Re: Waterjet project

When I started looking at cutting glass, I checked out water jets.

super sonic speed is required for the basic jet. That means very
high pressure. no hand power washer is gonna pump enought pressure
to cut metal.

Water itself can cut softer materials like cloth, but you need to add
an abrasive to cut metal. I didn't dig too deep, but it seems the
particles are the things doing the cutting, water is just the medium
in which they are delivered to the part being cut. Kind of like wet
sandblasting in a very thin line.

I spoke to people selling the parts and one guy broke it down very
simply. you need 3 items.

#1) pump
#2) connecton hoses
#3) nozzle ( with or without abrasive injection)

The pump choices are either a single high pressure, or a pressure
pump plus intensifier. The single high pressure is much less
maintenaince, while the intensifier is the single largerst source of
problems.

Making a home brew, I thought about 50,000 PSI water pump to pump 1
gallon a minute. That would take roughly a 50 hp motor which I think
requires 3 phase. I'm not sure how big they make single phase motors.

I briefly thought about making a hydraulic piston set-up that would
just pressureize 5 gallons of water for a 5 minute cut. then do it
again. but my knowldge of hudraulics is less than for water.

Thje neat thing about your making the pump part is that you will need
to buy the tubing/hose and nozzle so you can build a small concrete
enclosure for the pump. Even 50,000 psi will not damage too much
after it leaks and travels a foot or so. it'll fan out and lose
pressure so it won't bore a hole in the concrete. Just don't let
kitty sleep in there.

my $0.02

--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@y..., "kdoney_63021" <kdoney_63021@y...> wrote:
> I am interested in working with others who could help engineer a
> waterjet system. I am building a precise 3-axis gantry and now I
want
> to use it for a waterjet cutting system. I have a full machine shop
> with time and some money available to push the project ahead if
> helped. I will probably purchase the cutting head since this is
well
> beyond my machining ability but I believe I could machine the pump
> and intensifier.