Many shops have found the market for cutting composites and laminates to be particularly attractive.  Alternative cutting processes such as laser or plasma may be unsuitable because of heat considerations and because of the potential for producing toxic fumes.  Wire EDM won’t work in non-conducting material.  Routers and conventional machine tools are limited in their ability to cut complex parts and the dust produced by the cutting process can be a real environmental headache.  Abrasive waterjets, on the other hand, can cut these materials quickly, cleanly and accurately with an excellent surface finish and no hazardous fumes or dust.

Some shops have found that the piercing process used to create a starting hole prior to abrasive waterjet cutting can create a challenge in those laminated and composite materials where the bonding agent is particularly weak or may have voids.  Pressure at the tip of the abrasive jet stream as it pierces through the material can force water and abrasive into voids and between weakly bonded layers of laminate.  This may cause “blistering” or laminate separation in the vicinity of the pierce point and ruin a part.  Techniques used to pierce brittle material, such as gradual water pressure ramp-up and abrasive pre-loading through vacuum assist or flow timing, really can’t eliminate this problem if the laminate bond has weak areas or voids.

The OMAX Drill Head Attachment quickly and easily solves this challenge.  It uses a computer-controlled mechanical drill to create a starting hole at each pierce location.  This means that the abrasive waterjet has a material-free area to start each cut and so no potentially damaging pierce pressure occurs.  The Drill Head Attachment mounts quickly and easily to the Y-axis carriage parallel with the Z-axis.  Its function is automatically controlled by the OMAX Intelli-Max control software. The operator has the choice of either pre-drilling all of the pierce points in advance of cutting the entire part or pre-drilling each individual pierce point and then cutting that feature in sequence.  The control software automatically moves the Drill Head to the exact location of each planned pierce and uses the reliable mechanical drilling process to assure blister-free starting locations for the abrasive waterjet.

As with all OMAX accessories, the Drill Head Attachment is fully retrofitable to any OMAX system.  It provides the shop owner with expanded capabilities and thus an expanded market and more business. That means that more shops and manufacturers can improve their bottom line with the addition of an abrasive waterjet cutting system.  Remember, our goal is an abrasive waterjet in every shop.

Best regards,
John Olsen

The A-Jet is a fully articulated abrasive waterjet cutting head that can cut a bevel at any user-specified angle up to 60 degrees from vertical.  Because larger panels often have slightly warped surfaces, the A-Jet can be fitted with a terrain-following system that automatically maintains a constant stand-off distance from the material being cut.  This assures accurate bevel dimensions regardless of the surface irregularities of warped material.

The A-Jet is completely controlled by the OMAX Intell-Max control software.  The user can easily program a desired bevel size and angle along any segment of the panel being cut.  We find that our customers are not only using the A-Jet for weld-prep bevels, but are also using it to create other desired bevel features such as countersinks, chamfers and angled surfaces.

Like all OMAX/MAXIEM accessories, the A-Jet and Terrain-Follower are designed for simple retrofit to existing OMAX/MAXIEM systems.  This allows our existing customers to increase their capability, expand their applications and broaden their markets without the need to purchase an entirely new machine.

The Terrain-Following A-Jet is just another example of how expanded capabilities can lead to expanded applications and a broader range of abrasive waterjet users.  Remember, our goal is an abrasive waterjet in every shop.

Best regards,

John Olsen

Theoretically there is a cutting speed for any particular material and thickness that is “just right” and will result in zero taper.  As our ongoing R & D efforts improved our understanding of cutting jet behavior we were able to develop a computer model that accurately predicts the amount of taper based on the material being cut, its thickness, the speed of cut and the nozzle parameters of water pressure, orifice size, mixing tube size, abrasive characteristics and abrasive flow rate.  That model permitted us to accurately predict the speed at which there would be no taper.  This meant that our control software could be enhanced to permit the user to specify a cut quality that we call “zero taper quality” along any particular cutting segment.  By doing this the user could create a part that was taper-free.

The drawback to this rather elegant solution to taper control is that the cutting speed for “zero taper quality” tends to be slow.  This slow speed was acceptable for making parts where just a few key elements needed to be taper-free, but it was a not an optimum solution for making complete parts with the highest possible accuracy in the least amount of time.  Our customers want to cut precise parts as quickly as possible, so we decided to take another approach to the problem.  We developed the Tilt-A-Jet.  This retro-fittable accessory has the ability to tilt the cutting nozzle very precisely (to an accuracy of better than +/-0.06 degrees) in a direction perpendicular to the direction of cut.  Our advanced computer model is used to control the tilt so that it automatically compensates for the natural taper of the cutting jet, regardless of the cutting speed.  This provides a fast cut, based on the user’s desired cut quality, that is also taper-free.  It has the additional benefit of maintaining the taper-free cut even as the nozzle must slow for sharp corners or tight curves.  No special programming is required.  The OMAX Intelli-Max control software receives geometric input directly from a standard 2-D drawing file (such as a DXF or DWG file) and the computer model automatically controls the degree of tilt needed for taper compensation along each increment of the cutting path.  The result is a precise taper-free part that can be made quickly and economically without 3-D programming.

As our computer model of jet behavior continues to evolve we have added an additional feature to the Tilt-A-Jet system.  We know that even faster cuts are possible, particularly in thicker material, if we tilt the jet slightly forward in the direction of cut.   The mechanism of the Tilt-A-Jet enables us to do this quite easily with a simple free control software upgrade.  No 3-D programming is required.  Once activated the tilt-forward feature is programmed automatically. This has meant even faster taper-free parts for our customers at no additional cost.  In addition, software upgrades have allowed our customers to use the same Tilt-A-Jet system to put intentional taper into elements of a part.  Once again this requires no 3-D programming and is fully automated.  Intentional taper capability is now widely used by our tool and die customers for providing relief in die components.

The Tilt-A-Jet accessory has greatly expanded the capabilities of abrasive waterjet cutting by permitting the rapid production of precise taper-free parts and parts with intentional precision taper.  This means more applications are now suitable for our technology and more shops are finding a need for our system.

Remember—our goal is an abrasive waterjet system in every shop.

Best regards,

John Olsen

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Our smallest table, the Model 2626, and its ultra-precise cousin, the Model 2626xp, are being used by shops that specialize in small parts made from small material stock.  The Model 2626xp has helped to pioneer medical applications for small highly precise instruments and implants.  The standard Model 2626 is widely used by universities, research organizations and specialty manufacturers who value its small shop footprint and its ability to cut small parts from a wide variety of materials.

The great majority of our cutting tables are now larger (indeed much, much larger) than our original Model 2652.  The larger tables range in size from 55” x 100” to a huge 160” x 560” (a full 4 meters x 14 meters).  These larger tables have expanded the range of customer applications in three ways:

First is simply the ability to cut very large parts. Examples include boat hull panels and structural members, full side panels for passenger rail cars, large panels for aircraft applications and incredibly complex architectural artwork for buildings and displays.

Second is the ability to cut relatively small parts from very large material stock.  Automatic nesting permits maximum material utilization and minimum scrap in expensive materials such as titanium and composites. The use of large stock reduces material costs and improves productivity.

Third is the ability to increase productivity by operating a fully-independent second cutting nozzle on a separate gantry bridge.  In effect one can have two fully independent cutting systems operating on a single large table.  This capability is unique to the larger tables that use our innovative Intelli-Trax linear motion system.  I discussed the Intell-Trax system in great detail in my blog of November 3, 2009, so take a look at that entry if you want more detail.

On top of the broader applications made possible by our expanded range of OMAX table sizes is the increase in economically viable applications due to our MAXIEM product line.  MAXIEM systems offer industry-standard precision and OMAX abrasive waterjet cutting flexibility in a package that is more affordable for those shops that do not need the high precision of an OMAX.

Abrasive waterjet cutting is currently the fastest growing manufacturing technology in the world.  We in the industry continue to expand its capabilities, which leads to expanded applications and expanded use of our systems.   It is a nice spiral upward.  Our goal is an abrasive waterjet system in every shop.

OMAX 80X JetMachining Center Dual Bridge and a MAXIEM 0707 JetCutting Center

Best regards,

John Olsen

Machine shops began to buy our product and we quickly learned that the key to being the successful company that we have become is to meet your customers’ needs by addressing their applications.  It turns out that our customers have a tremendous range of applications.  As a result ordering a machine is quite a bit more complicated.  We have two complete product lines with twenty different cutting tables, 6 different pumps and an array of accessories—all designed to meet and expand our customers’ applications by providing them with a greater range of capabilities.  My intent over the next several entries of this blog is to give you an idea of these expanded capabilities and the applications they are intended to cover.  I hope that you will respond with additional applications you would like to see us address so that we can continue to expand the capabilities of our systems.  We have a lot of experienced and enthusiastic engineers here and they want to develop new products to meet your needs.

Early OMAX 2448 JetMachining Center

Best regards,

John Olsen

PS—Here is what you should expect in the future:

Part 2—A wide range of table sizes means a wide range of applications
Part 3—Pump configurations to meet your needs
Part 4—The Tilt-A-Jet for the ultimate in part accuracy
Part 5—The terrain-following A-Jet for weld-prep and bevel cuts
Part 6—The Mini-nozzle for narrow cuts and small intricate parts
Part 7—The Rotary axis for axial applications
Part 8—The Drill head for laminates and special materials