Waterjet Cutting

Water jet cutting is best described as a controlled, accelerated erosion process. For this reason, a waterjet stream can cut through virtually any known material, making waterjet one of the most versatile machines available. As one of the fastest growing machine tool industries, waterjet cutting has proven to save time and money on countless applications. So many choose water jet because of:

• High Accuracy Net-shape parts.
• Omni-Directional Cutting Ability to cut in any direction. Capable of complex 2D cut geometries.
• Varied Cut Surface Quality Ability to change cut edge quality as required for different features within a part.
• No Heat-Affected Zone There are no heat affected zones or hardening of the material.
• No Stress Impact Does not workload material.
• Slag Free Cut Surface Does not create slag on the cut surface which eliminates costly finishes processes.

AW Metals offers a cost-effective waterjet cutting solution, at a thickness up to 8″ in Aluminum and Stainless Steel, whether you need a single part, batch of prototypes, or a production order.

Advantages

• Tight tolerances achievable (+/-.005)
• Secondary finishing not required
• Does not cause heat distortion
• Fast turns are possible

Design Considerations

• Round inside corners with a 0.030″ or larger radius
• Avoid tightly toleranced features in thick materials
• Avoid designing flimsy shapes