State-of-the-art waterjet cutting services.
ABOUT WATERJET CAPE TOWN
Waterjet Cape Town was established to offer the market innovative, expert waterjet cutting services. The company boasts a contemporary waterjet cutting machine – the first of its kind in the Western Cape and one of only three in South Africa. This machine enables Waterjet Cape Town to deliver on any cutting requirements, regardless of the size of the project. Waterjet Cape Town is a subsidiary of Advanced Materials Manufacturing, specialising in Waterjet Cutting and Fabrication.
In 2014, Advanced Materials Solutions (AMS) was awarded a contract to manufacture six deckhouses for 35m support vessels utilising composite materials. Due to the suitability of waterjet cutting to cut composite materials, and the sheer quantity of cutting to be done, AMS decided to purchase a waterjet cutter to be able to accommodate this cutting in-house.
The Mach 3b 7320 waterjet cutting machine was sourced from Flow International (USA) and features a working surface of 7.3m x 2m. It’s 3D dynamic cutting head ensures that even the most complex cuts (angles, chamfers and tapers) are achievable. With a reliable ultrahigh-pressure pump (exerting pressures up to 4200 bar) and intelligent process monitoring, the machine empowers Waterjet Cape Town to offer a variety of expert cutting services, executed to perfection.
Managed by Johan van Niekerk and Pieter Nell, the company ensures that local customers have access to superior cutting services delivered by highly-trained specialists, advanced technology, and guaranteed customer satisfaction.
SERVICES
Waterjet Cape Town’s Flow Mach3b 7320 Waterjet Cutting Machine is one of the largest in South Africa, combined with the 3Ddynamic cutting head, vacuum assisted soft piercing system, and height sensing laser, it is also one of the most technologically advanced systems of its kind with linear straightness accuracy of ±0.038mm/m and repeatability of ±0.050mm. The modern machining tool enables Waterjet Cape Town to offer abrasive waterjet cutting services at any scale, on any material. From keyrings to knives, granite, tools and more – the waterjet’s versatility is incomparable.
With a cutting envelope of 7.3m x 2m, Waterjet Cape Town can accommodate extremely large sheet metals, any sheet of marble and granite, and most other materials. With waterjet cutting there are virtually no materials that cannot be cut, from particularly hard ceramics to very soft vermiculite particle panels, the possibilities are endless. With vast experience in cutting most common materials of various thicknesses and exotic materials alike, Waterjet Cape Town will successfully execute all cutting requirements.
The machine’s dynamic waterjet head eradicates taper, enables fast and precise bevel, allows for cutting of angles up to 55 degrees, and offers 3D cutting capabilities. The articulated wrist attached to the cutting head is controlled by an advanced motion system, allowing the head to tilt in any direction. The system is driven by complex mathematical calculations, automatically computed by FlowXpert software, eliminating imperfections.
WHY WATERJET CUTTING?
Waterjet cutting is the major machine tool process technology of the future. It offers a unique combination of flexibility, simplicity and precision that is unparalleled in other available technology. It can be utilised to cut virtually any material, and is especially suited to composites. It uses an abrasive to cut, meaning that there is no delamination of the composite. With the UltraPierce attachment to the cutting head, any layered or laminated composite materials can be cut without any delamination whatsoever, ensuring the structural integrity of the material being cut. This is due to the fact that, from the first contact with composite materials, there is a water and abrasive mixture.
With the 3D Dynamic Cutting Head, Waterjet Cape Town is able to cut chamfers, tapers and intricate geometry, which was not possible in the past. The dynamic cutting ability of the machine also automatically compensates for taper and jet-lag in cut parts, and virtually eliminates corner wash.
THE ADVANTAGES OF ABRASIVE WATERJET CUTTING INCLUDE:
- No heat affected zones
- No resin melt
- No fibre pull-out
- No mechanical stresses
- Extremely detailed geometry
- Thin material cutting
- Thick material cutting
- Stack cutting
- Little material loss due to cutting
- Little or no burr
- Scalability – any sized item (large or small) and any material