Waterjet Sweden M2030

Pure waterjet uses only ultra-high-pressure water (no abrasive) through a tiny orifice to cut soft materials: foam, rubber, foam rubber, food products, paper, thin soft plastics, and gasket materials. The high-velocity water stream cuts these materials cleanly without crushing. Abrasive waterjet adds garnet sand to the water stream through an abrasive mixing chamber — the combined abrasive-water jet cuts hard materials (metal, stone, glass, ceramic, hard composite) by erosion. The same cutting head hardware can do both: simply switch on or off the abrasive feeder. Abrasive cutting is slower and has ongoing abrasive consumable cost; pure water cutting is faster and cheaper but only for soft materials.

Garnet (iron aluminum silicate) is the universal abrasive for waterjet cutting — it combines hardness (6.5–7.5 Mohs), toughness, and low toxicity. Typical abrasive flow rates range from 200–500 g/min depending on pump power and material. Garnet costs approximately $0.30–$0.60 per kilogram in bulk quantities. A 37 kW pump running at 500 g/min uses approximately $10–$20 per hour in abrasive. Used garnet (abrasive slurry) must be properly disposed of or recycled — garnet recycling systems can recover 60–70% of used garnet for reuse. Abrasive cost is typically the largest variable operating cost in waterjet cutting operations.

Abrasive waterjet cutting produces a kerf width approximately 0.8–1.2 mm wide, depending on orifice diameter, abrasive flow rate, and cutting speed. The kerf width slightly tapers (wider at entry, narrower at exit) on thick material at high cutting speeds — reduce cutting speed or use taper compensation (5-axis head) for precision parts requiring straight kerf walls. For design purposes, allow 1.0 mm kerf width for nesting calculations and 0.5 mm per side of part geometry offset for accurate finished part dimensions.

Yes. Waterjet cutting is one of the best processes for glass — the pure water stream (no abrasive) or low-abrasive flow cuts glass cleanly without the thermal shock that laser cutting causes and without the mechanical impact that diamond saws can cause on edge chipping. For window glass and mirrors, pure waterjet at reduced pressure is used. For tempered or laminated safety glass, consult Waterjet Sweden's application engineering — tempered glass can shatter during cutting due to its stored stress state, and special cutting protocols or avoiding tempered glass entirely may be required.

The Waterjet Sweden M2030 uses a PC-based CNC with Waterjet Sweden's own cutting software for part programming and machine control. Part geometry is imported as DXF files from CAD software or drawn directly in the machine's programming software. The software calculates cutting paths, lead-in/lead-out positions, cutting speed per material/thickness, abrasive flow rate, and generates the machine program. Nesting multiple parts on the table is handled by the software's nesting module. The software also manages the database of material cutting parameters — standard parameters for common materials and thicknesses are pre-loaded, enabling rapid setup for standard materials.