Its a neat idea, but they got a long way to go. The reason waterjets are expensive is due to the high pressures involved, and this machine is noticeably lower pressure, significantly hindering its ability to do the work that a waterjet is typically needed for. Their unwillingness to divulge the pressure tells me its nothing worth writing home about.
Waterjets come into their own for thick metals, hard things, and things that burn or reflect a laser beam. This machine cuts a MAX of 3/16" steel, at less than a half inch a minute. Meh.
For the low price of farming out CNC laser, waterjet and oxyfuel burning, I would have a really hard time buying that thing. It can't cut 1/4" plate, and that can be cut by the local laser shop so cheap there's no way I could compete.
Waterjets are amazingly useful tools, but I need them to do actual work, and this one doesn't look up to more than a hobby crafter's needs. I need to be able to buy my materials and garnet in quantites where it makes fiscal sense to cut my own sheet, and this doesn't really optimize that.
I do recognize the entrepreneurial spirit,and the hard work and development that went into making this. It's a great concept. It probably would work great for the guy/gal who makes onesy-twosy widgets to sell on etsy.
I realize this sounds snobbish and elitist, probably because it is. I'm just used to using industrial machinery, and once you get used to having parts cut by real machines, everything else is just a toy and frustrating to use.
If these guys can make a machine that will take a 4'x4' sheet, with a pump running at least 55K PSI, and a table capacity that can take a few thousand pounds, for about 15K, I'd be interested. That, to me, is a great hobby sized machine. Small enough to fit in a garage, but big enough to cut real metal, in sizes that real metal can be bought cheaply enough.
