CNC Water Jet Cutting

CNC Water Jet Cutting

Computer numeric controlled (CNC) water jet cutting uses computer software instead of manual operation to cut, drill and engrave almost any two dimensional material. This allows for high repeatability, precision, accuracy and fine detail. Any material, including all metals, even heat treated, glass, ceramics, marble, stone, plastic, composite materials like fiberglass, wood, rubber and foam are easily cut with either pure or abrasive water jet cutters. Only some ceramics and tempered glass cannot be cut using this method, as they are brittle and tend to shatter easily. Diamonds are also too strong to be cut this way. The aerospace, automotive, electrical, architectural, construction, film, sporting goods, medical and appliance industries all use CNC water jet cutting to form products like tiles, irregularly shaped car, train and plane parts, machinery components like gears, knives, bike parts, headstones, outdoor business signs, decorative mirrors, lenses, surgical instruments and musical instruments. Nearly all modern water jet cutting machines are computer numeric controlled, and are able to recycle both the water and abrasive particles many times. The water jet is either pure water or contains abrasive particles. Abrasive waterjet cutting particles like garnet, sand and diamond are added to cut through stronger materials like stone and metals. In pure water jet cutting, the water erodes away the material, while during abrasive cutting the particles erode the material.

CNC machinery cuts down on labor costs, since operators are only needed briefly for set-up. The process begins when a drawing of the desired shape is downloaded into the software. The cutting machine is programmed to exactly follow the shape of the design with the nozzle until the part has been cut. CNC machines produce parts that are identical in high volumes with accuracy and precision. Because these systems are fully automated, multiple products are cut very close together, thus reducing the amount of scrap and waste material. Sheets between .0001 and 8 inches thick, multi-layer and even heat treated materials are all easily cut with CNC waterjet cutting machines. However broad the design range, CNC cutting is limited to 2 dimensional shapes only. Materials must be flat or semi-flat. Because CNC waterjet cutting machines produce cuts and holes with extremely high precision, burrs are eliminated and the smooth edges require no secondary processing. The CNC components of a waterjet cutting machine consist of software that directs CAD/CAM systems to instruct the tooling movements made by the nozzles.