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Waterjet Cut Urethane Parts

Waterjet cutting is widely known for its ability to cut virtually any material to near net shape. These materials vary from rubber to plastics, composites to metals. Versatility is a benefit waterjet cutting brings to many businesses, including New Hampshire based company, Plan Tech. Plan Tech has been manufacturing urethane parts for over 30 years, providing products for diverse groups of industries. Urethane is a high-performance rubber that can be molded easily, shaped accurately, and offers many different finishing options. We’ve invited guest blogger Kevin Healy, Vice President of engineering at Plan Tech, to tell you more about how waterjet cutting has impacted their productivity. With their vast experience and in-house capabilities, they consistently deliver tight tolerance custom urethane parts.

Manufacturing Trends Waterjet Technology Overview
Slitting with a Flow Waterjet
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Paper Slitting with Waterjets

My first day on the job I met Duncan Murdock.  It was 1989, and I sat in on a paper slitting meeting.  I sat and listened and learned.  Duncan was a senior tech (not a regional manager as he is today), and was clearly on top of the technology and the application.  Although he was young, he explained to the engineers and designers exactly how to design the slitter’s cross beam, the redundant cutting heads (to ensure 24/7 operation) the catcher tank.  He understood how the paper would flow at extremely high speed, across the top of the catcher, and how the catcher top would create the right airflow to keep the paper down and flat without billowing.

Waterjet Jobs Waterjet Masters Waterjet Slitting
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So, What Is Stream Lag & Taper?

A waterjet stream acts like a beam when cutting, much like plasma cutting and laser cutting. These types of non-rigid cutting tools have to address the beam flexing and changing within the target material to minimize part cutting errors.

What is taper?

Taper in waterjet cutting is when the entrance width of cut is different than the exit width of cut.

Taper_v2

What is stream lag?
Stream lag causes corner damage when the exit point lags behind the entrance point, shown in the bottom of the part below.

Plasma cut parts often exhibit an upside-down V-shaped taper where the width of cut is wider at the bottom. Laser and waterjet exhibit a normal V-shaped taper (more narrow width of cut at the bottom). Plasma, laser and waterjet can all yield stream lag errors when cutting a part.

How Waterjets Work Waterjet 101 Waterjet Technology Overview
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How One Small Change Made Waterjet What it Is Today

Today waterjet is one of the fastest growing machine tool processes in the world and has over 30,000 systems installed. But how did it begin? I’ve seen many different claims over the years as to the start of waterjet. There is only one thread – one sequence of events – that I subscribe to, and that is the specific sequence that leads to the commercialization of waterjet for the cutting of soft materials in the 70’s.

How Waterjets Work Waterjet 101