The use of waterjet cutting machines is fast gaining traction in many businesses and across various industries, too. It is now among the most in-demand and most popular other modern material cutting methods we have today.
But we have a million-dollar question here. Are they indeed awesome and great? Can they cut and slice through anything? Is waterjet cutting technology all that they are hyped up to be? Our resounding answer to this is ‘yes’. It can!
Some people are bewildered by waterjet cutting technology, alongside the many wonders that it is capable of delivering. One of the most common misperceptions about the waterjet technology of cutting is that it can’t handle wood material.
If they can, it runs the risk of causing damage to the material to a certain degree. Or that it can completely ruin it. This is a blatant lie, and we ought to rectify such wrong impressions about it. It is time that we debunk this myth, once and for all.
If you are wondering if the waterjet system can cut wood, yes it can! Waterjet technology, according to industry insiders as well as expert minds in this area, this kind of material cutting method can cut through almost everything. It can cut and slice through stone, ceramic, glass, plastic, foam, and even wood.
There is a sundry of different reasons why many people are under the notion that waterjet systems are not incapable of cutting through wood. Here are some backgrounders on this, just so you know and understand.
The resilience of the wood will likely deflect the waterjet’s impact.
The strong stream of water in the waterjet system is extremely high that makes it more than capable of penetrating through a block of wood. Abrasive garnet material can be mixed with water to further enhance its inherent cutting power.
Put everything all up with extremely high pressure of 60,000 psi and your system will cut through up to 5” thick if block material. With consideration to the water pressure, it’s projected cutting speed can run to a minimum of 600”/minute.
Wood splitting
Waterjet cutting machines can be controlled or can be as delicate as we’d like them to be. Computer numeric control (CNC) waterjets will deliver since we can program how they will perform and carry out their functions. They can easily cut materials at a controlled but precise pace, in a fashion that will not put the subject material in harm’s way.
Wood tends to absorb water
Due to high pressure and velocity, the water jet will be speeding up real fast via the material so much so that it will not be leaving wet trails on its track on the surface. Anyone who is a certified professional waterjet operator could smoothly carry out the job successfully without any amount of water coming into contact with the object that you are trying to cut.
Wood tends to get delaminated
Working in an extremely high-pressure environment will take away the risk of delamination. While waterjet cutting work is in progress, the abrasive materials help in cutting with no risk of delamination.
A smooth, finished edge is not a good characteristic of wood.
You need to partner up with a reputable CNC waterjet fabricating team that can deliver close tolerance, free from distortion parts. They can produce superior edge quality without any burrs and little to no need for secondary finishing.
What’re Our Chances of Working on Wood with Knots?
If you know that you will be making use of a heavy machinery cutting technique in the likes of a waterjet cutting system, we highly recommend that you only use high-quality pieces of wood. You know that you have the best kind when it does not have any knot.
Pieces of wood that have knots in them are not only expensive, handling and working with them is often a wasteful effort, too. Worse, this type of wood is not likely to produce the best version of the final product you have in mind. The odds are high that it will be far from being good.
Of course, you can calibrate your cutting machine to try and make it seamlessly cut through the knot, but it will run the risk of consuming so many resources with overkill force on those areas that do not have any knots.
The uneven pressure brought about by a drastic increase in settings could induce alteration to the final product.
How Does Waterjet Cutting Machine Work?
Guided by computer software, you need to come up with a 3D technical drawing. This is referred to as mechanical design automation or MDA. Many people know this as computer aided-drafting or CAD.
Then your basic cutting parameters come into focus here such as the desired edge finish, material type, and thickness.
After loading your program with the correct information and data, the computer program will run through its vetting system to help ensure that correct offsets, proper speeds, and other important parameters are in place. All this will secure that the object you are trying to produce is geometrically correct.
If everything else falls into their proper places according to plan, the process can be run and your waterjet cutting machine will take charge of creating the product you have in mind.