Water Jet cutting uses an ultra-high pressure stream of water to carry an abrasive grit. The abrasive—usually garnet or sand—then cuts through the chosen material, leaving a precise cut and a smooth surface. It is essentially an accelerated erosion process—the same power that sculpted the grand canyon concentrated and mechanized.

As highly pressurized water is fired through the nozzle into a mixing chamber, pressure creates a vacuum driving the abrasive into the stream to be fired. Despite the term “waterjet,” it is this abrasive that does the work, which is really erosion done at such a high power and speed that it is deemed “cutting.”

The process is extremely versatile, able to cut almost any material including steel, stainless steel, aluminum, stone, wood, plastic, glass, rubber, leather, cloth, paper, cardboard, insulation, foam, and more. It is also very precise, with a narrow kerf width that allows fine contours to be cut and highly detailed shapes and parts to be formed.

RWD’s state-of-the-art OMAX waterjet cutting technology features the Tilt-A-Jet head that can position the nozzle at an angle calculated by the software to exactly offset the natural taper from the abrasivejet. The head features a programmable tilt up to +/- 9 degrees for the maximum tilt angle, and can cut thick material while holding tight tolerances (0.005 tolerance from 0-1” and 0.1 tolerance from 1”-4”).