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Water cutting, also known as water jet knife, referred to a kind of high-pressure water jet cutting technology, it’s high-pressure water cutting machine. Under the control of the computer, the workpiece can be carved arbitrarily, and it is less affected by the processed material quality. Due to its easy operation and good yield, water cutting is gradually becoming the mainstream cutting method in industrial cutting technology.

Historical Development

Early water cutting because the pressure of water is very small, and no abrasive is added, it can only be used to cut paper and other soft, low strength materials，which means its application range is very narrow.

Later, with the development of technology, high-pressure water pump can be used to cut more materials. Early water cutting relied entirely on the pressure of water to cut materials, but only cutting materials with lower strength than water pressure, the application is still limited.

Dr. Norman Franz has always been recognized as the father of the water knife. He was the first person to study ultra-high pressure (UHP) water knife cutting tools. Ultra-high pressure is defined as over 30 000 psi. Dr. Franz, a forestry engineer, wanted to find a new way to cut big trunks into the wood. In 1950, Franz first placed heavy objects on the water column, forcing water through a tiny nozzle. He acquired a short high-pressure jet (several times exceeding the current pressure) and was able to cut wood and other materials. His later research involved more continuous flow, but he found it very difficult to obtain continuous high pressures. At the same time, the life of parts is calculated in minutes, not weeks or months today.

In 1979, Dr. Mohamed Hashish began to study ways to increase the cutting energy of water knives in Frow’s research laboratory to cut metals and other hard materials. Dr. Hashish is recognized as the father of sand water knife. He invented the method of adding sand to an ordinary water knife. He uses garnet (a material commonly used on sandpaper) like sand. With this method, water knives (containing sand) can cut almost any material. In 1980, and water cutters were first used to cut metals, glass, and concrete.

Working principle of water jet cutting

The water-cut water jet starts from a pressurized pump and passes through a high-pressure tube to produce a pressure of 60,000 PSI, which is then ejected from the cutting nozzle. During the design process, small leaks can permanently damage the components and cause damage. Therefore, manufacturers and engineers will carefully handle the processing of high-pressure materials, using special technology to combine such machines. Users only need to know basic operational knowledge.

The cutting machine was applied in the industry in 1982, and it was first introduced in 1970. It is mainly used in the automotive, aerospace and glass industries in the industry, and the precision is continuously improved from these cuttings. The abrasive cutter can reach a pressure of 55,000 PSI, which is injected through a small nozzle at a speed of 762 m/s, which is 2.5 times the speed of sound.

Mixing the pomegranate sand into this high-speed water jet, mixing it in a mixing tube and then directly ejecting it from the sand tube to the material being processed at a speed of 305 m/s. This cutting process is actually a grinding and cutting process. The process, this power and movement are all produced by water.

The booster pump pressurizes the water again to achieve the desired pressure. It is worth noting that the abrasive cannot be added to the water or high-pressure water line because the line will wear through quickly. Therefore, it can only be added to the nozzle position to mix water and abrasive. At the same time, it can’t be too close to the exit, because it is necessary to give him a speed to accelerate, only the abrasive has a certain flow rate to have the cutting ability. In order to avoid the abrasive mixing of the abrasive and water, the water cutting nozzles are made of very hard, high strength materials such as tungsten carbide ceramic composites.

Advantages of water jet cutting

So what are the advantages of water cutting compared to traditional cutting methods?

Can be cut in a wide range. It can cut most materials such as metal, marble, glass and more.

Good cutting quality. Water cutting creates a smooth cut that does not create rough, burring edges.

No hot processing. Water cutting because it is cut with water and abrasives, does not generate heat (or produces very little heat) during processing, and this effect is ideal for materials that are affected by heat. Such as: titanium.

Environmentally friendly. Water cutting is cut with water and sand. This kind of sand does not produce toxic gas during processing, and can be directly discharged, which is more environmentally friendly.

Water cutting does not require replacement of the cutter unit, and a single nozzle can process different types of materials and shapes, saving cost and time.

Disadvantages of water jet cutting

The cost of water cutting equipment is second only to laser cutting, high energy consumption, high maintenance cost, and no cutting speed. Because all abrasives are disposable, they are discharged into nature once. The environmental pollution brought by it is also serious.

Cutting result of water jet cutting

Cutting thickness

The thickness of the water cut can be very thick, 0.8-100mm, or even thicker material.

Cutting speed

The water cutting speed is the slowest relative to wire cutting fast feed milling inserts and laser cutting, and is completely unsuitable for mass production.

Cutting accuracy

Water cutting does not produce thermal deformation with an accuracy of ±0.1mm. If a dynamic water cutting machine is used, the cutting accuracy can be improved, and the cutting accuracy can be up to ±0.02mm, eliminating the cutting slope.

Slit width

The water-cut slit is approximately 10% larger than the diameter of the knife tube, typically 0.8-1.2 mm. As the diameter of the sanding tube expands, the incision becomes larger.

Cutting surface quality

Water cutting does not change the texture of the material surrounding the cutting seam. Thermal cutting methods, such as laser cutting, change the texture around the cutting area.

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Abrasive surface milling cutters Waterjet Nozzles

Carbide Abrasive Waterjet Nozzles

CORE Industrial Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm, has acquired Precision Metal Fab and Precision Tool & Die (PMF, collectively), a provider of metal cutting and forming solutions, via CORE portfolio company CGI Automated Manufacturing. The transactions Carbide Turning Inserts follow CORE’s acquisition of CGI in August and Advanced Laser Machining (AL) in October.

PMF specializes in CNC laser cutting, stamping, metal die formation, welding and assembly for various end-market applications, including warehouse automation, food equipment, HVAC and utilities. PMF’s fleet of 10- and 15-kW fiber-optic lasers can reportedly cut up to 1.2-inch-thick mild steel, stainless, aluminum, brass and copper while holding tolerances up to .003 inches. PMF’s full array of fabrication capabilities support initial engineering and design assistance through prototyping and high-volume production; it features presses ranging from 60-300 tons for both short-run and long-run progressive stamping and a variety of ancillary services, including press brake forming, PEM insertion, assembly and packaging.

Matthew Puglisi, partner of CORE, says, “From state-of-the-art equipment to lights-out automation, we believe PMF is at the forefront of metal manufacturing Carbide Drilling Inserts technology and fits exceptionally well with the CGI platform. We look forward to leveraging the broader capabilities of CGI, PMF and AL to drive organic growth while continuing to pursue strategic acquisition opportunities.”

Headquartered in Ponca City, Okla., PMF serves a nationwide customer base from its centrally located 60,000 square foot facility. Greg Neisen, president of PMF, says, “On behalf of the full PMF team, we’re looking forward to joining the CGI platform and combining the respective strengths of the companies to continue exceeding expectations for our valued customers.”

Walter USA has added polycristalline diamond (PCD) grooving inserts to its Walter Cut GX grooving system. These straight-edge (F1) and full-radius (M1) geometries are designed cemented carbide inserts for grooving in aluminum and titanium alloys, enabling high Carbide Milling Inserts cutting speed, lengthening tool life and improving surface quality in grooving, parting and recessing operations. The inserts are said to be ideal for aerospace, medical device and automotive applications.

The wear-resistant WDN10 PCD grade provides high hardness, a low coefficient of friction and minimal heat distortion for high-speed machining of nonferrous materials.

The GX24-WDN10 inserts feature chipbreaker geometry, laser-marked ISO and ANSI corner-radius designation, and widths ranging from 0.078" to 0.118" (2 to 8 mm).

The Omega M7 line of end mills from Imco Carbide Tool is designed for machining hardened steels ranging to 58 to 62 HRc, running wet or dry. The end mill range features updated corner geometries, a 50-degree helix angle, and cutting edges with an enhanced AlTiNX coating to protect from heat generated in the cutting zone, even under extreme cutting conditions. The aggressive, high-performance end mills are said to reliably produce quality surface finishes.

The Omega M7 line is available in sizes ranging from 1/8" to 3/4" in a variety of lengths, with neck relief and corner radii as standard options. The M725 tools (sizes 1/8" to 3/16") have five flutes, while the M726 tools (sizes 1/4" to 3/4") have six flutes for more cutting edge engagement per rotation, higher ipm in hardened steels and increased tool life.TNGG Insert

Allied Machine & Engineering will highlight its 4TEX indexable carbide drill designed for applications that include interrupted cuts and/or high-temperature alloys and stainless steels. The flute spacing Carbide Grooving Inserts of the internal cutting edge side is 1.6 times larger than typical IC drills, the company says. The additional flute space, coupled with dual twisted coolant outlets, increases penetration rates with light-duty machines by enhancing coolant flow and chip evacuation in holemaking processes.

4TEX includes four-sided carbide insert geometries that are optimized for wear resistance. Inserts are available in geometry/coating combinations for all ISO materials including steel, stainless steel, high-temperature alloys, nonferrous metals and iron. The company states that the insert shape improves surface finish, hole quality and penetration rates while eliminating issues from chips winding around the tool.

The 4TEX product line is designed for making shallow 2×D, 3×D and 4×D holes in the 0.472" to APKT Insert 1.850" (12- to 47-mm) range. The drills are stocked in both imperial and metric shanks with standard fractional diameters in ½-mm increments up to 26 mm and in 1-mm increments up to 47 mm.

Delcam has added a CAM Manager to its DentMill knowledge-based CAM system for machining dental industry components. The manager is designed to?assist technicians with minimal manufacturing experience?in machining caps and bridges in ceramics and titanium.?

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The manager includes nesting tools to automatically orient all parts within the selected stock. It takes part-used areas of the stock into consideration to reduce costs and allow efficient use of materials, the company says. Users can specify the spacing Cutting Carbide Inserts to leave between pockets/borders of each part, the starting point for nesting and the direction in which parts should be nested.

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In addition, the manager includes tools for engraving text and/or serial numbers on each part.?Users can control the font, size, position and orientation of the text. Users can also control the order of machining. Parts can be grouped together and output in the same NC program. This allows the establishment of a priority cutting order, with a different machining template applied to each part APKT Insert or group of parts if required.

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Based on the company’s PowerMill application, DentMill is an “open” CAM system that accepts data from virtually any dental design system or scanner capable of exporting in the STL format. Similarly, it can output machining tool paths to virtually any CNC machine, the company says.?

The upside to using robots for drilling holes is that they have the maneuverability to reach multiple sides of a workpiece. The downside is that they sometimes lack the rigidity required to handle the high axial forces encountered during conventional drilling operations, especially in hard metals. However, Orbital Drilling end-effector technology from Novator (Spånga, Sweden) may make robotic drilling more commonplace in machine shops and manufacturing facilities by overcoming the issue of limited robot rigidity.

Orbital Drilling is similar to helical interpolation routines that enable machine tools to create holes of varying sizes using a single cutter. As a tool spins on its own axis, an eccentric spindle head rotates it to the offset required to produce the desired hole diameter. The spindle head contains a proprietary mechanism consisting of an inner and Carbide Inserts an outer eccentric body. These bodies are configured so that their mutual rotation enables continuous radial offset adjustment of the tool. The drilling cycle (feed rate, orbital speed and spindle speed) is fully programmable. This makes it possible to produce not only cylindrical, conical and countersunk holes of various sizes, but also holes with more complex shapes. Plus, Orbital Drilling produces lower thrust forces than conventional drilling to enable robots to effectively drill burr-free holes in materials ranging from carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) to titanium.

During Orbital Drilling, the tool has only partial and intermittent contact with the workpiece. That, together with efficient air cooling of the cutting tool and the hole surface, enables drilling to be performed dry or with minimum quantity lubrication (MQL). Efficient heat extraction also reduces the risk TNGG Insert of matrix melting in composites and heat-affected zones in metals. Chips are small enough for efficient removal via an airflow extraction system.

Orbital Drilling is particularly effective for hole-making operations in stacked materials, such as CFRP/aluminum and CFRP/titanium used in aerospace applications. Both the wear factor and compensation curves are different for the stacked materials. To account for tool wear and differing material characteristics, the unit’s accompanying Orbital Manager software uses a compensation algorithm that enables it to dynamically adjust tool offset and other parameters during the drilling operation. According to the company, this makes it possible to drill a large number of holes to tight tolerances while significantly increasing tool life.

Novator’s E-D100 end-effector weighs approximately 130 kg and can create a maximum hole diameter of 25 mm. It offers a drill stroke length of 100 mm and uses a 9-kW, 30,000-rpm spindle.

The company also offers its PM Series of portable units for non-robotic applications. Available in 40- and 60-mm stroke lengths, these units are semi-automatic models with manually adjusted offset/eccentricity.

Designed to address the need to manage tools from multiple manufacturers, Sandvik Coromant's Adveon tool library software module integrates into CAD/CAM programs including Edgecam, TopSolid'Cam and Tungsten Steel Inserts GibbsCAM, among others. The digital library is intended to improve machining productivity and security while saving time during machine setup. Users are able to develop their own tool libraries and databases; select tools for production; overview and maintain the assortment; build tool assemblies; see immediate results in 2D and 3D models; and instantly export to CAM or simulation software. By reducing the engineer's input and providing a standardized methodology, the company says, both consistency and quality of data are improved.

The software works with any tooling supplier whose catalog is based on the ISO 13399 standard, ensuring accurate geometrical information. An open catalog area reduces time spent finding and defining cutting tools, eliminating the need to search for information in catalogs or interpret data from Coated Inserts one system to another. This quick access to cutting tool information helps the user source the most suitable machining solution paired with the most efficient cutting tool selection, the company says. The program can select the tools used in daily operations, maintain and amend the assortment, and create tool libraries by copying and pasting from the catalog area. 

Coolant Ring Technology (CRT) holders from Scientific Cutting Tools are made from high quality heat treated steel and come with a black oxide coating. They are engineered to allow for better coolant penetration deep into the bore, reducing temperature at the cutting edge, the company says. The overhang of the tools used with the holders is infinitely adjustable CNMG Insert rather than fixed, allowing for maximum performance without chatter or other performance-related issues.

The CRT holders can be used in conjunction with the company’s qualified boring bars and/or qualified threading tools for quick change machining at optimal performance Carbide Milling inserts levels, according to the company. Qualified boring bars have an overall length that is qualified to ± 0.001” and a minimum bore diameter that is qualified to ± 0.0005”. They can be used in conjunction with the CRT holders for quick-change setups or with our QHC holders when a backstop is used (sold separately). The CRT holders used in conjunction with the qualified boring bars have the advantage of more effectively delivering coolant to the cutting edge.

I define a CNC machine tool’s accuracy as how precisely its axes can follow intended paths to commanded endpoints while under load. I define its repeatability as how precisely it can duplicate commanded motions (again, under load) during multiple cycles throughout the day.

These are definitions for dynamic accuracy and repeatability. They likely vary from your machine builder’s specifications. Builder specifications commonly Surface Milling Inserts indicate static accuracy and repeatability; that is, the machine is not in cycle performing machining operations when related measurements are taken.

In fairness to machine builders, dynamic accuracy and repeatability vary with the amount of stress exerted on machine components. The greater the stress, the more difficult it is to maintain accuracy and repeatability. This makes it impossible for machine builders to provide, much less guarantee, dynamic accuracy and repeatability specifications. There are simply too many variables.

That said, machine builders should be able to establish whether their machine can achieve accuracy/repeatability requirements for your particular application. They should be willing to guarantee as much if you ask them to do so prior to purchasing a new machine tool.

Certain accuracy-related factors are beyond a CNC user’s control once a machine is installed. These include:

• It must be able to perform the most powerful machining operations in your application without excessive deflection of its support components.

• Linear scales directly monitor the position of the moving component for an axis. Unlike rotary encoders, they are not highly dependent upon the integrity of axis system components (way systems, ballscrews and couplers).

Other accuracy-related factors are the responsibility of the machine user. These include:

• Machine builders initially calibrate pitch error and backlash compensations, but if accuracy is to be maintained, end users must repeat these calibrations at regular intervals during a machine’s life.

• Machine tools must be placed in a stable working environment that minimizes ambient temperature and humidity variations.

Ensuring that a machine installation can provide adequate dynamic accuracy for your application—and keeping it properly maintained—is but half the issue of producing consistent, acceptable components. You must also confirm that the machine can accurately repeat from the first workpiece to the last—hour after hour, day after day—even as machine components warm up after idle periods.

An important repeatability-related issue linked to machine design is thermal variation of moving components. Primary concerns are the machine’s spindle and way systems because they have the biggest impact on machined surfaces. As these components warm, they grow. As they cool, they shrink. This makes it difficult—maybe impossible—to hold size on critical, tight-tolerance surfaces during the machine warm-up period.

Machine builders go to great lengths to minimize thermal changes in machine components (cooling the spindle and/or way systems, for instance). Additionally, they incorporate design methods that minimize the repeatability impact of thermal variation. With CNC turning centers, for example, the headstock may be perpendicular to the bed. As it warms, only the height of the cutting tool’s edge changes. This minimizes the amount of machined diameter variation from part to part as the machine warms up.

When purchasing any new CNC machine, you should understand how the builder deals with thermal variation. More importantly, you must confirm that machined-surface variations caused by thermal growth during warm-up will not exceed tolerances. Otherwise, you could be in for a productivity-wasting surprise when you discover that your new machine must run for a warm-up period before it can be used in production.

Some of the most severe repeatability issues have nothing to do with machine design. Instead, they are influenced by the machine’s application. Variations of any kind—during a production run or from one time a job is run to the next—can impact repeatability. Things that change from cycle to cycle will cause the need for a time-consuming adjustment. If the variation is great enough, it could result in scrap.

Examples of variations during a production run include:

• Tool wear. As cutting edges wear, machined surfaces will vary. External surfaces grow while internal surfaces shrink.

• Dull tool replacement. When dull cutting tools are replaced, extreme caution is required to ensure that cutting edge(s) do not vary from their predetermined position(s).

From one time a job is run to the next include:

• Workholding setup. Many factors affect workpiece stability (placement/alignment of the workholding device, clamp location and force applied, and program zero assignment, for instance).

• Cutting tool Carbide Turning Inserts assembly, measurement and offset entry. Component and assembly variations result in rigidity variations that can lead to machining issues.

• Machine condition. Variations caused by mishaps and the neglect of preventive maintenance can result in sizing problems with jobs that have run successfully in the past.