Current Industries now offers a Water Jet Cutting Service
Almost all materials can be cut to any shape and size upto 3m x 1.5m and a thickness of upto 150mm.
Some materials most commonly cut are gal sheet metal, aluminium, stainless steel, copper, brass, plastic, ceramic tiles and even glass.
In most cases the material is supplied by you or can be sourced through Current Industires.
Our design service can help with the CAD drawings or you can provide a CAD file ready to be toolpathed.
Call Current Industries today for more information. (see Contact page).
Why should your parts be cut by a waterjet over a laser?
Laser cutting is a very productive process and certainly has its place, usually on thinner material. However, waterjets do have several advantages over lasers:
No thickness limitations up to 150mm.
No issues with reflective materials such as brass, copper, and aluminum.
No heat input, so there is no heat-affected zone (HAZ). Hardened materials can be cut with no change in temper.
Waterjets can cut materials which are heat sensitive such as plastics, rubber, or composites, and even such materials as glass, stone, and very hard ceramics. .....over milling?
If you are through-cutting the perimeter and holes, rather than blind holes or pockets, the abrasive waterjet is typically much faster, easier to program and cheaper than milling. This is due to cutting a part with one pass, and not having to reduce all the metal to chip form. In addition, there is minimal setup and fixturing time. .....over plasma or oxy fuel?
Plasma is a hot process. It adds a great deal of heat to the product, leaving a heat-affected zone. The surface finish of the abrasive waterjet part is generally better. It leaves almost no dross on the backside of the part, reducing secondary operations. Abrasive waterjet parts can be much more closely nested also.
Sending Part Drawing
Best Method:
E-mail a 2D DXF file. Include in the email; part quantity and material.
DXF file tips:
Only include the part geometry that will be waterjet cut (perimeter and through holes/cut-outs), no dimensions, notes etc. needed.
Add a 25mm x 25mm square with an "X" in it near the part geometry, this is used to check scaling.
Double check for broken or overlapping geometry.
NOTE: If your part will require additional machining or forming other than just waterjet cutting, include a PDF file of the dimensioned part drawing.
PDF file tips:
Generate a PDF file of your part drawing from your CAD software.
Standard 3 view shop drawing, which can be printed out on our end.
The drawing would have all the needed dimensions (in inches), tolerances, and notes to make the part from.
Acceptable:
E-mail, Fax, or send Drawings/Sketches. An actual part could be shipped to us.
NOTE: These methods may incur additional engineering charges to generate the DXF geometry.
