If you have staff in production who spend long periods of time grinding or finishing parts to achieve a satisfactory finish, then waterjet is great news for your business. With only the finest burr on the bottom edge of the plate, waterjet parts are quickly prepared for fabrication which greatly reduces time spent on secondary processing (leaning up parts after cutting).
Many fabricators start out with the purchase of a CNC plasma cutter for profile cutting mild steel.
The CNC plasma cutter cuts products quickly, however the downside is that whilst the jobs are cut quickly, its not uncommon for fabricators to spend 15 minutes cutting and then spend the next 45 trying to clean up the parts to an acceptable finish.
Whilst a waterjet machine is generally much slower than a CNC plasma cutter, the difference is that waterjet parts have a much better surface finish and clean-up time is almost eliminated.
Due to the versatility of waterjet in its ability to cut a whole spectrum of materials, waterjet is chosen by metal fabricators for its perfect edge quality and efficiency.
The image to the right shows a plasma cut part after cleaning, and a waterjet cut part, straight off the waterjet table.
In addition to producing higher quality parts, waterjet is also able to replicate this finish quality on any metal with no warping, fumes or hardening of edges.