Metal fabrication is a highly complex process that uses a large number of materials and combines them in the right proportions for the needed textures. The entire process consumes a lot of heat and leaves no room for errors.
Sometimes, materials need to be shaped or ‘machined’ to produce complex cuts and shapes. In such cases, the surface finish is crucial. To eliminate dust from machine parts, several techniques are used. One such method is water machining. To make environment-friendly products, most manufacturers are using waterjet machines. Besides, these machines do not generate additional heat, rescuing the material from distortion or warpage. Here, we learn five new things about waterjet machines and how to choose one. We also explore metal fabrication and its importance.
What is a waterjet machine?
A waterjet machine is commonly known as the water jet cutter as it is a very compatible and powerful tool for cutting materials of various materials and thickness. A number of waterjet machine manufacturers add many value-added services to their machines, like customization.
A waterjet machine uses kinetic energy of water to ‘remove’ material from a surface. Most of these jet machines have a capacity of 900 m/ second and when streamed under pressure, the jet has three times higher energy than normal pressure and ‘removes’ material.
Five things about Waterjet Machine
Waterjet machines are a necessity in most industries because of the following attributes:
- Cutting power: The high-pressure stream of water or ‘jet’ has the power to cut a narrow line in most materials. Based on the pressure ‘capacity’ of a waterjet machine, it can cut through a variety of materials like paper, regardless of its length or thickness.
- Abrasive power: When the material’s density is high, an additive is added to give it greater abrasive power. Commonly, the sheer force and power of the waterjet is sufficient to cut through materials.
- No-heat-generation process: A waterjet cutting process is conducted in a cold setting. Hence, no heat is generated during the cutting process. The advantage of the cold cutting process is that it eliminates distortion and warping of the material.
- Controllable cutting speed: The primary advantage of using waterjet cutting is controlling the speed of cutting. The slower the waterjets move; the sharper are the edges.
- Garnet abrasive: By default, a garnet abrasive in waterjet machines. But the size of the garnet will vary with the type of cutting and the material density. Most times the abrasiveness of the garnet is measured at 50 mesh to 220 mesh.
How to choose a Waterjet Machine
When choosing a water jet pump, you should consider factors such as the pump size and the maximum pressure capacity for the materials your industry uses. The next important quality is the time needed to maintain such machines and its cost.
In some industries, the noise the waterjet machine makes when cutting materials can play a crucial role. Also, check for the environmental emissions of the machine you are considering. You should prioritize low-carbon footprint machines.
Power availability should be a consideration when you are choosing waterjet machines as their consumption is directly proportional to their pressure capacity. Then, arrive at estimates of the operating cost of the model you are considering and the overall cutting speed,
Conclusion
Waterjet machines are ideal investments for industries that need secondary machining processes. Since these machines do not thermally impact the internal components or the intricate parts of complex machines, they are the primary choice in many industries. They have a zero-heat zone and are ideal for parts that might see change in material properties due to high heat generated by cutting machines. Besides, waterjet-cut blanks are easy to handle for secondary machining processes such as thread-tapping. Metal Fabrication is a complex yet crucial manufacturing process as it produces the materials needed in most industries.