|
|
|
What is an abrasive waterjet ?
Abrasive or water only jet cutting machine uses the technology of high pressure water typically between 30,000 psi
and 90,000 psi, to create extremely concentrated force to cut materials (wear by abrasion). A waterjet cutter pressurizes
water and shoot out a stream of pure water flow (without abrasive) through high pressure stainelss steel tubing and exit
|
through an orifice to cut materials such as foam, rubber,
plastic, cloth, carpet and wood. On the other hand, an abrasive waterjet mixes abrasive garnet to a
pressurized water stream to penetrate and separate(cut) materials. High pressure water, at ultra sonic speed,
accelerates the abrasive to grind or erode the material and to cause the separation of the material.
Examples are: stainless steel, titanium, glass, ceramic tile, marble and granite. When cutting
metal, the process yields very little heat therefore no heat affected zone (HAZ),
and hence in most cases will not require further heat treatment. Waterjet is commonly considered as a "cold cut"
process and therefore is safe for flammable materials such as plastic and polymers. No other gas or chemicals are
used with waterjet cutting machine. With a reasonable cutting speed
setting, the edge quality resulted are often of satisfactory. Combined with CNC technology, ultra high pressure water cutting
is a very handy and versatile cutting equipment with affordable price for stone cutting and metal working in job shops.
Sometimes, experienced engineers can diy to make their own machine for fun and for business. Like some other
cutting tools, waterjet yields a "V" shaped separation edge, often know as taper. With new technology of
multi-axis ( 4 or 5 axis) cutting head, the degree of taper can be largely reduced, or even eliminated. To
find more information, click how water jet machines work. Nowadays,
water cutter are mostly made in USA, some made in Europe and some made in China.
A complete waterjet usually includes a CNC driven cutting table with a catch tank. The catch tank is filled up with water
to dampen the jet force which could damage the bottom of the tank. An abrasive hopper is also a common optional addition
to the system. Other options include water tratement equipments such as water softener and filter, abrasive removal system
and oil chiller.
New products have been developed to reduce the size of waterjet and it made possible to have
portable waterjet machines.
Also newly developed CNC waterjet tire cutting machines.
Triplex direct drive waterjet cutter
Advantage of triplex waterjet is its low power consumption. Diesel engines are often used with
triplex direct drive waterjet due to this low power property. Direct drive pumps are also of
high power efficiency. Hydraulic intensifiers losses power due to heat generation with in the hydraulic
system. In general, triplex pump waterjet does not require special cooling system. The small size advantage
often makes the direct drive waterjet a good candidate for portable cutting applications.
IWM provides reliable and low cost triplex direct drive waterjet cutting machines.
Tilted cutting with 4 axis or 5 axis waterjet machine
In order to remove taper on the edge of cutting with normal waterjet, IWM offers tilting waterjet
head with 4 or 5 axis CNC control. With tilting head, the taper is only on the scrap side of the material
and effectively no taper on the edge of the part. In addition, with the 4 axis or 5 axis waterjet, purposely
titled edge on the part is achievable.
New IWM JetSaw stone cutting machine
For cutting mable and granite applications, IWM has recently developed combination of bridge saw and waterjet cnc stone cutting machine,
which can be used to cut straight lines with bridge saw, and cut inside curved shapes with the waterjet. For details, follow this link
to see exciting new features of
Jetsaw stone cutting machine.
| |
|
Highlights of IWM Waterjet cutting and plasma cutting machines
Waterjet cutter
- Ultra high and stable water pressure for fast cutting and smooth edge finish.
- Overpass or Cantilever Style water jet cutting tables.
- Stainless steel water catch tank for durable use.
- PC based CNC and MS Windows based contorller software, easy to learn and operate.
- Compatible to dxf and G-code, nesting is also available.
- Quick setup and easy programming (make money on short runs).
- High accuracy control of cutting, up to 0.1mm.
- Special pressure ramping technique to prevent delaminating (cracking) brittle materials while piercing (drilling).
- Cut more than 100mm (4 inches) sheet/plate metal at different
cutting speed with waterjet.
- Yields kerf width (the width of the separation) at about 0.8mm (1/32 inch). The width of water jet is determined by
the size of orifice used.
- Steady cutting jet stream, no abrasive output interruption.
- Low cutting consumable cost.
Abrasive garnet and
spare parts on sale.
|
| |
Major Applications of Waterjet Cutter :
|
- Automobile, boat and aircraft manufacturing industry -- to cut irregular shaped plastic and metal parts,
often uses robots for motion control.
- Glass product industry -- whether it is artistic work or glass cover of a product, wide range of
application in glass industry.
- Construction industry -- to cut ceramic tile, mosaic, and marble, or granite for home,
commercial building or even pavement decoration. It is often used to cut inlaid designs of
marble/granite medallions.
- Custom fabricated gaskets or other rubber parts for both OEM and individual users.
- Machine shops -- used as general purpose metal cutting machine tool.
- Pipe cutting -- used to cut pipe of various materials, or make special designs on the wall of pipes.
- Large size tyre (OTR) -- waterjet, with its "cold cut" nature, is the best cutting method to cut steel wire
embeded off the road tires (OTR).
| |
|
