Waterjet Cutting Archives - East Valley Precision

Have you ever noticed gorgeous stone countertops in kitchens or greatly machined metal parts in car engines? Presently, all the parts that require high-quality finishing and precision cutting are created with waterjet cutting technologies.

What are the Benefits of Waterjet Cutting Technology?

If you were to read the waterjet cutting process is greater than any other cutting technique, it wouldn’t be an overstatement or an exaggeration. The following are only some of the benefits that the waterjet cutting technique provides:

1. Superior Edge Quality

One of the significant reasons that professionals select waterjet cutting is because of the quality of edge it offers. Waterjet cutting is carried out by striking a very minute stream of water on the workpiece. Meaning, there aren’t any metal cutters grinding against workpieces. Leading to a clean, finished look and an exceptional edge quality.

2. Efficient

A lot of people don’t know this concerning waterjet cutting- you are able to cut multiple layers of material simultaneously by placing them on top of each other. This method is called stacking, and it makes waterjet cutting more effective than any other cutting method.

3. No Thickness Limitation

Conventional cutting methods have a restriction on the thickness of material that you can cut. Nevertheless, with waterjet cutting, there aren’t any restrictions. It is surprising to know that in particular mining implementations, waterjet cutting is used to cut one hundred plus feet of material thickness.

4. Better Accuracy, Low Cutting Tolerances

Cutting tolerance is the change in the position of the cutting method from the planned cut. Basically, cutting tolerance is going to dictate how precise (or how imprecise) the cutting method is. The lower the tolerance, the higher the precision of the cut. Waterjet cutting comes with one of the lowest tolerances there are. A significant reason for this is that the cutting action is reached through a very minute stream of water. One other significant reason is because waterjet cutting is a cold cutting method, there is no melting away of materials.

5. Multiple Cut Shapes

Using waterjet cutting, you aren’t restricted to cutting in straight lines. You can produce several cut shapes in the material in addition to the common straight-line cuts. Some waterjet cutters even come with a variety of free software with a lot of various preinstalled cut shapes.

6. Multi-axis Cutting

In addition to offering various cut shapes, waterjet cutting is additionally a 5-axis cutting technique. With good waterjet cutters, you are able to cut into 5 different axes. Helping to create intricate parts like small components for engines. 5-axis waterjet cutting is above and beyond the traditional 3-axis technologies because of a number of benefits like adaptability, cutting speed, and less hands-on labor required.

7. No Heat Impacted Zones

As aforementioned, waterjet cutting is a cold cutting technique, so there is no temperature increase at the cutting points. With temperature increase, the formation of heat-impacted zones takes place in which the features of the material at the cut location change considerably.

8. Consistent Tooling

Using waterjet cutting, there isn’t a requirement to change out your tooling when inserting a new workpiece or possibly a new material. With new workpieces using the same material, you aren’t required to switch any settings. For newer materials, you are able to adjust the settings using the software.

9. Material Integrity

Because waterjet cutting creates no heat-impacts zone, it retains the integrity of the material throughout the workpiece. The chemical and physical attributes of the workpiece material are going to be the same in the cut area as it is elsewhere.

10. No Secondary Finishing Requirement

Waterjet cutting is going to leave no visible staining on the material and has a high finish. Consequently, there is no additional finishing for the workpiece required.

11. Eco Friendly

Waterjet cutting is guided by a closed-loop process in which all the water that is used for the cutting is recycled in the process itself. The metal being cut is strained through the water and sold as scrap. Consequently, it is a very eco-friendly method.

12. Range of Supported Materials

Waterjet cutters can cut through literally just about any material. This is very a unique benefit of the waterjet cutting process. A lot of the other cutting methods are applied to cutting just metals. Nevertheless, waterjet cutting is able to cut through even glass, wood, or any other type of material.

East Valley Precision – Custom Machinery Specialists

East Valley Precision offers custom waterjet cutting in the Chandler, Arizona and surrounding areas. When you need precision CNC machining and milling contact East Valley Precision. Call us at 480-288-6601 for more information or use our form for a quote.

Materials That Abrasive Waterjets Can Cut

Abrasive waterjets cut with an accelerated stream of water blended with particulates of an abrasive, typically garnet. The width of the cut, or kerf, is usually 0.030” to 0.050” (0.75mm to 1.25mm). Abrasive waterjets can cut just about any solid materials, like:

Metals—all kinds and solidity

Natural materials— ceramic, stone, glass, wood

Mand made materials— hard rubbers, carbon fiber, fiberglass, composites, plastics

Laminates—bi-metals, stacked layers of material

Waterjet cutting speed is conversely associated with material hardness. Generally, the more solid a material is, the slower a waterjet is going to cut it. To begin a cut, a waterjet typically punctures a hole in the material. When cutting embrittled materials such as stone or glass, the puncture is carried out at a lower pressure to avoid fracturing the material.

Materials That Pure Waterjets Can Cut

Pure waterjets are utilized for cutting materials that are soft enough to be cut using a knife. This kind of waterjets cut with a minute, high-speed jet of water only—no abrasives. The width of the cut is typically 0.010” to 0.020” (0.25mm to 0.5mm). Pure waterjets are able to cut softer materials like:

Foams, soft rubber, some polymers

Textiles, leather, carpet

Paper goods

Foods— candy bars, vegetables, meat, etc.

This kind of waterjet cutting is quick, it uses decreased water and power, and it contains no abrasive. Anytime pure waterjet cutting is appropriate, it is favored over abrasive waterjet cutting.

Materials That Waterjets Cannot Cut

This list is short. Tempered glass cannot be cut due to its internal tension. It shatters itself as a cut goes over its tension zones. To cut successfully, waterjets are required to use abrasives that are harder than the material that is going to be cut. Consequently, harder ceramics can only be cut with special abrasives like aluminum oxide and silicon carbide. Diamonds cannot be cut successfully with waterjets since there simply is no abrasive that is harder than diamonds.

Thickness Range of Waterjet Cutting

Waterjets can cut an exceedingly wide range of thicknesses. There is no limitation on the maximum thickness that could be cut in hard, uniform materials such as metals. Waterjets are one of the few techniques that can cut metals over twelve inches in thickness. Nevertheless, waterjets are more restricted when cutting thick, uneven materials such as stone since the differences in density causes the water stream to undulate. Waterjets are also excellent at cutting thinner materials since multiple sheets can be stacked without forfeiting quality. For instance, a stack of one-hundred sheets of 0.127 millimeters thick spacer stock cuts at precisely the same speed as one, half inch thick plate.