So we have recently installed a waterjet machine and cut thin aluminum sheets for deep drawing operations. We cut multiple sheets stacked and nest like material to optimize/reduce scrap. We are looking for a solution to remove the residual sand on the parts. There is the obvious solution of spraying the surface down, but is very time consuming when you are cutting several hundred parts. Does anyone know of a release agent or some type of system to remove sand from parts? Am sure this is a long shot, but thought I would ask.
blucepeak said
Dec 19, 2012
how about the underwater cutting, together with some device to make the water rolling?
Flow guy said
Jan 2, 2013
When you stack up thin sheet, you want to make sure all sheets are tightly stacked or the chance of sand coming onto the sheets in between top and down sheet is very highly possible. In this case, spot welding on the edges of sheets and make sure proper clamping will help to improve-though not 100percent
SLVVR6 said
Jan 3, 2013
I have tried underwater cutting, but the problem with that is the parts tend to float around while cutting. We have thought about clamping tighter. The sheets are no where near flat, so making sure we can reduce/eliminate the air gaps has been and will continue to be difficult. Good suggestions so far. Anything else someone can think of?
DJet22 said
Mar 7, 2013
I like to idea of welding around the edges but ive also just used weights to keep my material down and from floating depending on the size of parts you're cutting you may be able to put them around each individual part or inbetween allowing it to continue to run without removing parts individually. as far as cleaning the grit off if youre trying to not scratch the material i've used the water hose and for long cuts where there is a lot of garnet on top of the plate i use a squeege then hose off the rest.
RScottR said
Mar 20, 2013
If your parts are small enough, just throw them into a bucket of water. The garnet will fall off. If they're too big, your gonna have to spray them. Or, put them aside, so the wj can keep running, and have someone downstream of the wj clean them.
So we have recently installed a waterjet machine and cut thin aluminum sheets for deep drawing operations. We cut multiple sheets stacked and nest like material to optimize/reduce scrap. We are looking for a solution to remove the residual sand on the parts. There is the obvious solution of spraying the surface down, but is very time consuming when you are cutting several hundred parts. Does anyone know of a release agent or some type of system to remove sand from parts? Am sure this is a long shot, but thought I would ask.
I like to idea of welding around the edges but ive also just used weights to keep my material down and from floating depending on the size of parts you're cutting you may be able to put them around each individual part or inbetween allowing it to continue to run without removing parts individually. as far as cleaning the grit off if youre trying to not scratch the material i've used the water hose and for long cuts where there is a lot of garnet on top of the plate i use a squeege then hose off the rest.
If your parts are small enough, just throw them into a bucket of water. The garnet will fall off. If they're too big, your gonna have to spray them. Or, put them aside, so the wj can keep running, and have someone downstream of the wj clean them.