water jet question

What do you consider a "standard" water jet? They're not exactly common household items.

there is a water jet cutter about 13 miles from me, so whilst not household, they are quite common.

it is industrial

They can easily do cutting of sheet metal (it's not really the water that does the cutting, it's abrasive powder carried by the water) but not convinced they can do engraving ...

How thick is the brass? It would seem more suited to a CNC router.

Theo

I have no experience of water jets, but lasers can be turned up and down in power and head speed to do either engraving or cutting

Howver what you describe may be better suited to a CNC milling/routing machine.

How thick is the brass?

Lasers don't like cutting mirror finish materials but there must be some easy way around that since there are so many stainless steel garden mobiles about that have been laser cut.

Local hack space might be worth a look - they tend to have modest power CNC laser cutters and run sessions on how to use them starting with card or plastic and working upwards in power levels.

You might also look at fibre optic lasers. They can do both cutting and engraving on brass.

Sounds pretty lethal to me, and a bit wet. Brian

Do you have to use special water, ie with low surface tension or super pure? Brian

Dont know yet, 1-2mm

With fine grit in it I think. Electrospark cutting is another option.

This lot look like they might be worth a punt for lasercut brass.

I've done it with a CNC mill on that kind of thickness of aluminium, which is similar hardness, so I think it should be doable.

Theo

that is a good informative website, examples of the work too. I will get some artwork together and get a quote. thanks

I don't think water jets can be used for engraving at all. At least, not with any accuracy. Lasers are the way to go for that, although the engraving depth isn't all that much.

I've been told that water jet cutters are used for precision cutting of titanium sheet, as it's nasty stuff to cut when you want fiddly bits. Those cutters are definitely not nice little DIY projects though. :)

Yes, I looked at a site that offered cutting and engraving services, they seemed to use water jets for the former and lasers for the latter.

Water jet technology can certainly engrave, see

No idea if every water jet machine can do it.

Seems a bit fraught, move the material faster than the jet can actually cut through it ...

You can probably DIY one..

There is a youtube video of someone making one from a pressure washer but it was used more like a fret saw.

You would need to add driven X/Y axes to get positioning.

Then control the depth of cut by controlling the amount of abrasive you dropped into the jet. You could probably do that with some sort of screw driven by a stepper.

I would think you could modify the open source software for a 3d printer to work using the filament feed for the abrasive.

No, I don't intend to try it myself. I have other interests than engraving brass.

I might try a laser cutter though if I can convince the other half that I need a new toy.