Wonderful World of Waterjet (www)

Well it's as if I can't explain how wonderful waterjet cutting is. Before taking this job here (you can see our full homepage at Fedtech.com), I always thought of the manufacturing world as a very dirty, hard-pressed territory (and elsewhere it might be) but boy have I proven that to be so wrong.

I think the neatest thing here is that these waterjets can cut through materials never even thought possible before. The first project I took pictures of was abrasive waterjet cutting through 10" thick copper rounds without any taper or edges... and sure enough when all was said and done, there it was. (You can see more about this story here...)

And then the next day they cut 9.25" aluminum blocks... leaving the drop in one clean piece that was both much cleaner but even more important, had the ability to be recycled or reused (saving a lot of money). This was equally impressive, if you want to see pictures of that one, you can see the case study here...

I think my favorite project yet though, was processing these tiny titanium strips (.025" thick) that would be used for a conducting electricity in a line of vacuum cleaners. This was so cool because 13,200 pieces were cut in a matter of a day (obviously it takes a bit longer in the process of things though since we had to make the CAD file, order the material, and then figure it into the schedule of the waterjets) but it was very cool to see these parts cut. The coolest part of it, was that when waterjet cuts through titanium, sparks just fly! It's really cool to see, but kind of scary when you see it for your first time... I was definitely worried for the waterjet operator's fingers but he laughed and assured me not to worry they do it every day... I guess! (You can see pictures of that project here!)

Anyways, I just had to share the details. I'm sure I'll have more fun things to say as time goes on, so I'll keep you all posted. Until then, keep on cuttin on! (Get it, waterjet cutting? Haha...)