the waterjet cutting technique.
Material & Thickness Doesn’t Matter
The needle-sharp cutting jet comprised of a mixture of water and abrasive solution cuts through a lot of materials accessible in manufacturing. Restrictions on material thickness is going to become a thing of the past as you are able to cut materials like titanium, multi-layer materials, composite materials and hardened steels over 25mm in thickness.
No Heat Affected Zones
Heat deformities and tempered edges were a common issue faced by manufacturers prior to waterjet cutting being introduced. Cutting techniques that produced high heat were used in which produced considerable issues for workshops. One of the significant issues faced was heat zones produced within materials causing the molecular composition of that material to alter. This has auxiliary effects on the material which often resulted in warping, imprecise cuts or weak areas being produced within the material. Workshops can now do away with all of these issues by simply opting for waterjet cutting which uses a cold cutting technique.
Performance is increased because waterjet cutting allows machinists to cut different materials without switching out any tools. No need to switch nozzle heads when a new material is placed on the table, they simply adjust their feed rate to the appropriate speed to match the material type and thickness, and they are their way to making their next cut. In a lot of cases machine shops increase their cost-effectiveness as reduced time is burned by switching out tools whenever a new cut is being created.
East Valley Precision – Custom Machinery Specialists
East Valley Precision offers custom CNC Machining in the Chandler, Arizona and surrounding areas. When you need precision Waterjet Cutting, CNC machining and milling contact East Valley Precision. Call us at 480-288-6601 for more information or use our form for a quote.