Waterjet Systems Easier To Operate
by Richard Ward, Richel, Inc.
The continued demand for waterjet art work, to be included as a standard with floor installations and fabrication, is resulting in rapid changes to the industry. Although waterjet art work is typically haunted by several factors, some technological advances are changing that.
Art Work to Cutting
The possibility of scanning an image and simply having the waterjet cut the design quickly evaporates as management realizes the many inherent problems. In reality, no scanned image is clean and ready for conversion to arcs and lines, the format necessary for cutting purposes. The ability to avoid tedious clean up work on scanned images is narrowed further when the original art work is of poor quality.
The good news is that help has arrived. Software has been developed to assist with the conversion of scanned images to the necessary format ready for cutting. Some manufacturers offer such software as options on their waterjet machines. Choosing this option can reduce the set up time considerably for waterjet operators.
Controller Operation
Another obstacle for waterjet users has been the ability to run the large programs needed to scan an image. Many controllers have very small memories, with the ability to only run smaller, less complicated programs. The controllers are great for engineering applications, but art work is intrinsically complex in form with many arc and small lines, resulting in very large files.
Once again manufacturers have listened to customers in order to deal with these problems. Controllers, which are the brains of the system, are being supplied with integrated hard drives capable of running programs of almost unlimited size. This leaves operators free to focus on the work at hand, not at making the system work.
Low Pressure Piercing
One other technical break- through, now available as standard on certain systems, is the ability to automatically perform "low pressure pierces." This procedure is vital for piercing fragile stones and ceramic and porcelain tiles. Software will automatically seek out the start point of each lead in, then low pressure pierce all the lead-ins, avoiding unwanted and expensive damage to the product.
One point is clear, if you had ever considered a waterjet but backed off, now is the time to reconsider. Recent technological breakthroughs have made waterjet an easy, more efficient option.
Dimension Stone - Nov 15, 1998
