Standard 2D waterjet cutting machine
Normally consists of high pressure pump, cutting table, CNC controller and abrasive hopper. CNC controller accepts DXF for G-code programing. Machine can cut any 2D shapes. Generally tolerance is +/-0.15mm (0.006"). As a reference, waterjet cuts 100mm thick mild steel at about 5mm/min.
Waterjet can cut metal or non-metal, such as steel, stainless steel, brass, aluminum, marble, granite, glass ceramic tile, rubber, foarm, plastic, etc. It is especially useful when cutting composite materials, such as tire (rubber with steel belts), no buring, no poison gas, no glare radiation.
See a video from Youtube to learn how waterjet machine works.
Samples of 2D waterjet cutting.
5 axis waterjet allows the cutting head to tilt with various angles o cut 3D parts. If a part has constant slope at everywhere its edge, the CNC controller can accept a parameter as the fixed slope angel and automatically calculate the tilting of cutting head to produce the part. If a part has various slope at its edge, a 3D model has to be created with a CAD software, such as solidworks, then a 5 axis CAM software is used to generate the cutting program (often known as G-code), and then the CNC controller will read in the G-code, commands the 5 axis working together to cut the part.
See a Youtube video to learn 5 axis waterjet cut 3D parts
Samples of 5 axis waterjet cuttng.
Contrast to standard 2D waterjet cutting machine, pipe cutting machine does not use a 2D X-Y cutting table. Instead, it uses a rotation chuck to hold and rotate the pipes. Waterjet pipe cutting machine can open holes on the wall of the pipes and cut off the pipes for intersecting connections. The rotation chuck can hold and route round pipes, square tubes, I-beam, C-channels, and angles.
See Youtube video 1
See Youtube video 2
Robot Waterjet
Robot arm carries a waterjet cutting head is a robot waterjet. The robot usually has 6 or more axis. Robot warterjet is often used to cut large complicated 3D parts. In order to increase cutting efficiency, two cutting tables are often used together. When one table is used for cutting, the other is used for loading/unloading for next cut.
Jetsaw Waterjet
Jetsaw, from its name, is a combination of waterjet and circular saw. There are two ways we can make the jetsaw. One is to use a robot to carry both saw and waterjet cutting head. The second way is to combine a bridge saw with waterjet.
robot type jetsaw
bridge type jetsaw