Check this out - Wazer Desktop Water Jet

[Father]

It looks like it would be great for making some pretty awesome prop parts.
In a lot of ways I've been looking for something like this more than a 3D printer.

The cons, in my opinion, are the cutting time in relation to how much abrasive it "consumes" in the process. Since the abrasive is not reusable, it can cost quite a bit to cut out a part, depending on the material and thickness.

I'm guessing if demand and evolution of a product like this are anything like 3D printers, it'll address those cons down the road.

I'm not normally an "early adopter" but I'm giving this some serious thought. It's pretty impressive that it's been on Kickstarter for 2 days and has already raised 8x it's funding goal.

Thoughts?

 

[doppelganger]

Now this is very interesting. I'll be keeping an eye on thoses.

Thanks for showing the vid.

 

[ASC McLaren]

Where I work we have a Torchmate CNC plasma, an Omax water jet, a Kern 400 watt laser, and an Eastman (for cutting pre cure CFRP), and I am the prime operator for most of them. The water jet is the most expensive and most difficult system to run. I do take pride in operating the water jet, and the water jet is an incredible machine, but I cannot imagine the cost of a 55# bag of garnet (you are so correct about abrasives). Think about the front end software, and what you will be making. The costs add up real fast, that is one of the feature of the Omax make software, it tells you how much the cut costs, it is astounding. All of the machines we have can import DXF files, the water jet came with the easiest software to use. I know that you are not asking about Omax, but...
What materials are you planning to work with? If you are working with acrylic and similar plastics, wood, and cloth look at a laser. If you are working with metal, look into a CNC plasma for the cost and the table size. While water jets can work a wide range of materials, and they are very cool, they are also incredibly fussy.

Personally, if I could have one of our machines at home, I would choose the laser, but that is me.

 

[Father]

Where I work we have a Torchmate CNC plasma, an Omax water jet, a Kern 400 watt laser, and an Eastman (for cutting pre cure CFRP)

but I cannot imagine the cost of a 55# bag of garnet (you are so correct about abrasives).

the Omax make software, it tells you how much the cut costs, it is astounding.

What materials are you planning to work with? If you are working with metal, look into a CNC plasma for the cost and the table size.

Thanks for the post...

I like it for the idea of cutting out parts for custom knives, so I'd be cutting steel and titanium.
I hadn't looked at plasma CNC so I checked out a few YouTube videos. Needless to say, I'm not an expert in water jet AND CNC plasma cutting.

I looked on eBay and found a pallet of 40ea bags of 55lb garnet for $495, so about $12.38/bag and about $0.23/lb. That's probably not the industry standard. It's actually cheaper than the low end of the price range Wazer estimates.

The Wazer uses about 0.33lbs per minute of cutting. So for the sample knife they cut out on the Kickstarter page, it would have cost about $13-ish just in abrasive. Since the abrasive isn't reusable its seems like it could be a pretty expensive process if you plan on mass producing something. You'd be using about 69%

The Omax software is pretty awesome that it tells you how much a cut will cost. I assume it's actually pretty simple math if you feed it the cost per pound of abrasive x cut time. Still, nice to know before you cut, but if you've gotten that far, I doubt you're going to see that cost and think "meh, maybe it's not worth it". If you've already dropped the coin on buying a machine and the materials you know you're in it. Like buying a boat and then not taking it out because you figure out how much fuel costs.

This is definitely turning me on to plasma vs. water jet though. My buddy has a Tig welder/plasma cutter on its way to our location and he already has a CNC router here. So he's thinking about hooking the plasma cutter to his router.

Pretty neat stuff.

 

[ASC McLaren]

Totally do that! We have talked about getting a routing head for our torchmate!
You can load up the same DXF files on both machines, and I have. Once you dial in the plasma, you can get an OK cut, but it does require finishing. That is not a issue as blades get post processing. I've cut out blade blanks on both machines, and for what you are planning, I would recommend the plasma CNC. Plasma is just electricity and air/gas.

That said, I would check about cutting Ti with plasma. I know that grinding Ti is a fire hazard, especially if it gets mixed with Al dust.

Good luck!

 

[Father]

Totally do that! We have talked about getting a routing head for our torchmate!
You can load up the same DXF files on both machines, and I have. Once you dial in the plasma, you can get an OK cut, but it does require finishing. That is not a issue as blades get post processing. I've cut out blade blanks on both machines, and for what you are planning, I would recommend the plasma CNC. Plasma is just electricity and air/gas.

That said, I would check about cutting Ti with plasma. I know that grinding Ti is a fire hazard, especially if it gets mixed with Al dust.

Good luck!

I watched a video of a guy cutting Ti with a plasma cutter by hand (not CNC). I read there's a remote chance of ignition. To reduce that I assume you could use Argon instead of air, right?

CNC machining fascinates me... to the point where I'm trying to figure out what route would be worth looking into for training for a possible career change.

 

[ASC McLaren]

We mostly cut steel and aluminum, the one time we cut Ti, it was about .75" thick, and on the water jet. We work with Ti, but mostly it is aerospace fasteners, not plates. We are train people for aerospace jobs, so that is how I have such a wide scope of equipment operation.

CNC operators usually have a fairly monotonous job. If you are interested, start learning G code, and M code. Machines like the Torchmate shows the G code, and allows editing. We have a 5 axis Haas, and that is G code only.

 

[Oddmar]

Mach3 is what i use for software, and nobody i know worries about G-code, because the software takes care of that. http://www.machsupport.com/software/mach3/

I built a 5-ft x 12-ft CNC plotting table from steel and skateboard bearings, bicycle chains and sprockets. It also works with a Craftsman router. http://www.cadcamcadcam.com/cnckit-kit3aw3ormoreaxes.aspx

My personal preference for a plasma cutter is a Miller 875. http://www.weldingsuppliesfromioc.com/miller-spectrum-875-plasma-cutter-with-50-ft-torch-907583001