Waterjet cutting is simply an accelerated erosion process within a selected material. Highly pressurised water is fired through a ruby or diamond nozzle into a mixing chamber. This pressure creates a vacuum and draws garnet sand into the stream where it is then fired at the object in place for cutting. The sand particles eat away at the material causing the effect of erosion to take place at such a high speed it is deemed as cutting. This has allowed waterjet cutting to become an extremely powerful and versatile tool that is used in many industries around the world.
What is a Waterjet Cutter?
- X-Y Traverse System: An X-Y motion system-controlled arm allows the nozzle to be accurately moved to create the desired cutting path.
- The Controller: All our machines are managed by software for all system operations, motion control and nozzle positioning to give you extreme accuracy when cutting.
- The Table: A robust, sturdy powder coated mild steel construction with replaceable galvanized metal slats for increased longevity.
- Abrasive Waterjet Nozzle: Inside the nozzle the pressurized water passes through the small orifice and forms the linear jet of water. The jet then passes through a venturi section where a measured amount of granular abrasive is drawn into the water stream. The mixture of both water and abrasive particles passes through a special ceramic mixing and the resulting mixture exits the nozzle at a high speed allowing the particles to cut through the material.
- Articulated Cutting Head: Slimline design and incredibly tight tolerances make Tech-Head the best choice for steep angle cutting.
- Abrasive Hopper: The abrasive hopper and associated abrasive flow control system provide a measure flow of granular abrasive to the nozzle.
- Catcher Tank: The water filled catcher tank dissipates the energy of the abrasive jet after it has cut through the material being machined.
- The Pump: Our Quantum NXT pumps provide pressurised water for the cutting process to take place. The extremely measured control of pressure generated from our pumps allows for a smooth and stable cut eliminating pressure spikes in the process.
What are the Benefits of Using Waterjet Cutting?
Waterjet cutting offers manufacturers with versatility and flexibility like no other. The range of benefits associated with using waterjet cutting is what gives this technology its edge over its competition such as laser and saw cutting.
Superior Edge Quality
No other cutting method comes close to the superior edge quality you will experience using waterjet cutting. Smooth, uniform burr-free edges are the reasons as to why designers and manufacturers specifically choose this method of cutting.
The superior edge quality is achieved by using a combination of water speed, pressure, nozzle size and abrasive flow rate. In many cases waterjet cutting eliminates the need for secondary finishing, which saves a substantial amount of time, cost and improves the efficiency within your production line.
Gain Efficiency & Save On Cost in Your Workshop
Waterjet cutting is becoming one of the most cost-effective solutions on the market because it is a cold cutting process. Alternative hot cutting techniques face the likelihood of their parts/fittings experiencing heat zones which often cause the parts to warp making them inaccurate and unusable. Waterjet overcomes this quite easily with its cold cutting process so that chances of you throwing away material will virtually become non-existent.
Time and efficiency in your workshop will improve due to the fact that waterjet cutting requires little edge treatment or secondary finishing after the cut is made. This means you are able to make a start onto your next cut or project whilst others who use alternative cutting methods are still wasting time and resources refining their edges.
Super Accurate Internal Cut-outs
With the cutting accuracy of ±0.1 to ±0.2mm, Waterjets become the tool of choice when making internal cut outs. Artwork, custom patterns, unique designs and logos can all be manufactured easily using the waterjet cutting process. This gives your business the ability to provide a greater service to your customers.
Material & Thickness Don’t Matter When Using A Waterjet Cutting Machine
The needle-sharp cutting stream made up of a mixture of water and abrasive solution cuts through most materials available in manufacturing. Restraints on material thickness will become a thing of the past as you are able to cut products such as aluminium, multi-layer materials, composites and hardened steels over 25mm thick.
No Heat Affected Zones
Heat distortion and hardened edges were a common problem faced by manufacturers before waterjet cutting was introduced. Cutting processes that generated high heat were used which created significant problems for workshops. One of the major problems faced was heat zones being created within materials which causes the molecular structure of that material to change. This has secondary effects on the material which often led to warping, inaccurate cuts or weak points being created within the material. Workshops can now eliminate all of these problems by simply choosing waterjet cutting which uses a cold cutting process.
No Tool Changes Required
Operating efficiency is improved because waterjet cutting allows you to cut different materials without changing any tools. No need to change nozzle heads when a new material is placed on the table, just simply adjust your feed rate to the appropriate speed to match the material type and thickness and you are on your way to making your next cut. In many cases workshops improve their profitability as less time is wasted changing tools whenever a new cut is being made.
What Materials Can Be Cut?
Waterjet cutting is becoming more popular around the world because of the versatility and the benefits it can provide to a wide range of industries. Learn about the range of waterjet applications that this cutting process can provide to your industry, business or production line.
Stone & Tiles
With its ability to easily cut to size, mitre edges, cut sinks and make tap holes in one operation, waterjet is becoming an all in one solution to kitchen and benchtop manufacturers.
The wet cutting process eliminates the risk of inaccurate cuts, dust emissions, heat zones and burnt edges so that benchtops can be manufactured right the first time. A full range of products can be cut quickly such as reconstituted engineered stone, porcelain, marble and granite meaning bottlenecks within products are no longer experienced.
Glass
Waterjet cutting has become an extremely fast process when cutting glass compared to traditional methods. It is now commonly known as the industry standard as method of choice because it is the most cost-effective way of processing full pieces of glass which require shaping or internal cut outs. Other traditional methods such as CNC machining are often too slow when cutting glass causing bottlenecks in companies production lines.
As glass is quite a brittle and fragile material, the cold cutting process works perfectly for making intricate cuts without causing cracks or microcracks within the material.
Commonly manufactured
PowerPoint Cut Outs | Kitchen and Bathroom Splashbacks | Frameless Shower Screens | Mirrors | Tabletop Inlays | Coffee Table Designs | Window Panels
Metal
Metal fabricators are choosing waterjet over other alternative methods in their day to day part cutting operations. Waterjet provides fabricators and other manufacturers with an extremely versatile cutting process that allows you to cut your full range of metal material with one tool. The cold cutting process once again is where waterjet sets itself apart within metal fabrication as it can cut parts to high tolerances with no heat stain and no secondary finishing.
Types of metal material
Aluminium | Stainless | Copper | Hardened Steels
Cibo
Waterjet cutting has become predominate within the food industry because of the safety it provides with preventing cross contamination for occurring between foods. It is also proving to be an ideal method of portioning foods because of the accuracy of the cuts. For large food corporations this provides amazing savings on time, increases product shelf life and provides and extra level of safety as blades are not being used to cut the foods.
Common Food Industries
Meat | Poultry | Vegetable | Fruits | Frozen Food | Cakes & Desserts
Why You Need A Waterjet Cutter Chiller?
However the most important machine to prolong the life of waterjet cutter is to equip cooling system, as the pump inside requires particular water temperature for longevity and efficiency. The waterjet cutter chiller ensures the pump does not overheat during continuous use or warm weather.
You can only achieve this with proper tonnage(Chiller Tonnage Calculator), which resonates the cooling ability of the chiller.
The equipment’s cooling ability and energy storage capacity are heavily correlated. Chillers should not only be capable of cooling water fast, but also save every single amount of energy that will not be used. This allows you to reduce your carbon footprints and significantly lower your energy bills.
It’s interesting to know that waterjet cutters deliver super accurate cut-outs. Recently, my uncle mentioned he’s interested in opening a glass doors shop with his son, so they’re currently looking for glass-cutting services that help them get their operations started, so I think they’d benefit from reading your insight. I appreciate your information on how you’d manufacture different materials easily with waterjet cutting.
Para maquina de corte por chorro de agua flow waterjet serie mach-4de . que caracteristicas debe tener el equipo de enfriamiento.