Home / Institutional budget based water jet

[cincinnati_kid]

I have had this idea since I graduated college that I think it would be cool to build a home or institutional water jet machine. In college we had a small 4'x4' CNC plasma cutting table and it was built for the DIY guy and small institution in mind. I think it would be neat to make a waterjet with the same customer base because from what I know there isnt one out there. I have done a fair amount of research on pumps and CNC programs and motors. The problem is keeping the cost down. What do you guys think would you buy one?

 

[lisiecki1]

I would if the cost was low enough.

I doubt it could ever be low enough to fit into my almost non-existant budget though.

 

[Blue XJ]

It would be neat to have, but unless you did a lot of fab work for others, the cost wouldn't be worth it. My buddy has a 4x4 CNC plasma table in his garage with a water filter setup on it, he uses it quite a bit and actually started a business because of it. I guess if that was your plan, it would be worth it, but just for the hobbyist I doubt there is a payoff.

I've built 3 custom vehicles from the ground up and never once did I wish I had a waterjet, a plasma cutter yes, but waterjet no.

 

[cincinnati_kid]

I like the plasma cutters but with them you are limited on what you can cut. But a water jet can cut just about anything including glass, tile, plastic, etc. Just seemed like something neat to have.

 

[kmacht]

You may be able to score some used pumps to make it with but the cost of your consumables are going to keep it from being any sort of home/hobby type of machine. I would instead suggest building a 3 axis gantry table and make it so you can put interchangable heads on it. Have one head setup for a router, another setup for a plasma cutter, and if you can swing the cash a third setup for a laser. Except for a few things like glass and fabrics it will be far more versatile and exponentially cheaper than a waterjet.

Check out cnczone.com. It is like this forum but for homebuilt cnc machines like I proposed above.

Keith

 

[Blue XJ]

I like the plasma cutters but with them you are limited on what you can cut. But a water jet can cut just about anything including glass, tile, plastic, etc. Just seemed like something neat to have.

I agree, we have 4 of them at work and cut anything you can think of on them. It would be nice if there was a portable/hand held version out there, similar to a plasma cutter.

 

[cincinnati_kid]

One idea I had for a pump was the injection pump from a fiesel engine. they can run up to 20,000 psi but im not sure if i could get the flow. just an idea

 

[k-os]

One idea I had for a pump was the injection pump from a fiesel engine. they can run up to 20,000 psi but im not sure if i could get the flow. just an idea

Our waterjet at work runs at 50,000+ PSI.

 

[tdkkart]

We've got an OMax at work, I shudder to think what the operational costs are on it, The pump gets serviced/repaired OFTEN, and the parts aren't cheap. Plain and simple, 40-50,000psi is hard on parts. You can see what the water does when it exits the nozzle, imagine what it's doing inside the machine.
That's the water side of it, then you have to deal with the abrasive, garnett in our case, which makes a hell of a mess of things. Clean up and maintenance of that system is a major headache.

And BTW, the learning curve to run the machine is somewhat steep. First time yield if virtually zero on any new part as you adjust the parameter to get things right. Works great once everything's dialed in for THIS part, all of it needs fixed again for the next part. Not so good for one-off parts.

 

[Cryptic1911]

For home stuff, I'd say a small cnc plasma would be optimal, but only if you had space for one. It's not something you'd use regularly, like has been said already, but it would be great to have one when you need to bang out 5 of something

 

[zuk123]

Like most fabricators I know, when I needed waterjet cutting there were lots of local places that would run my job in between theirs. They have a lot of incentive to run the machine-- you are paying for it, for operators, etc whether you are cutting or not.

What I would love to have is a table top cnc router, table top cnc plasma, and small cnc mill. I'll get there eventually. (Oh, and an additive machine too, but that's later!)

zuk

 

[cincinnati_kid]

I have also had the thought of doing the multi tool cnc router, plasma, and maybe a laser or knife for fabrics.