Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: water jet

Im not convinced that the potential for a "simple" hobby unit exists. I'd love to be proven wrong. I think the potential for a hobby unit exists but, the concern would be pacticality. Flowing water created the Grand Canyon but took millions of years. If time is of no concern and it would be limited to soft materials or very thin ferrous metals then a hobby unit might be feasible.

I worked as a millwright once and we had a unit there we called a water/blaster it was a 20 hp pressure sprayer with a special wand and ceramic nozzle that pulled sharp-sand up through and mixed with the water. We used it for stripping paint off of large areas of steel. At 2500psi and 20 horsepower the water mixed with sand would not cut steel at all. It would cut through paper and some plastics. All it would do to large areas of flat steel is concave the surface much like a standard sandblaster will do. A rough idea of the pressures required.

When I was 19 I built a steam engine out of junk. Double acting Pneumatic cylinder for piston and cylinder, a reworked brake wheel cylinder from a car for a diverter/spool valve tied with a rudimentary linkage to the connecting rod. An old car rim for a flywheel, a torched out section of the same cars rear axle housing for a crankshaft and main bearings, Hot water heater tank and an air tank off of a bus for a boiler. It was a montage of discards and not much to behold. Everyone warned me including an engineer that I was wasting my time and even if it did run it wouldn't run for over a few minutes because the boiler was too small. A few weeks work and after 50 or so trips to the hardware store It ran, and It ran very well and for durations of over an hour. I even mounted a huge pulley on the crankshaft (axle) and belted it to a bench grinder and ground some steel with it at 30 psi. It was about a quarter to a half horsepower. People came from everywhere to see it run. So, never say
never.

Ron
Bruce Craig <docsys@...> wrote:

I would like to bring the discussion away from a "commercial" unit that
would cut fancy shapes all day long, with
any type of material, and instead focus on a simple little hobby unit.
That would make the list mom happy.

My application would be for a "cut-off" or slitting of materials. Maybe
on for just a minute or a little longer, no cutting of
six foot diameter circle, lets leave that to the big boys.

Another application would be cutting a sign from plexiglass, with small
letters, around a half inch in height, each requiring one stroke of the
pressure cylinder.

Again, this would not be like a large 4 foot by 8 foot router, I am
talking maybe just 4 inches by 4 inches. Material would be 18 gage steel.

I can't discuss my specific application, but this method looks very
interesting.

Bruce



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