Waterjet uses high pressure water, being forced through a small tiny hole to concentrate enough
energy to cut(erode) a wide range of materials. Water pressure ranges between 50,000 จC 60,000 p.s.i.
The small hole of orifice ranges from .005 to .013 inches of inner diameter. To improve the power of
eroding power, the water is mixed with a kind of abrasive (usually garnet) in a mixing chamber
and then exit from a focusing nozzle. The flow exits the nozzle and makes contact with the material to
be cut. Hazing on the surface of material near the cut can occur if the nozzle is too far away from the
material. On the other hand the nozzle can clog if it is too close to the material. To find out how
waterjet works, please visit A good waterjet reference
What are the advantages of waterjet cutting over other cutting methods?
กค Optimize material yield
กค Process multiple layers with many types of materials
กค No thermal effect on sensitive materials
กค No mechanical stresses induced during cutting
กค No heat build-up in the part
กค Parts processed from customer supplied CAD files, drawings or even the part itself
กค Combines the cutting and machining operations into one operation.
กค Omni-directional cutting permits complex shapes
For comparing waterjet with other cutting methods, such as EDM cutting
laser cutting, plasma cutting and many other cutting processes, please visit
various cutting methods
Waterjet cutting advantages:
กค No heat affected zones.
กค No induced stress.
กค Cut any material.
กค Complex or simple cutting.
กค No burr.
กค Less material waste.
กค Repeatable process
กค Tolerances to +/-.002".
Metal: hardened steel, stainless steel, colored metal such as copper, brass, titanium etc. Stone: marble, granite, ceramic tile. Others: glass, plastic, cloth, wood
Waterjet machine can cut steel and stone most efficiently for width less than 3 inches. As
the material gets thicker, the taper gets worse and some kind of tilt cutting head is need to help
reducing the taper. Tilting can be done and apply to straight line cutting, but is non-trivial when cutting curved traces.
