Waterjet vs laser

[Melvang]

Anyone ever explored or had a switch plate cut with waterjet?  Not trying to take anything from laser just wondering since it shouldn't discolor stainless during the cutting operation.

[Matt3o]

the thickness of waterjet is thicker than laser (I believe approx 1.1mm), so basically it is slightly less definite. It's great to cut ceramics, marbles, etc though

[Melvang]

the thickness of waterjet is thicker than laser (I believe approx 1.1mm), so basically it is slightly less definite. It's great to cut ceramics, marbles, etc though

Thanks Matt.  Thats about what I was figuring but just wanted some confirmation.

[The_Beast]

Laser doesn't discolor stainless, but once you start getting thicker, the plate becomes serrated (not knife like)


BUT, waterjet time is really really expensive since most time, thicker materials require an abrasive BUT they also have a really nice edge finish

[damorgue]

The cut of waterjets becomes wider the deeper it goes. This means that with thicker plates, the sides won't be very flat. This can be compensated by having a nozzle which can be angles but then there is another bump in price. As mentioned, because of the wider spotsize, the minimum inside corner radii is more limited as well.

[mkawa]

i've been told WJ leaves a very clean but trapezoidal edge. however, the width of cut for my WJ guys is like 0.006", which is not bad at all. they have some pretty fancy cutters though, including one of the few 5-axes out there. cheaper cutters have worse tolerances and use larger diameter jets that will spread under a high base inverse square law.

the serration you see in the_beast's picture is the result of PWMing the laser for high power output to cut that insanely thick stainless plate. the 16ga 304 sheet we use for switch plates cuts much more cleanly.

[mkawa]

imo WJ shines with thin material and non-metals. basically, anything that will be negatively affected by heat.

[bpiphany]

I had the plates for my symmetric layout water jet cut. Their jet was 0.8mm diameter (0.4mm radius) which is a bit more than Cherry specifies. Everything Cherry was possible to just press in. I guess some plastic was shaven off in the corner if needed. My costar stabilizer mounts required some filing to work, but they are finickier and I didn't have any official design guide lines on them either, so they may have been off in other ways as well.