Fun with the waterjet

[Drifter]

I had to get some plexi cut today so I decided to take a pic to share with you guys.

The master sheet is a standard 18x24 from Home Depot. The cut out is a perfect 16 x 16 5/8 for my bartop project. It took me just a few minutes to lay out the piece in the CAD app and the total cut time was just under 1 minute.

[IG-88]

Nice. Now, can we see some pics of that waterjet thing in action? 

[Drifter]

Sure... I'll get some pix next time I go and cut something

[MYX]

Sure... I'll get some pix next time I go and cut something

Man, that's like nearly rubbing our noses in it.

[vrf]

very cool. How does a waterjet compare to cutting by laser? (Cost, quality) I'm going to have my entire cab cut out of acrylic.

[DrewKaree]

I call BS. 

It SAYS "fun with the waterjet", but there are no pictures of the waterjet, the fun, OR the fun being had with said waterjet.

For all we know, you cut that dang thing with a router.

No pics of the waterjet cutting it, no fun.

You suck (unless, of course, you add pics of the waterjet cutting something, and QUICKLY)

[Drifter]

... No pics of the waterjet cutting it, no fun.

You suck (unless, of course, you add pics of the waterjet cutting something, and QUICKLY)

Wow, you guys are rough.

I dug thru my pics and I don't have any of the WJ cutting the wood, but I did have this pic that I took at the shop one day.



OK, so here is the deal... if I get a short video clip of the thing cutting the wood for a cabinet this week and post it, will I be redeemed?

[MYX]

OK, so here is the deal... if I get a short video clip of the thing cutting the wood for a cabinet this week and post it, will I be redeemed?

yes if I can borrow it. 

[Mark70]

Does the water have any adverse effect on the material.  I think of metal and plastic when I thing water jet.  Obviously you're not cutting mdf or particle board.

[quarterback]

I think of metal and plastic when I thing water jet.  Obviously you're not cutting mdf or particle board.

The waterjet machine belongs to one of my clients and I have access to it when I need to run something. It's great for cutting all sorts of materials.

I love doing plexiglass panels on it. The edges come out perfectly straight and smooth with no chips and it only takes about 90 seconds to cut. Talk about a MAJOR time saver. For my first cab (the full sized) I created a plexi overlay for the control panel. I used the same program that I used to cut the wood for the panel (just changed the material type) and when it was done you would swear that they were cut at the same time.

[DrewKaree]

Wow, you guys are rough.

I dug thru my pics and I don't have any of the WJ cutting the wood, but I did have this pic that I took at the shop one day.



OK, so here is the deal... if I get a short video clip of the thing cutting the wood for a cabinet this week and post it, will I be redeemed?

If by rough you mean "deploy peer pressure to obtain waterjet cheesecake", then I'm guilty   I'd feel bad, but it worked, so I'm conflicted......nah, I think I'll do it again if you don't post the video

You HAVE to get us the video since you just rubbed our faces in it.  Anything less makes you a nancy and unworthy of our adulation.

 

[Drifter]

So here is a link to a very bad video that I took with a cheap handheld digital camera... but I think you can get the point ...



I was at the thing most of the day yesterday cutting out a few bartop machines and a jukebox cabinet. I also took some time to make myself some extra blank control panel boards for the bartop. I've been thinking it would be cool to add a trackball to one ...

To answer a few questions;
Yes I am cutting wood. Melamine is a laminated particle board. We set the jet to cut quickly so that it doesn't spend too much time in one spot. We also add an aggrigate made of granite dust to the stream (this is the same thing we add when cutting steel). As an added measure, we set the water level under the material so that it is below the wood so it doesn't saturate. Then we get the cut pieces off the table as quickly as possible and hit them with compressed air to get the damp edges dried quickly.

One other thing to remember is that the stream is coming out of the end of the nozzle at Mach 2 so it goes thru the wood without an issue. The edges are nice and smooth when we are done.

We did find that if we dont use aggrigate, or if the aggrigate fails to feed for any reason, that the stream will only go part of the way thru. This destroys the wood. We did MDF once and the aggrigate stopped feeding... what we were left with was wet cardboard.

Now that I have redeemed myself from Nancy status... where is the adulation? 

[MYX]

Adule... Adule...Adule

That's really cool. How do you tell it what to do. How do you feed it measurements? If you wanted rounded edges (no not beveled) Curved edges how would you tell it that?

If you wanna reach SUPER ADULATION, next time use a tripod, but this will do, thanks for the video. That is cool.
If you have to add the granite dust, roughly what is the cost to cut a CP top out?

[nostrebor]

Cool.

[DrewKaree]

You are now teh kewl.  You may walk freely amongst our peoples.

[Drifter]

That's really cool. How do you tell it what to do. How do you feed it measurements? If you wanted rounded edges (no not beveled) Curved edges how would you tell it that?

The whole thing is laid out in a 2D CAD application specifically designed for the waterjet. You simply draw in boxes, circles, or lines at the measuremnts/coordinates that you want and the program does the rest. Same goes for rounded edges. Select the two entities, tell it to round them, give it the diameter... all done

Not sure of the cost as the guy doesnt charge me anything to use it.

BTW: Thanks for the ADU's and the permission to walk freely amongst you.