Gallery · Waterjet cutting
Waterjet cutting gallery: cold cutting, thirteen inches deep
High-pressure water and abrasive leave no heat in the part. Two thousandths to thirteen inches, on a table with four cutting heads, running material that other processes call unmachinable.
Too thick or too sensitive?
If a laser will not cut it, or the spec rules out a heat-affected zone, this is the table your part belongs on.
Thickness
0.002″ to 13″
Cutting heads
4 on one table
Heat-affected zone
None
Chemicals used
None
Steel
Plate that comes off unhardened
A thermal process leaves a burned, hardened edge that the next operation has to deal with. Waterjet does not, so a plate part can go straight to machining or welding without someone grinding a heat-affected zone off it first.
What the process gives you
Nothing touches the part but water
The cutting head never contacts the material, so precise shapes and tight interior angles come off the table without the fixturing a mechanical process would need to resist cutting force.
The whole process is computer controlled, so adding parts to a sheet costs almost no additional setup time — nesting more pieces is close to free.
No warping
No heat means no thermal distortion and no discoloration. What goes on the table flat comes off flat.
Four heads at once
Four cutting heads on the table multiply throughput on repeat parts, which is what keeps waterjet viable at quantity.
Unmachinable material
Titanium, Inconel, composites, laminates, stone, tile, glass, and rubber all cut on the same table as carbon steel — the same no-heat, no-contact cut behind decorative inlay and architectural metalwork.
No chemicals
Water and abrasive only. Nothing in the process needs disclosing on an environmental questionnaire.
Range
Same table, very different material
Aluminum one day and foam the next, with only a program change between them. Soft material is where the no-contact cutting head really shows: there is no tool pressure to crush or tear the part, so gaskets, inserts, and packaging profiles come out clean.
Waterjet or laser?
Laser is faster and cheaper per part on most sheet work. Waterjet wins on thickness, on exotic material, and anywhere heat is unacceptable. The comparison page shows where the line falls.
Send us your next print
Tell us the material and thickness with your file. If another process would serve the part better, we will say so before you commit to one.
1000 Avenue N, Grand Prairie TX 75050 · (972) 554-0383 · ast@astmfg.com