Faq
Laser is an high productive cutting system but water jet has many advantages over laser:
- No thickness limits
- No mechanics and heat change
- No material limits
- Maximum manufacturing and application flexibility (starting from rubber to titanium , from sponge to ceramic, from polystyrene to stone metal 60 Roc, from glass to stones, from gasket to the composites)
- No environmental problem (no smog and pollution) because is a clean technology that use just ecological abrasive and water
- Low manufacturing process cost
- High performances
- Minimum hole diamater from 0.1 (0,004” water only) and 1 mm (0,040”) hydro-abrasive
- Accuracy from 0.05 – 0.15 mm. (0,002” – 0,006”)
- No holding devices request for many applications
- Multiple synchronized headsusage to increase production
- Easy maintenance directly on end user's site
- Relevant saving
The water-abrasive cutting has also no thickness limits because it uses a 1 mm (0,040”) cutting tools (jet diameter). It optimizes the material reducing the scrape.
if you need this range to be reduced, you should choose the new advanced I.T.C. control system.
0,25 mm = 0,010' orifice uses 1.9 lt/min = 0,6 GPM
0,35 mm = 0,014” orifice uses 3.63 lt/min = 0,9 GPM
0,381 mm = 0,015” orifice uses 4.1 lt/min = 1 GPM
0,40 mm = 0,016” orifice uses 4.69 lt/min = 1,2 GPM
The ceramic carbide focusing tube must be replaced after 80 to 120 hours of usage
The diamond orifice will be replaced after 500 to 1000 hours of usage, while the ruby or sapphire one will last 60 to 100 hours
The most common is the Garnet one (seeAbrajet ™) and it is the best in terms of performances, components duration, manufacturing costs, and environmental impact.
80 Mesh is the most common grain with 7,5 Mohs scale: we use 120 Mesh to increase the cutting quality; for special applications we use the 180 up to 220 Mesh to cancel the burrs on a very small thickness or for ultra small piercing (0.5 mm = 0,020”) on hard materials
Olivine is not used anymore because of the lower hardness (5 Mohs scale) and lower performance.
The abrasive consumption depends on the pump range but overall on the orifice diameter and its focusing tube which will be utilized for cutting ( Ø Foc. = 3 x Ø Orif.)
- Øo 0,25 mm (0,010") / Øf 0,76 mm (0,030") = 300 gr/min (0,7 lb/min)
- Øo 0,38 mm (0,015") / Øf 1,02 mm (0,040") = 450 gr/min (1 lb/min)
The water jet cutting system is basically an easy system that, thanks to the CNC automatic control can transform a design made by a WaterCad-Cam ™ software into a finished part
This software is compatible with other Cad software through DXF and has all the technological parameters so you can create a customized cutting program with just a click, completely optimized by an automatic nesting.
Electric Power (depending on pump power)
Garnet Abrasive (depending of the world location)
Focusing Tube
Diamond Orifice
Pump Maintenance
This cost can differ from country to country due to the different cost of the electric power and the transport of the abrasive
Closed-loop recycling systems are available. However, because waterjet systems use a low amount of water, these kinds of installations are not convenient .
However the water jet cutting system is one of the most safe technologies because, during the working process, a protective covering is mounted surrounding the cutting zone and the water jet distance from the worked material is about 1-2mm. (0,040” – 0,080”)
The water, when properly filtered, can be put down the drain, while the abrasive must be dumped with not toxic materials.
Instead, if you are cutting toxic materials (as steel) it is mandatory to dump it in an a special areas.
The water texturing system have several advantages over the flaming one:
- Only high pressurewater jet
- Standing out of theoriginal colourof the material: (no yellowing caused by a flamming process)
- Automatic variation of theroughness degree
- Smoke, pollution and heat free
- New texture process for any thickness(> 10 mm)
- New texture process for all kinds ofgranite
- New texture process formarbleand stone
- Highperformances
- Low production cost
- Maximum working processing flexibility
A lot of finishing can be obtained, all with the unique feature of original color magnifying:
- LIGHT ROUGHNESS
- DEEP ROUGHNESS'
- CHISELING
- WATER AGEING
- WATER BLASTING
- HAMMERING
- BRUSHING
- LEATHER EFFECT
- HONEY EFFECT
Ceramic pistons will need to be replaced after 3000 hours of usage.
Instead the nozzles will be replaced after 50 to 100 hours of usage
The production is related to the material hardness, and also to the depth you want to reach:
LIGHT ROUGHNESS: from 30 to 70 sqm/h (350 – 800 sqf/h)
DEEP ROUGHNESS: from 20 to 50 sqm/h (220 – 550 sqf/h)
CHISELING: from 10 to 20 sqm/h (110 – 220 sqf/h)
WATER BLASTING: from 30 to 40 sqm/h (350 – 450 sqf/h)
BRUSHING: from 50 to 100 sqm/h (550 – 1100 sqf/h)
You have just to set the width of the plate and the distance from the nozzle to the material; all the translation parameters of the nozzle, trolley movement and the pressure of the working process will be automatically synchronized to obtain the desired finishing.
The cutting price basically includes 4 consumption elements for about20 Eur/per hourvalue : (not included manpower, amortization and disposal costs)
Electric Power 90 KW
Nozzles
Water
Pump Maintenance
This cost can differs from country to country due to the different cost of the electric power and the water
The Machine has a soundproof cab (that reduce the noise up to 80-90 dB) in which the working process can be carried out
The copper slag must be dumped as special waste even if it can be reutilized many times in the same water blasting process.